“Journalism is a vocation or calling – not a job – and it implies a special commitment, demands a certain lifestyle and carries a vision of a higher purpose,” says Jim McClure, editor of a lively daily newspaper in York, Pennsylvania. Surrounded by Pennsylvania Dutch farming communities, York was the capital of the United States of America for nine months in 1777.
“The
York Daily Record” follows on the footsteps of the “York Gazette and Daily,” known
nationally and internationally during the 1960’s for questioning the Cold War,
favoring civil rights and questioning the Vietnam War. Jaquematepress recently approached
Mr. McClure to talk about the role of journalism in today’s troubled world.
What brought you
into the world of journalism?
My
story is similar to that of many journalists. I started in high school as a
sports stringer. Then in college, I found myself hanging around the newspaper
office more than the chemistry lab. I
saw early on that the work journalists do is important – in fact, crucial. I
don’t think enough is made about calling. I’ve written before: Journalism is a vocation or
calling – not a job – and it implies a special commitment, demands a certain
lifestyle and carries a vision of a higher purpose. I guess that also answers
why I’m still in this business.
York
appears to have a rich history of journalistic endeavor.
I
did not grow up in York County, but I came to know The Gazette and Daily
starting on about my first day here more than 25 years ago. This was the
predecessor newspaper to the York Daily Record. For 55 years in the 20th
century, The Gazette and Daily was owned by Jess Gitt, a lawyer turned
newspaperman who was viewed as part of the far left.
Is it true that he endorsed Henry Wallace's presidential campaign?
Yes. Gitt's newspaper endorsed
Henry Wallace in 1948, one of two dailies in the U.S. to do so. The other? The
Communist Daily Worker. He was branded as a personal journalist by Jim Higgins,
one of his former editors. Higgins
explained to Neiman Reports that
Gitt’s newspaper reflected "an image in the likeness of J. W. Gitt - his
personality, character, temperament, interests, convictions, and intellectual
stance."
A sort of heritage...
Indeed. The pluses and minuses of such an ownership at a newspaper 75
years after the heyday of personal journalism and the post-World War I advent
of objective journalism are probably obvious. The notion is still out there
that we’re way left of center at the Daily Record on our editorial pages – if
not on all pages - because we happen to be in The Gazette and Daily’s lineage.
We are more centrist in our views, endorsing on our editorial page,
for example, Republican and Democratic U.S. presidential candidates since 1984.
Some
observers have criticized the Gazette for refusing to publish advertisement
from certain sources, or for not backing the Goldwater campaign. What is your
opinion? Should a newspaper have the right to decide what advertisements to
publish or to support or not political candidates?
Taking
the last part first, a newspaper – and its digital arms – have readers of all
political stripes. So to serve those readers, it should offer commentary –
we’re talking opinion pages here - crossing the political spectrum. It seems
obvious that one political strain can’t be right all the time. There are
strengths – and weaknesses – in all political ideologies. So it seems for a
newspaper to be independent, editors should have the ability to pick the right
solution irrespective of political party expressing it. As for Goldwater
advertising, what a collision of First Amendment rights! Gitt had the First
Amendment right to refuse that advertising, which he exercised. But didn’t that
fly in the face of his newspaper’s motto: ‘The news all the time without fear
or favor, bias or prejudice?’
A
great part of the Record's news activity is digital. Could we talk about that process? Is it convenient from the economic point of
view, from the reader's point of view, and what effect does it have on the role
of the journalist?
We
are owned by Digital First Media. That doesn’t mean Print Last. It means that
print – the newspaper – is handled at its time in the news production cycle.
Print remains important. But one of the practices of being Digital First is to
publish to the web, mobile and social media first and then you take that
content and produce it in the newspaper. That serves more readers because then
you provide content for those who seek it out right now, as well as those who
want it with their morning coffee. The fact is that more readers are seeing a
particular piece of content than ever before – when you put that content on all
the digital platforms and in print. As for journalists in the York Daily Record
newsroom, we now have a deadline every second, 24-7.
Censorship
has been haunting journalism since the collection and dissemination of news
began and the recent events in France with the brutal attack against Charlie
Hebdo put it into the highlight once again. Should a newspaper or magazine
publish anything it considers appropriate or should it take social, cultural
and political sensitivities into consideration? When can a piece of news be
considered slander or insult and when a genuine investigation into a situation
or the activities of a person or persons? Do you perceive any form of pressure
from government or corporations in terms of your practice of journalism?
The
censorship piece that we interact with most is a type of indirect censorship.
That is, we often face undue resistance by local and state government when it
comes to delivering information. We must resort to the Freedom of Information
Act or the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act, which have been notoriously weak for
decades. Pennsylvania has all these small municipalities – 72 of them in York County
– so some are not equipped to freely deliver what they’re charged to do. Not
that they’re inclined that way anyway. So we receive little pressure from
government against publishing content. Government officials sometimes just
don’t make it easy for us to gather the content in the first place.
Related
to the problem of censorship is the growing competition with the digital
media--which can respond to political interests, corporations or individuals
and as yet is subject to very little control. Should there be some form of
control concerning the propagation of lies or distortions of the truth,
manipulation of graphic material (for example, use of photographs of a protest
in one country to describe the situation in another) and what effect might that
have on the democratic process?
I
can tell you as a news organization that is fully involved in digital, the best
practices of journalism remain in play. But we must be vigilant and constantly
assess these practices. The news industry has installed various tools and
technologies over the years that would allow some to cut corners on journalism
ethics – the social media tool Twitter is one example - but the best news
organizations have adapted and must continue to do so.
How do
you see the future of journalism in York, in the country or in the world? How
will we be communicating in 3050?
Well, we’re simply trying to figure out 2020.
That’s a difficult enough target to figure out, but we’re thinking that video
as a form of storytelling may predominate at that point.
Mr.
McClure is chairman of the York County Heritage Trust’s Publications Committee
and helps edit the Trust’s annual scholarly publication, “The
Journal of York Heritage,” and other Trust publications. For
example, Mary Hamilton’s
“Rising From The Wilderness.” He has also served as
general editor of the three-volume “250th
Chronicles,” published in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of York
County in 1999.
Bio and other information:
