The red pen and journalistic integrity

A reporter's journey in the age of media transformation

It was my first week as a freelance reporter, earning $25 per article, and I was eager to prove myself. After hours of crafting my inaugural news piece, I nervously handed it over to my editor, John Pantalone—a journalism professor and long-time editor of the weekly.

What followed was a lesson that would shape my entire career. Pantalone, red pen in hand, began circling sections of my article and asking: "Whose opinion is this?" he asked. "Who said this?" "Whose position is that?" When I couldn't answer, he promptly struck out those words.

This experience taught me that journalism wasn't about my views or assumptions—it was about presenting and attributing my source's accounts, opinions, and interpretations of facts.

This rigorous editing process, where every statement required a clear source, instilled in me the importance of maintaining distance from the information I was gathering. It wasn't about what I thought, but about presenting information as it was told to me by those involved. Little did I know at the time that this approach was deeply rooted in principles of journalistic integrity and objectivity.

Balancing act: learning to present both sides

When Pantalone began to trust me with increasingly controversial topics, I instinctively presented both sides of the issues. This wasn't just a professional habit; it was ingrained in me even before I started my journalism career. During college, I had participated in a social reading club where every Thursday night, after dinner, we'd debate various topics, each of us arguing positions we didn't necessarily believe. It was excellent practice for the career I would later choose, where being devil’s advocate became second nature.