Inspired and excited

In the last few weeks I felt inspired and full of hope about the future of journalism and newspapers in general. It came from a most unexpected place.

I recently attended both the NETPA conference and the STPA / TGCPA conference. The speakers were all quite good, the discussions were helpful and enjoyable. It was all wonderful, but what blew me away were the young people who attended. 

By LISA CHAPPELL, TPA President 2025-2026

Some were students preparing to become journalists and a few were in their first year or two on the job. These young adults stood out in many ways. 

Of course there was the obvious – that youthful glow that certainly stood out in a room of “seasoned” newspaper folk. Yes, we try our best to age slowly but the wrinkles, gray hairs and crotchety knees tell the truth — there is no slowing down time.

What truly set them apart from us was their passion and excitement about the future.

They were not bitter, tarnished or defeated. They were passionate and excited to talk about what it means to be a journalist. 

They gave a fresh perspective on what our future could look like and they know what we need to do to capture a younger audience. Now that is pure gold. 

These young individuals are indeed the future of our industry, and they see it with more clarity than we do.

The best thing we can do is support them, nurture them, teach them what we know and then get the heck out of their way. Listen to them and let them guide us and don’t discourage their ideas because of our past experience and thoughts of “that will never work.”

Let’s just shut up and let them lead the way.

So how do we do that? We bring interns into our newsrooms to give them real world experience. We can hire them fresh out of school, listen to them and try their ideas. This creates a collaborative environment so they can thrive (and us too!) and contribute to our success.

I would be remiss if I did not thank Austin Lewter and Paul Carr for their leadership and guidance to these students. They have the special gift of teaching and you can see the respect that their students have for them. It is because of them and other professors out there that journalism will never die.

Investing in students is investing in our democracy. They need our help to get started and we need their help to survive.