During my budding career, I have been fortunate to work with veteran journalists many years my senior. I was and continue to be grateful for their experience, insight and wisdom, dispensed frequently and with candor.
Some of the most innovative journalists I know are also some of the most experienced. That’s because, to stay in this business through a punishing recession and unceasing technological disruption, they had to learn a lot, fast. They haven’t stopped learning.
Here’s what I would never do to my betters: Call them old. In an industry that all-too-frequently prizes youth and crowds out experienced veterans, the word “old” is accompanied by (unfair) connotations about being out-of-step with modern journalism.
That’s why, when I saw Senior Correspondent’s recent “#LoveOldJournalists” campaign making the rounds on social media this week, I grimaced. In a well-intentioned attempt to honor the experience and perspective that veteran journalists bring to their work, Senior Correspondent is using a word that has become particularly freighted in our chase-the-shiny-object industry.
Some samples:
I know I should be happy with this hashtag — #loveoldjournalists — applied to me, but I have to admit I’m struggling with it. https://t.co/m8De0sOnGD
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) March 7, 2017
@MiriamElder Kind of a back-handed compliment, at least in our culture. Maybe not in ancient China…
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) March 7, 2017
@Porter_Anderson @BenMullin I demand a special prosecutor. Someone over 30, preferably.
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) March 7, 2017
@Sulliview that is a bad hashtag
— Margarita v1.6 (@margarita) March 7, 2017
@Sulliview Bizarrely ageist. Might be borderline if they said “old school,” which implies certain standards/methods. But “old?” Really?
— Ric Fouad (@ricfouad) March 7, 2017
@Sulliview Kudos to the journos but hashtag is ageist af and for lesser knowns a target at layoff time
— craig s matsuda (@craigmatsuda) March 7, 2017
Margaret Sullivan, The Washington Post’s media columnist, brought The Buffalo News and The New York Times public editor’s gig into the digital age. To define her in public by her age (she is in her late 50s) seems like a head-scratcher.
She wasn’t alone. The campaign also “honored” several other journalists: Dan Rather, Michel Martin and Carl Bernstein, to name a few.
#LoveOldJournalists to show your admiration for the work of veteran journalists. @DanRather #HappyValentinesDay pic.twitter.com/vYBZCTGJGu
— Senior Correspondent (@srcorrespondent) February 14, 2017
#LoveOldJournalists @NPRMichel pic.twitter.com/qXcn5ELBgi
— Senior Correspondent (@srcorrespondent) February 16, 2017
#LoveOldJournalists #NotTheEnemy @carlbernstein pic.twitter.com/SlKhneXQ68
— Senior Correspondent (@srcorrespondent) February 23, 2017
The campaign is the handiwork of Daniel Pryfogle, the founder of Senior Correspondent who is also CEO of Signal Hill, a communications firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. In an interview, Pryfogle explained that the stigma surrounding senior journalists is exactly why Senior Correspondent launched the campaign.
Too often, Pryfogle says, age is viewed as a liability in American culture when it should be viewed as an asset.
“It’s something that we need to honor,” Pryfogle said. “For us, it’s a term of distinction. It’s people who have been around the block a few times and can help us understand the news of the day.”
In Pryfogle’s defense, some journalists named in the campaign haven’t objected to the label. Clyde Haberman, the longtime columnist for The New York Times, thanked Senior Correspondent for the shoutout and for resurrecting a quote about the art of interviewing.
@srcorrespondent Many thanks for this. (I even have hair on top here.) But at the risk of seeming dotty, remind me where & when I said that?
— Clyde Haberman (@ClydeHaberman) February 18, 2017
@srcorrespondent Oh yeah. That was quite a while ago, & obviously I’d forgotten. Many thanks for the reminder & for reviving that quote.
— Clyde Haberman (@ClydeHaberman) February 18, 2017
Pryfogle’s Senior Correspondent, which publishes work from contributors who are 50 years or older, touts a “seasoned view of the world” and seems like a worthy effort to impart some perspective amid the daily scramble for breaking news. He encourages those who are “taken aback” by the “old” label to rethink preconceived notions of age in our society.
I applaud Pryfogle’s decision to honor experience and a sense of history in an industry too often consumed by ephemera. And I know this message may sound strange coming from a 26-year-old. But I — and, I suspect, many of my colleagues — would love it if Senior Correspondent didn’t call them old.
