Newspapers leave lasting legacy

WorldWideWebb
Willis Webb, TPA president's column

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A legacy is, of course, something you leave behind for those who follow once you’ve faded from the scene.

Not only do I wonder what my legacy of material things will be for my family, but I sometimes ponder what moral and philosophical legacy I will leave with them as well.

Among the many things I remember about my father, who died at the young age of 57, is what his only sibling, a sister, said upon his death. Dad had an eighth-grade education. He left a widow and four sons. As my aunt stood and looked at the people gathered at my family home, she focused on the four sons and said, “What a legacy for this man — four sons with college degrees.”

I’m not one to dwell on the maudlin, however, there are times when I consider not only personal and familial bequeathal, but what will be my professional, journalistic legacy and even broader than that — what will be the ongoing legacy of newspapers in Texas.

Obviously the question can have as many answers as there are newspapers or even as there are newspaper people in our state.

While there are, no doubt, many noble ideas about what an ongoing newspaper legacy should be, I think we must concern ourselves with two broad areas.

First, there are those things that represent and reflect our basic principles and beliefs that we wish to pass on to the reading public. Second are the accomplishments we have through organizations such as the Texas Press Association that improve our profession.

Edward R. Murrow once said, “It is well to remember that freedom through the press is the thing that comes first. Most of us probably feel we couldn’t be free without newspapers, and that is the real reason we want the newspapers to be free.”

It seems to me that Murrow’s pronouncement leads right into what I feel is and should be TPA’s narrow focus in public or governmental affairs. When the Legislature is in session, our function is studying any bill that has an impact on public information and open government, then taking a position on it with the appropriate individuals, committees or legislative bodies.

If we influence government to be forthcoming with information and to be open in its dealings to the public, then Murrow’s caveat of “we couldn’t be free without newspapers” is being met and is an ongoing legacy.

One of the basic functions of our profession has been well stated by Ben Bradlee, the famous former editor of The Washington Post. He said, “News is the first rough draft of history.”

When you stop and think about that, you realize the court trial you just wrote about or the city council meeting you covered and reported are the first written entries of that event into recorded history of your town, county and area.

We are creating a historical record for our readers and future generations. That’s a pretty awesome legacy in and of itself.

In yet another broad sense, newspapers can leave their mark for morality, ethics and integrity by the way in which we not only report the news and record history but in our commentary.

As we all know but perhaps take for granted, we carry with us each day an awesome responsibility.

Through our Texas Press Association, we can create legacies for our members present and future by providing services that we could not do individually.

The training and services provided by TPA helps make us all better newspaper people. Because of that kind of help, we produce better newspapers to fulfill our legacy not only to future generations of readers but to our newspaper successors as well.