Bill Emerson, former J-school
professor, dead at 86
 Bill
Emerson said teaching journalism at the University of South
Carolina was “the only respectable job I
ever had” even if it was “only a veneer of
respectability.” Kind of him to say that, but Emerson’s
career as a journalist and his passion for the profession
suggests that beneath his own hard-charging veneer lay
a great deal of respect for the role of reporter.
Emerson, who taught primarily magazine writing here
in the 1970s and 80s, befitting for someone who was a Newsweek
reporter and Saturday Evening Post editor in chief, died
August 25, in Atlanta.
As a reporter, Emerson covered the civil rights movement
in the south of the 1950s—the Klan, school integration
and Martin Luther King, Jr. An Associated Press obituary
quotes Emerson as saying, “We knew we had to just
tell the damn truth. The truth may be plenty good or plenty
bad, but believe me, it’s always plenty.”
But Emerson’s own words tell his passion best.
These are excerpts from a 1985 article for the South Carolina
Scholastic Press Association’s “Scholastic
Focus” titled “How to Get Ready for A Career
in Journalism”:
It’s easy. Get Set! Get
Ready! WAIT!
What is journalism, and why should you be interested in
it? You can’t just blindly jump in until you know
something about what this job is. Well, it is entirely
possible that it is the most fascinating job in the world.
It means getting involved in everything that happens. If
you are a journalist, you probably will never be bored
a day in your life. You will do outrageous things, and
your fellow journalists will be the greatest companions
you could imagine. But, this is my subjective response
and you ought to be suspicious of it. The career and what
it involves can be described in a calm and responsible
way, and that is what I will try to do….
Journalists cover the earthshaking events in the life
of man. This information has an effect on everybody. If
you are a journalist, you may change the way people live,
the way they think. You and a few of your associates may
topple governments, stop wars, reform laws, trap crooked
politicians, save motherless children, and you may even
change the way people behave to each other in society.
It is also slightly more likely that you will cover the
coronation of “Miss Squash” during the squash
festival….
If the life of a journalist can be so varied, how do you
get ready for a career in journalism? It’s easy.
You prepare for journalism the same way you prepare for
life. Life IS your beat as a journalist, it is your assignment.
Everything you learn in school, and out, will be useful
to you as a journalist. Study anything you are interested
in; learn about everything you can get your hands on; observe
everything that goes on around you. Keep a journal….
Life is going to become more exciting for you as soon
as you decide that you want a career in journalism. Everything
you are already interested in is important to your future.
Football? That’s great, and so are farming and banking,
dancing and music, birdwatching, chemistry, physics and
civics. You can’t review rock concerts if you don’t
know rock music.
Be curious about everything out there, be observant, try
to figure out how everything works. If you follow these
simple suggestions you are on your way to a tremendous
life, and, who knows, maybe a career in journalism. |
