Serving the students of the Capital Region
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KC Orcutt
Talking with Rex Smith
Wasting no time and getting straight down to business, Rex Smith, Editor of the Times Union, shared a personal anecdote while he passed out manila folders on Tuesday. Showing his appreciation for design and topography, Smith advised the New Visions class to make name-tags so he can put names to faces at the start of a meeting October 23. He delightedly recalled how his mother took a college course in lettering as we scribed our identities. After creating the name-tags, Rex Smith began to talk in a more serious tone.
Rex Smith's strong, loud voice and intriguing presence filled the room; he is no wallflower. Immediately stating his take on journalism, he addressed that journalism is the "true picture of what's going on in a world beyond a person's own experiences." He then addressed how there is no value in the news if a reporter describes what people know. In fact the main idea behind the need for journalism is that, as journalists, we need to give a person information on what they don't know. Rex Smith simply stated, "We could tell you about 95 planes that land successfully every day at Albany International Airport, but it's the ones that belly-flop that is the news. Most of our lives include the good stuff. As reporters, we write about the exception. We write about what's different."
All of this information was dished out within the first five minutes of the meeting. I found myself, more than once, wishing that I had a tape-recorder. Glancing around the table, I noted that I was not the only one grasping on to every word that Mr. Smith said. Thirteen eager and energetic students listened intently to what Rex Smith was saying. Rex Smith, clearly, is a very intellectual and experienced man. However, he did not once talk down to us, nor did he mention certain facts about himself, such as being valedictorian at Columbia University in his graduate class. This modesty and selflessness added to his charisma and charm. He is funny without trying to be, interesting but not pretentious and intentionally makes valid points. His integrity and core values are contagious in the newsroom, and the excellence of the Times Union reflects his energy.
Energy is a key attribute that every journalist must have. It is the extra phone call, the extra revision, the extra effort that makes a story great. Rex Smith gave examples from his personal experience, as well as spotlighted the efforts of his employees. You do not want to write he-said-she-said journalism, Smith firmly stated. A reporter should get both sides, present the information, take a step beyond and use his or her intelligence to report it fully.
Writing with a brown marker he brought himself, Rex Smith wrote the fundamental rules of journalism on the conference room dry erase board: seek the truth and report it fully, act independently and minimize harm. "Our job is to be fair, not neutral," he said.
Smith continued on, with an introductory thought that the concept next on his mind is an advanced one. He talked about how newspapers that try to be black and white in factual detail are not always the case, and it’s the shades of gray that result in good stories. He explained as journalists you have to report the news fully and to dig deeper than he-said-she-said journalism.
Rex Smith ranked important qualities that all successful journalists should possess: intelligence, energy, curiosity and writing ability. He said that it bothered him when he asks a new writer why they want to be an active member of the newspaper staff and they respond, "because I always loved to write." Instead, Smith would like to see a journalist with an appetite for curiosity. Smith mentioned recently hiring a reporter out of college who displayed impressive energy and had among his credentials, his work as an eagle scout, a trained EMT and a licensed bartender.
Mentioning minimal details about his personal life, he said that he votes but is not affiliated with parties, is interested in politics and sings in an established choir. Smith, like Bill Callen the Sports editor at the Times Union, did not initially know what he wanted to do when he was older. He mentioned how in third grade he made up a fake newspaper and chronicled the happenings of his street. Smith worked at an advertising firm in South Dakota, as a press secretary and legislative assistant in Washington, went to college in Texas and "reform school" graduate studies in New York City at Columbia University, and worked on a paper in Indiana. For someone with impressive achievements as Rex Smith, he is extremely humbled.
"Journalists aren't real popular with politicians, you know," Rex Smith said, in response to the Bruno comments on the Times Union's coverage of “Troopergate.” Smith stayed true to journalism ethics in his response. He pointed out that several different respectable organizations reviewed the Times Union's coverage and found it to be commendable. Smith stressed and acknowledged that "minimizing harm" is another important factor in journalism. In reporting the truth, all journalists can do is to work to establish that truth. "Facts aren't always true," he stated, "we [reporters] don't just report and tell people what happened, we help them to understand."
Rex Smith is consistent with his balance of being professional and being casual. He makes for an excellent and over-qualified tour guide on a bus leading to a successful career in journalism. Rex Smith is an artist we can all learn from, and he says it best himself, “journalism is an art.”
This week we find ourselves waking up in the morning with daylight shining through our windows. We also find ourselves yawning at 6 p.m. at night because it's dark out and we think it's time for bed. Why? Well, the old saying "fall back, spring ahead" is what we did recently. Clocks were changed back an hour, resulting in another hour of sleep. Unless of course, you pulled a "Meghan" ....
Yeah, she missed out on her hour of sleep due to the fact she didn’t set her clocks back. She was ready for bed and her alarm was set for 6:15 a.m. She was scheduled to report to her wonderful job at Dunkin Donuts at 7 a.m. Instead, she got there an hour earlier. The one day out of there year when she could “fall back”, she was marching forward with coffee in her hands an hour before she had to.
As for KC, well she took advantage of the extra hour of sleep, and then a few more too!
Daylight Saving Time reduces the time between sunset and bedtime by one hour. (source: http://www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html) Since we have an extra hour of sleep, this means that that is one less hour people are being productive, and studies have been done that calculate how much energy is saved during the time change. Time zones were first used by the railroads in 1883 to make a standard for their schedules. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 states that if the country is going to observe Daylight Saving Time, then the country must do so uniformly.
"With the fall time change, we get an extra hour to do with as we please. If we sleep the extra hour, our mind and body will thank us. While we can't save time, we can spend it wisely be spending the extra hour sleeping," Ralph Downey III, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California.
Look at http://www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html for more facts and information.
So what has the world been up to this past week?
Click around and find out! Does that answer your questions?
Sincerely yours,
KC & Meghan
The Breakfast Club