Donna Lampkin Stephens was a schoolgirl during the 1970s Watergate scandal, a time when President Richard Nixon was putting journalists on his expansive “enemies list.”
Nowadays, with President Donald Trump haranguing reporters as “enemies of the American people” and constant purveyors of “fake news,” Stephens is training a new generation of journalists at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
Stephens is a Camden native who grew up to be a sportswriter, professor and author of the definitive book on the rise and fall of her old newspaper, the venerable Arkansas Gazette, “If It Ain’t Broke, Break It.”
The title refers to how Gannett Co., a national newspaper chain with a corporate news approach, bought the paper from Little Rock’s Patterson family in 1986 and over five years toyed with it while it lost readers and millions of dollars. Gannett left the paper for dead in 1991, selling its assets to Arkansas Democrat Publisher Walter Hussman Jr., who the next day published the first hybrid Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
But that’s another story. Last week, Arkansas Business was asking Stephens how her students are faring at a time when journalists are vilified by politicians, spat upon and assaulted by partisans, and victimized by violent police officers and demonstrators at protests.
There’s also the realization that the news business has been hemorrhaging jobs for two decades. Newsroom employment at U.S. newspapers fell by half between 2008 and 2019, according to the Pew Research Center, and overall newsroom employment in print, radio, broadcast TV, cable and digital-native outlets declined by nearly a quarter during the same years, from 114,000 to 88,000 jobs.
Stephens said UCA’s journalism students are enduring, and sticking with the program.
“Despite the onslaught of negativity aimed at our field, our numbers of majors and minors have held steady or grown slightly over the last four years; I’ve been a bit surprised by that,” said Stephens, who got her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English and journalism from the University of Arkansas and a mass communications Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi.
“Maybe it’s because journalists naturally don’t hesitate to take on a fight for the greater good,” she continued. “And the future of our democracy is dependent upon a free press, so this is definitely one of those fights. I was a child during Watergate, so this is the most serious assault on our field and our country in my memory.”
Today’s students value the versatility of a journalism degree, Stephens said. “I think many of them will take the skills learned and go on to nontraditional journalism-related careers. Critical thinking, research, writing, communication, etc. — those skills are coveted by a number of different types of employers.”
Brad Rawlins, professor and director of the School of Media & Journalism at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, said the need for accurate, reliable and useful information is as acute as ever, and that students remain optimistic about journalism’s future. “We are seeing students being more serious about getting the story right, with facts and verifiable information, because they know the dangers of fake news.”
He senses a renewed passion about journalism among college-age Americans, and predicts “they will help find the solutions to the threats facing our free press and democracy.”
One journalism student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock confided a darker view to a professor, Carlton “Sonny” Rhodes. Preferring to remain anonymous, she said the hostile environment frightens her. “I think it really puts stress on reporters and causes more mistrust of the media than we’ve had before. It’s scary to be a student journalist right now in this political climate.”
That climate seems unlikely to change quickly even if Joe Biden wins the presidency from Trump, a prospect that remained uncertain as this column went to press.
Another of Rhodes’ students reported facing no regular abuse working for the student paper, The Forum, or as an intern at a local news outlet. But his optimism for landing a position quickly is tempered by the tightening journalism job market.
Regardless, UCA’s Stephens says the battle to report the truth goes on. “Maybe I’m naive, but I’m optimistic,” she said. “Look at all the great journalism that has come out heading into the election. At UCA, we’re trying to put out responsible, ethical and objective journalists to battle the current narrative. We’ll continue to fight that good fight.”
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