Warren Lerude

The dean of the Reynolds School of Journalism asked me to share thoughts on the value of journalism, the thrill of defending the First Amendment and a sense of Nevada journalism.

For over 50 years, since I entered journalism as a freshman student at age l7 at the University of Nevada, Reno, I’ve been pretty much involved in these topics the dean highlights with an excursion or two into national and international journalism.
The value of journalism is both simple and complex. Journalism and its roots in the First Amendment are the life blood of democracy in the United States.

Simple because democracy, fueled by journalism, thrives. Complex because journalists face obstacles every day of their professional lives to make sure journalism is not limited by overzealous and frequently secretive and self-serving government and special interests that would inhibit rather than serve the public good.


These complex truths ...

... resulted in John Peter Zenger being jailed in New York in l734, 42 years before the American Revolution—for publishing a newspaper critical of the British Crown’s representatives in the colonies. And these same truths resulted in American colonists rising to the occasion of finding Zenger not guilty of libel because they established a new concept: Telling the truth about government was not only all right but necessary if people are to be free.

The American Revolution followed with our free press thriving against England, and as quickly as we established our nation, the same press thrived with a free flow of information, including criticism, about our own newly created United States government.

The battle for freedom of information continues today, mostly along respectful lines, but also with the jailing of reporters who work to tell the truth sometimes in defiance of government.

This gets us to the second topic, the thrill of defending the First Amendment.

It is a thrill—unless you happen to be one of those journalists defending it from inside a jail cell.  There is a thrill of dedication to open government when journalists fight to keep courtrooms and city, state and national governmental actions open to the public. Journalists stand in opposition to the secrecy so many officials and special interests have attempted through the centuries up to and including today.

The Reynolds School of Journalism...

... teaches many things: good writing, tenacious information gathering, careful editing and savvy publishing. A healthy dose of critical thinking helps accomplish all of the above.

And the Reynolds School does something else of major importance for our students, our faculty and the professionals, businesses and many publics we serve. We teach classes in First Amendment and Society, also known as media law.

In so doing we pass along the thrill and sometimes harsh realities of fighting for the First Amendment as the lifeblood of our democracy. And our students, be they in print, broadcast or online news, advertising or public relations, go into their professions with eyes wide open and thought processes finely tuned to what freedom of information is all about in our democracy.

And that brings us to the third topic, a sense of Nevada journalism.

Nevada journalism has always been local, regional, national and international journalism.

Example: A young fellow arrived in Virginia City in the mid l860s during the world famous Comstock Lode silver mining strike. His name was Sam Clemens and he got a job as a reporter with the Territorial Enterprise, one of the more colorful newspapers in the robust American West. He needed a byline and so “By Mark Twain” was set in type for the first time.  He went on to work for Sacramento and San Francisco newspapers and then turned to authoring insightful and popular books. So Nevada journalism launched Mark Twain’s byline and writing career.

Nevada journalism has covered everything from atmospheric atomic blasts in our southern deserts near Las Vegas in the l960s to internationally acclaimed prize fights in Reno. Nevada journalists covered the birth of legal gambling in the l930s and have continued to cover that sometimes controversial topic as casinos sprout up in dozens of American states.

Nevada journalism has always had both a serious and funny side to it—serious in covering the mob in the l950s and 1960s, and in covering the development of Las Vegas. On a humorous note, reporters and editors on the Comstock in Virginia City’s heyday covered the news using more than a small dose of wit.

Legend tells ...

... of one Virginia City reporter who thought he could skirt libel by not naming a drunken public official. He supposedly wrote: "Six out of the seven officials were sober at the meeting," then listed the six names, but he wittingly or unwittingly identified the seventh by omission. We get into that kind of stuff in our libel classes at the Reynolds School of Journalism.

But mostly we get into the critical thinking and skills of our professions. We teach not only how our students can distinguish themselves through extraordinary work but why it is important. And we share the stories and legacies of how our graduates are dedicated through the decades to our principles where ever they have worked around the globe.

We are proud of their distinctions, rising to high leadership in all our professions. Six of our graduates have won journalism’s highest award, the Pulitzer Prize.

Importantly, we teach about the inspiration of journalism.

Famed New York reporter and editor Herbert Bayard Swope wrote the following preface in a book entitled A Treasury of Great Reporting:

“Journalism is a priestly mission ...

... It has high dignity. I commend this book to its devotees as a sort of Bible. It will help those already in the ministry and bring proselytes to the service. And it will show why newspaper work is so eternally and so irresistibly seductive."

Swope wrote that in l949.  I would expand his comment today to include all journalism in every form for what we do is truly irresistible and of vital service to the freedom of our country and those other countries who want to develop such freedoms for their citizens.

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