On Saturday I was walking laps in the gym at the Great Bend Recreation Commission Activity Center, where Heart of Kansas was hosting its annual Heart Walk for the American Heart Association. With Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” playing on the local classic rock station, we all picked up the pace.

I’d been using the time to mull over my next viewpoint/column for the Great Bend Tribune. On Saturday, we ran Andrew Murphy’s viewpoint about the role that local newspapers play in informing readers and creating a shared community ethos. I knew today would be my turn and I too had considered writing about newspapers. My idea was prompted when I learned that there was no journalism class this year at Great Bend High School. That is, there were no students creating the “Panther Tales” online newspaper. I asked Panther Tales/Rhorea Yearbook Adviser Andy Negaard if the class went away. He teaches audio-visual technology and communications. His response was that while the Panther Tales website gbhsPantherTales.com is still active, GBHS currently does not have a class or students working on it. “I am hoping that changes next school year,” he said.

Maybe we need an influencer on TikTok telling teenagers how cool newspapers are? Or an exciting action movie with papers and reporters that is newer than “Citizen Kane” or “All the President’s Men”? Even “Spotlight” is 10 years old now.

It’s too bad that GBHS stopped offering print versions of Panther Tales several years ago, opting for only the digital version.

Back at the Heart Walk, I stopped at the Healthy Blue information table where Michelle Meares from Salina was working. As we chatted, she mentioned that she had majored in journalism and worked at a newspaper, first in copy editing and later in advertising, before deciding to take another career path. Now she is a community relations representative, traveling to health fairs and other events on behalf of Healthy Blue.

I asked her to share her thoughts on studying journalism in high school and college.

“Journalism was extremely helpful,” she said, adding the knowledge she gained is useful today. She learned how to write a lead to a story and present the central message in a thoughtful way from beginning to end. She feels the skills she learned gave her a little head start in other areas.

Why did she consider journalism? “I was naturally curious about things,” she said, adding she enjoyed interviewing people. 

There are several good reasons to study journalism, such as learning how to do research and how to write for various media. A career in journalism exposes a reporter to people and events. Journalists can contribute to democracy by reporting truthfully and uncovering fake news. Sometimes they can make a difference in people’s lives; sometimes they provide a record of a life event or history.

For these reasons and more, let’s hope students continue to study journalism in the future.