Besides death and taxes, there is one other absolute in my life - that I was going to attend the University of Kansas and have a life long love affair with all things Jayhawk. When I turned 13, another absolute cropped up - that I was going to major in Journalism and become the next Walter Cronkite. That Cronkite part turned out not to be an absolute. But that's okay.
All of this background is to say that the marriage of the absolutes revolving around KU and journalism meant I would have the privilege of attending a great school of journalism - the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at KU. I have been blessed in my career but it would not have happened without the jump start I had from KU and our great J-School.
So last week I had a great honor and thrill to attend my first meeting of the William Allen White Foundation Board of Trustees -- as a trustee. I was asked to join this group several weeks ago by the Dean of the School, Ann Brill, and the executive committee of the Board. The group serves as an advisory group to the KU J-School and selects an outstanding journalist each year to be recognized with the Foundation's National Citation.
Needless to say, for me to be asked to serve on this Board is amazing when I think back about that 13-year-old writing a career paper about becoming a broadcast journalist and going to KU. The Foundation has been in existence since 1944 and serves to continue the legacy of William Allen White and his incredible influence on journalism and the education of journalism. The big names of Kansas journalism and media have served on this group over the years and it is an honor to be asked to do my part to continue the legacy of Mr. White.
So just who is William Allen White? Simply stated, he was a pioneer and a giant of American journalism. He was plain spoken. He was a fighter for the things he believed in and did not back down from a fight. And he didn't do his work from one of the great American metropolises where other giants of journalism were plying their trade. He did it from America's heartland - from the Emporia Gazette.
William Allen White wrote the original "What's the matter with Kansas?" He had owned the Gazette for a year or so when he penned this piece that catapulted him into the national limelight of that year's presidential election between William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan. It was a clarion call that focused the eyes of the nation on fundamental economic and political issues of the day that were impacting not only Kansas, but the rest of the nation as well.
White got into a public debate about labor rights and free speech with a Kansas governor in 1922. He was facing arrest and a possible jail sentence. When the charges were dropped, he wrote his Pulitzer Prize winning editorial - To an Anxious Friend. This excerpt is as relevant today as it was in 1922:
"You tell me that law is above freedom of utterance. And I reply that you can have no wise laws nor free entertainment of wise laws unless there is free expression of the wisdom of the people - and, alas, their folly with it. But if there is freedom, folly will die of its own poison, and the wisdom will survive."
William Allen White had his private side as well. Tragedy struck he and his wife in 1921 when their daughter died in a horse riding accident. His prose was never finer than in his tribute to Mary White.
"A rift in the clouds in a gray day threw a shaft of sunlight upon her coffin as her nervous, energetic little body sank to its last sleep. But the soul of her, the glowing, gorgeous, fervent soul of her, surely was flaming in eager joy upon some other dawn."
This legacy of journalism serving the greater public good lives on at the School of Journalism that bears William Allen White's name. At the Board meeting, we heard about two programs that are great examples. One is called Covering Communities. It's a site designed to bring together journalists, educators and citizen journalists to work together to create more meaningful journalism and create stronger and better communities. These are the guiding principles of the program:
Name Your Aspirations. You can produce coverage that has the greatest impact when you name your aspirations.
Know Your Community. The ability to produce journalism that is authentic and carries authority begins with community knowledge.
Engage People. People find the most meaning in community coverage when they are fully engaged.
Act Publicly. What does it take for you to maintain credibility with the public?
This is a great project that is a collaboration of the KU J-School, the Harwood Institute and the Knight Foundation.
The second project has KU Journalism students spending time with 6th, 7th and 8th graders in the Rosedale section of Kansas City, Kansas and opening their eyes and minds to journalism as a career. We had two of the KU students speak to the Board meeting and it was moving to hear the impact they were having on kids who might never have considered journalism as a career. And to hear about the impact the young students had on the "older" students as well.
Hats off to KU professor Peggy Kuhr for providing leadership on both of these great projects. Both are a great tribute to the man whose name graces the Kansas School of Journalism.
The day ended with the annual awarding of the William Allen White Foundation National Citation Presentation. This year's award was given to a distinguished graduate of KU and one of the great photo journalists of all time, Rich Clarkson. Clarkson was named by American Photo as one of the 50 most influential photographers of all time.
More evidence that the legacy of William Allen White lives on. Take some time to study White and you will find someone who is as relevant today as he was in his own time.
A quick nod to my alma mater and the cradle of college basketball -- the Kansas Jayhawks are the undisputed Big XII Conference champs and did it in style knocking off Texas and college basketball's best player -- Kevin Durant. Final score was 90 - 86 in arguably one of the best games ever played in historic Allen Fieldhouse.
It looks like a wide open NCAA Tournament this year and March Madness will truly live up to its billing as sports' greatest three weeks. Kansas has had a tough road the past two tourneys getting knocked out in the first round in 2005 and 2006. So the skeptics will be thick as thieves questioning the Jayhawks and their ability to go deep in the tourney this year. The Texas game proved they can overcome a hot team with the best player by working hard and playing together.
Saturday's game marked Kansas' 1,900th all time basketball victory putting us just seven wins behind North Carolina and 40 plus behind Kentucky. It was the Jayhawks 50th all time conference championship -- the most by any school in any conference in the nation. Those two schools' greatest coaches - UK's Adolph Rupp and UNC's Dean Smith - both played at Kansas under the legendary Phog Allen. Phog Allen played for James Naismith, the guy who invented basketball. They hate being reminded of that.
So Jayhawk Nation, it's that time of year. We are a nine game run away from cutting down some more nets and hoisting some more trophies. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Recent Comments