Future Nostalgia: the final claire-ified

By Claire Conner

As a soon-to-be journalism major, I could not be more excited about what the future holds. I’m eagerly anticipating my college move-in date, ready for the adventure ahead. Still, I can’t help but think about the past, reflecting on everything I’ve learned in my four years at Harvard-Westlake. I’m hardly a battle-tested journalist, but I’m deeply concerned about the future of journalism in my school community and country. Both are at a turning point.

The Chronicle is entering a period of transition as it merges with broadcast and yearbook classes into HW Media. We have the chance to rectify a growing reputation crisis, earning back the trust of entire academic departments and groups of students who no longer engage with our reporting. Confidence in national media outlets is also dwindling, and it remains at a historic low amid increasingly polarizing and profit-oriented decision-making in newsrooms.

It’s not difficult to recognize the importance of journalism to both Harvard-Westlake and America. Both have the right and ability to hold leadership accountable, build a sense of community and share stories that would otherwise slip through the cracks. But if journalism — on either scale — intends to survive the next decade, reporters, editors and audiences must dedicate themselves to two crucial principles.

1 - Trust goes both ways. Journalists: You must earn the trust of your audience. Consider a variety of ideas, present them in the most fair and neutral way possible, pay attention to the world outside of your bubble — and, most importantly, fact-check like your life depends on it. It is better to print a blank page with a smiley face on it than an article that contains false or vague information. Audiences: Advocate for change, but don’t hold grudges. Journalists need and deserve pressure to pursue principles like impartiality and rigorous honesty. Especially at a high school level, though, they need chances to learn and grow. Expecting perfection is actually quite sensible when it comes to delivering the facts, but excessively punishing mistakes prevents improvement in the long term. Helping us emerge from errors or poor choices is better than ignoring us. We are all human, and we can all be better.

2 - Independence is everything. A healthy democracy requires a free press that isn’t beholden to the interests of corporations, government authorities or the most powerful citizens. Similarly, a flourishing educational environment needs student media that is free from censorship. No threat supersedes the importance of free, independent student journalism. To the future reporters and editors at this school: my word count here is low, but please read as much as you can about prior restraint and the Leonard Law — you are protected more than you think you are. Research extensively, write carefully, and never forget that you have a duty to your community to share your reporting. cle aren’t going to change; the core development is that there are additional administrative positions and department-wide beats being created to make sure everything is covered in a streamlined manner.

It is certainly worrisome that when presented with the plan for HW Media, the majority of viewers believed there would be no more Chronicle positions, or that the broadcast, yearbook and journalism classes would all merge into one class period. All of these scenarios could threaten journalistic integrity; why combine The Chronicle, which must be capable of independent and critical reporting, with the yearbook, which has an entirely different purpose?

The Chronicle will choose our own leaders for next year, and Mr. Montgomery has assured us that he will fight as hard as he needs to back up our choices. Mr. Montgomery is the definition of a battle-tested journalist — he has worked as a general assignment reporter for four different newspapers and has taught journalism at the collegiate level for 20 years. Sophomores and juniors, don’t worry. The Chronicle will remain editorially sovereign, and if someone tries to breach that — whether it be HW Media or the administration — I have the utmost confidence that Mr. Montgomery has the paper in wonderful, fearless hands. Whatever happens, it must be you, the student journalists, who stand up for yourselves and enlist Mr. Montgomery when necessary. Stay weary, but trust that you have a long line of alumni ready to help at a moment’s notice.

By Georgia Goldberg

Los Angeles! The city of angels! The city of stars! The city with more white Teslas than people!* Growing up in LA has made me smarter, worldlier, better. Than whom, you may ask?