WHAT I WANT

 
JACOB KARABELL
Associate editor-in-chief,
The Fordian, Haverford High School,
Havertown, Pennsylvania
 
I'm writing about things I enjoy and have feelings about and a passion about. In school, when I write papers about books, I really don't enjoy it at all. I find myself laboring a lot. But, even though I spend a lot of time on the newspaper, I really don't consider it a pain.

At the end of freshman year, they asked me to be sports editor because I knew a lot about sports and I'm a good writer and they didn't have anyone else. Then I got really involved in the paper. This year they made me and another kid associate editors-in-chief.

I know a journalist's life is a lot about deadlines and a lot of travel, depending on what you do. A lot of interviewing people, knowing who to call and not being afraid to ask questions that people might be offended by. It's not an easy job, time-wise, I know. But I really wouldn't mind that because I'd be covering something that I enjoy.

When I'm at a sports game, I'm always thinking with my journalistic mind about what the headline's going to be tomorrow or the different stats on people that will be mentioned in the story. I think I'm already starting to develop that mentality. Sports is something that people enjoy, and if I do get that opportunity to do something related to sports, especially writing about sports, traveling with the team and being present at all the games and talking to people, I really don't think it can get better than that for me.
-- Interview by Kate Pinsley

ANDREW ACKERMAN
Assistant news editor,
The Emory Wheel
Emory University, Atlanta
 
I interviewed Charlayne Hunter-Gault once and she told me how, when she was young, her grandmother read her the newspaper every day. It was somewhat the same for me. I remember reading and discussing politics and current events as a kid with a friend I had known since preschool in Andover, Massachusetts. We grew up with Michael Dukakis as our governor, for heaven's sake, so there was a lot for us to talk about.

In 1992, this friend gave me The Senator, a highly critical book about Senator Ted Kennedy. It was written by a former staffer, and detailed Kennedy's less-than-respectable private life. I ought to have been disillusioned by the book, but for whatever reason the opposite occurred and political journalism became my favorite interest. Actually, I think my main goal is to snag Richard Berke's job someday. He's The New York Times's national political correspondent, and he has the most fascinating and glamorous job I can think of for folks who love American political journalism.
-- Interview by Ryan Smee
 
ANGIE LEVENTIS
Campus editor, The Daily Illini, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
 
This is not a job, it's a privilege. One of my professors, Ron Yates -- a foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune during Vietnam -- told us, "You are paid to watch and write history." I want to do that. I know this might sound naïve, but I want to make a difference.

There are a million reasons why I love journalism. When I was little, I switched ambitions by the hour: one minute I wanted to be an astronaut, the next I'd want to be a vet, the following day I was destined to be a ballerina. In essence, journalism lets me study everything. I might get tired or frustrated, but I will never be bored. I've watched drag queens prepare for a show, seen how hot dogs are made from the beginning (as in, oink, oink), and spent the day in a medium-security prison. What other job could offer me all this? Newspapers serve a purpose in society that cannot be replaced or matched by any other medium.

I honestly don't know where I'd like to work. I thrive on stress, so my first choice would be a daily. Working on breaking stories is exhilarating. I would love to be a foreign correspondent. And, if I had my choice of areas of the world, I would probably pick the successor states of the Soviet Union. If I could have a career even half as exciting and meaningful as Ron Yates's, I would die happy.
-- Interview by Ryan Smee
 
DANIEL HERNANDEZ
Editor-in-chief and president,
The Daily Californian
University of California, Berkeley
 
I can't wait to get back to writing. That's one thing that I miss a lot. I can't wait to be just a normal reporter and write good stories because that's what I want to be doing.

Still, at the rate we're going, we're going to end up getting our news from one source. It's kind of troubling to think that my generation is probably the last to see afternoon papers. I think this has been in my consciousness since I was young. I've been an avid newspaper reader since I was very little and, in San Diego, when the Union and the Tribune merged, there was something sort of sad about it. I think it's difficult to explain, but it seems to tear away at the idea of a free press.

That's one reason why I would try avoiding working for a paper that is run by a large corporation, by one of those chain machines, if at all possible. If the Daily Cal has taught me anything it's that independence is personality. Your paper has to have a heart that is all its own, I think. It sounds absolutely cliché and sort of silly to say it, but I honestly believe it. And how can it define itself if it's part of a chain of thirty others in every other mid-size city in America?
I'm a twenty-year-old who's not out of college yet, so I'm really not in a position to speculate about what type of paper I'd turn down over others. But I'll try to associate myself with institutions that I believe in, and by believe in, I mean believe in. So I think it would have to be a paper that retains more of its freedom, its independence, and also its spirit.
-- Interview by Nicholas Bender
 
JAMES PATCHETT
Editor-in-chief,
The Amherst Student, Amherst College,
Amherst, Massachusetts
 
The thing about journalism is that it feels like you're doing something good for the world, like you're really helping people. Also, it seems like a pretty intellectual endeavor, going out and seeing what everyone else is doing and trying to explain that.

Initially, I probably thought, this is cool; this is something I should do. Then I realized it was something that I liked to do. And the noble cause idea has taken over much more recently.

I was always good at making things very clear and concise. I love writing that way; it's very satisfying. You're producing something. The editing process is very satisfying because people are improving your work and telling you what they like about it and what you should improve.

Frustrations? I expect to find it frustrating that I won't always get to do the kind of stories that I want to do. I would find it very frustrating if there are corporate concerns that sort of underlie everything that I did.

I'm always considering other jobs, but journalism is a passion. Journalism is my dream.

Oh, I don't want to get too idealistic on you here. I'm pretty freakin' idealistic. I do think that journalists come to work every day and look for the truth. People complain all the time about their local papers, and that's really frustrating. I think that local papers are the foundation of journalism. Everyone expects their local paper to be The New York Times, but they have limited resources, and they do good journalism.

My dream job is to be the editor-in-chief of All Things Considered, hands down. I think it's amazingly influential because every congressman on his way to work is listening to what Nina Totenberg has to say. If your goal is to make a difference in the world, I think that's a great way to do it.
-- Interview by Sarah DiLorenzo