Amid Newsroom Change, One Thing Remains the Same

By Allison Smith
Special to chipsquinn.org

Posted: Nov. 9, 2007

Allison Smith

I started my first day as a metro-desk intern at The Tennessean with a specific and maybe even idealized version of what print journalism should look and feel like.

My first impressions of the fluorescent lights, the sounds of reporters banging at keyboards and even the archaic computers only reinforced my “All the President’s Men” view of journalism.

I quickly learned, though, that my internship experience would become as much about feeling out the newsroom and benefiting from professional criticism as it would be seeing firsthand the effects of the changing newspaper industry.

As a Chips Quinn intern this summer, I realized that while it certainly is an exciting time for journalism, with so many more means of communicating with the public, there also are the realities of decreasing circulation and ad revenue and their impact on a newspaper and the people who work for it.

What drove this stark reality home was when the publisher of The Tennessean announced voluntary employee severance packages 10 weeks into my internship.

I’ll never forget the feeling in the newsroom after the staffing changes were announced. The older reporters expected it, but the news threw the five interns, including me, into a panic.

2007 interns at The Tennessean. From left: Chris Rapking, Ally Smith, Emilie Yam and Jenny Song. Smith and Yam are Chips Quinn Scholars.

Would we have jobs when it came time to graduate? Would we even want to work in such a volatile environment? Was this what we were supposed to be excited about?

As we completed our last two weeks at The Tennessean, we learned that being a journalist is more than a job, and that journalists have always gotten involved in society because of their passion for intangible concepts such as free speech and monitoring the government.

The buyouts and ensuing “intern panic” forced me to tangibly understand why I love journalism. Working on stories ranging from government trackers to reporting on the impact of weather on different populations, I discovered that my passion for journalism remains at the root of each story.

The constant fast-paced environment—especially the energy and teamwork that burst through the newsroom when a big story breaks—will always make me excited to do whatever it takes to get a story.

I cannot think of any other profession that challenges and satisfies me as much as journalism does daily.

So, while journalism may look new and different now with blogs, podcasts and video elements, it will always elicit the same feelings of excitement, challenge and satisfaction in me and the other journalists.

The news media remains the most powerful form of communication in America.

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