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Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Wednesday, October 21, 2015 OTHER VIEWS Who’d be a journalist? E Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW UGENE — Jonathan Bach’s veteran television news reporter and dream job is in a profession director who is now a professor at the that’s widely reviled, poorly University of Oregon. When a reporter compensated and often dangerous. A is on live, as Ms. Parker was, Professor lot of people tell him it’s doomed to Force said: “You’re in the moment. You become obsolete. None of that seems to have little time. You’re on. There is no matter to him. going back and erasing it. You have just He still wants to be a journalist. one take.” This summer Mr. Bach got his ¿rst Ms. Parker and her cameraman, Héctar taste of daily newspaper reporting at the Adam Ward, died reporting the sort Tobar East Oregonian, a publication based in of everyday, unabashedly local story Comment Pendleton. He covered rodeos, Native that is the bread and butter of news American tribes and the opening of a operations everywhere. She held the new bar called the Strip’n Chute. mike steady as her interviewee He wrote a lot, wrote fast — and said, “This is our community and earned minimum wage. we want to share information that “It’s the best job in the will help us grow and develop world,” he said, with all the …” earnestness you’d expect from a Young journalists operate 21-year-old college senior. on a strange mix of adrenaline To enter journalism these days and idealism. They savor the you have to be a true believer. If rush that comes with making a you can ¿nd an entry-level job deadline, or conquering the stage — and newspaper staffs declined fright of a live broadcast. And by 10 percent last year — you will more than they believe that if they master those skills, likely take a vow of poverty worthy of a monk. they’ll contribute something important to their Even in television, a news reporter can make as communities. little as $18,000 a year. “I don’t think that one photograph is In our polarized society, public trust of going to change the world, but it’s a record of the media is at an all-time low, according where we are,” the Mexican journalist Rubén to a recent Gallup poll. Across the political Espinosa said in one of his last interviews spectrum, some accuse us of spreading before he was killed in Mexico City in July. He insidious liberal ideas, while others call us covered the drama unfolding in the Mexican lackeys of a corporate, right-wing conspiracy. state of Veracruz: of¿cial corruption, violent Worse yet, people think of us as heartless organized crime, disappearances, protest and jerks who’d make a little boy cry or kick an resistance. immigrant in pursuit of a story. Mr. Espinosa’s work had earned him death The truth is that the best journalists threats and the enmity of powerful people in connect with readers, viewers and listeners Veracruz. Many American journalists working by being open-minded and compassionate. abroad have faced similar dangers from those That’s one reason so many people remain in who would silence them — including James the profession, despite the poor pay and long Foley, a graduate of Northwestern University’s hours. As Mr. Bach learned on assignments like Medill School of Journalism. interviewing a rodeo camp volunteer, empathy “He gave his life trying to expose the world is a key part of the job. to the suffering of the Syrian people,” Mr. “You get to share stories and you get to see Foley’s mother said, after he was killed by his things through someone else’s eyes every day,” Islamic State captors in Syria last year. he said. As a kid growing up in Bend, Ore., I tell the young reporters I teach at the Mr. Bach dreamed of being a foreign University of Oregon to ignore the gloom that correspondent. He’d fall asleep listening to surrounds the profession and its future. People BBC radio reports from distant lands. India. will always have an appetite for true stories Pakistan. Russia. well told. His goal now is to report from Eastern And they will never stop wanting essential Europe. In addition to studying journalism, information, delivered quickly and accurately. he’s in his third year of Russian language When a gunman opened ¿re on Oct. 1 at a classes. And he’s already been to Ukraine community college in Roseburg, some 70 miles and Azerbaijan to try his hand at freelance south of Eugene, several news outlets contacted reporting. our university’s journalism department and “There’s nothing like dropping into a asked: Do you know a young freelance reporter country for a week, and reporting a story, and or photographer we can hire? Right away? getting it published,” he said. Cameron Shultz, a graduate student who Mr. Bach was also among the University of was hired by national television networks and Oregon students asked to cover the tragedy in local stations, took his camera and captured Roseburg. For The Daily Beast, he interviewed evocative images at an evacuation center and a friends of an English teacher who died in the candlelight vigil. shooting, and a nursing student who suddenly We’ve tried to teach our students that even found her class transformed into an emergency the simplest story requires craft and discipline. room. Consider the recent example of Alison I’m con¿dent that Mr. Bach conducted Parker, a 24-year-old reporter for a Virginia himself professionally on this assignment. And television station. Like Mr. Bach, she’d started that he remembered what we professors taught her career as an intern. Her last story was about him and his fellow students when we sent them Smith Mountain Lake, a local landmark. to cover stories on campus, at City Hall and at The video that Ms. Parker’s killer posted of county fairs: her murder reveals that he was pointing a gun Be respectful to the people you interview. at her, within her ¿eld of vision, for at least 10 Double-check the spelling of every name. And seconds before he opened ¿re. Ms. Parker was always make your deadlines. interviewing the head of the local chamber of Ŷ commerce. She was too focused on doing her Héctor Tobar, an assistant professor in the job well to realize her life was in danger. School of Journalism and Communication at “When you go on television, you lose the University of Oregon, is an author and a a bit of yourself,” said Rebecca Force, a contributing writer to the New York Times. The best journalists connect with readers. The future is here. What’s next? of vehicles on our roads. We know Great Scott! fossil fuel is too costly and limited Today, Oct. 21, 2015, is the day Dr. Emmett Brown and Marty McFly to rely upon for the long term, and see the innovations of both major car touch down in the future depicted by companies and upstarts like Tesla as the 10s ¿lm “Back to the Future: the next step in transportation. Part II.” Along with electric engines, The pair made the jump in the these vehicles will be far better at iconic DeLorean from 1985 and communicating with one another on appeared in a world where cars the road and detecting don’t need roads, danger. Driving hoverboards are all What will the will become a more the rage and the Cubs experience win the World Series. world look like passive until eventually your At least it wasn’t in 30 years? vehicle is a ping on completely far-fetched. the map, driving itself The ¿lm’s writer toward home. and director, Robert The big question will be how to Zemeckis, was obviously more power these vehicles as coal — our interested in getting a few chuckles current top energy producer — is and advancing the plot than phased out in North America. Wind, accurately predicting the future, and much has been written in the lead-up solar and hydro combined might not make up the difference, but our to this nerdy holiday about what he prediction is nuclear will be brought got right and what he got wrong. If you haven’t seen the ¿lm, here’s back online to ¿ll in the gap. • The family unit will continue to a quick rundown: evolve. In trends that date back to the • Homes aren’t equipped with 1950s, fewer women are becoming a fax machine in every room, but mothers and those who do are having people do tend to have their eyes on fewer children. According to the several screens at all times. • The “Jaws” franchise didn’t quite National Center for Health Statistics, more than 40 percent of American make it to a 19th iteration, but we babies are now born to unmarried do have a strange af¿nity for 1980s women — but are not unplanned nostalgia. pregnancies. Most are born to women • Newspapers still exist as a key in their 20s and early 30s. Marriage plot device in peoples’ lives, and news images are captured by drones. rates in general are at historically low levels — and they are taking divorce Later in the ¿lm the duo jumps back to 1955, and it’s strange to think rates down with them. It seems clear that in 30 years, marriage will not be that 1985 was the midpoint between the cultural institution it is today, nor then and now. Teens of 1985 — like the societal norm. A family will look McFly — have the same distant different. understanding of 1955 and vague • Daily printed newspapers won’t grasp of 2015 that today’s youth have exist. It pains us to say, but the of 1985 and 2045. demand for ink and paper is declining Doc Brown says in the ¿lm he too quickly to imagine enough of a created the time machine “to gain a resurgence to run a press every day of clear perception of humanity. Where the week and deliver the product door we’ve been, where we’re going, the to door. The daily news will continue pitfalls, the possibilities, the perils its migration to digital formats, and and promise.” print will become a specialty. We don’t have a Àux capacitor But a specialty isn’t entirely a bad and can’t actually jump ahead three thing. Record players have come decades to see what’s coming next, but it’s a fun exercise to use what we back into vogue, even though putting an LP on the table and setting the know of the past and look at current trends to make some predictions. Feel needle into the groove is far less convenient than clicking a couple free to clip these predictions out, put them in a time capsule, and open it on of buttons and hearing any song in the universe. It’s because focused, Oct. 21, 2045. dedicated attention to a subject will • Technological advances can be always be highly valued. Newspapers tricky for the layman to see coming are no longer the best way to — Àying cars probably seemed like a lot of fun in the 1980s, but still distribute information, but they will aren’t at all practical. But we do remain the best way to absorb it on a expect a nearly entirely electric Àeet deep level. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. YOUR VIEWS Gas tax part of a 1-2 Nice streets part of punch to local economy every livable town I recently read a comment from a Pendleton City Council member about the proposed utility fee and 5 cent gas tax for the maintaining of neighborhood streets. “The neat thing of it is, it’s a one-two punch,” he said. Since when is getting punched twice a good thing? Haven’t the people in (and around) Pendleton been beaten enough with so-called temporary gas taxes for questionable projects in the past? I have a vote and a say in the gas tax, but the Pendleton City Council can approve the utility fee without my consent. I would rather the council take this ¿ghting spirit and punch holes in the current budget instead of simply trying to raise more taxes. Eli Stephens Pendleton Thanks to the citizens of Pendleton who voted to improve our schools so families would want to live here. Thanks to the citizens who voted to support Blue Mountain Community College so our children can get affordable college. Thanks to our city government and many service organizations that have helped revive our downtown so that more and more businesses are opening. Many, many visitors comment on what a wonderful and attractive downtown we have with many independent restaurants, artisan shops, and historic attractions. I hope that in a month I can thank our citizens for supporting a gas tax to ¿x our incredibly crappy roads. If you are concerned about the cost of the tax, talk to a variety of folks who aren’t simply trying to scare you with rumors about the cost. It is a very small amount of money each month to have our roads ¿xed. A yes vote for upgrading our roads is more than just ¿xing potholes, it’s about making Pendleton a city we are proud of and a town in which folks would want to visit, shop, and raise a family. David Lange Pendleton Oil companies behind gas tax attack ads Do you know that Byrnes Oil Company, whose owner lives in Pilot Rock, donated $3,000 to the Oregon Fuels Association PAC — a Portland-based political action committee — to inÀuence the outcome of the city of Pendleton fuel tax election by printing a terribly misinformed mailer intended to confuse the voters of Pendleton? It says: Don’t trust em! Vote no! So, what other big spender out-of-towners want to tell us how to vote? It’s really pretty simple: <es, you get the streets ¿xed no, you don’t. ’Nuff bum dope. Get the nickels out. Let’s do something really big for once: ¿x the damn streets. Have a nice day. Don’t raise gas prices in Pendleton, vote no I like buying all my gas in Pendleton. Low gas prices will bring business back to Pendleton. Let’s not go back to the highest priced gas in the county. Vote no on the fuel tax November 3. Rex J. Morehouse Pendleton Larry O’Rourke Pendleton LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of resi- dence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.