Journalists are doing mission work
Many of us see our work as a calling
Imagine if your daughter has been wrongfully convicted of murder, and no one cares. Your wife died during childbirth, and the experts now blame her medical condition. Or your dad, a decorated military veteran, is rotting in a nursing home, and the owners pay you lip service — because your dad is really a monthly paycheck to them.
These are the stories that our investigative journalists quietly expose. They aren’t fake news. The reporters aren’t the enemy of the people. They pursue real stories intended to right wrongs and help the least among us.
Journalism is mission work, an honest cause beyond our eyes. Like nursing, teaching and police work, it’s built on a foundation of accuracy, trust, wisdom and character.
I’ve been a witness to the power of journalism for 28 years, and I am honored to be the new standards editor for the USA TODAY Network. I’ll use this space to share with you, truthfully and transparently, the good we do, as well as when we fall short.
First, let me tell you a little about me.
My American journey
I live the American dream. My family fled communist Cuba in the early 1960s. My family rarely talked about their pain, except to say it was better to die free than slaves to a dictatorship. I was 17 months old when we came to Florida.
I was raised by a godly grandmother, while my amazing mother, Eulalia — who had been in medical school in Havana — learned English, worked by day as a store clerk and as a lab technician at night. She saved her money to finish medical school in Spain and became a child psychiatrist in the United States. She’s 82 years old today, and my hero.
I wanted to be a doctor, but I’m a journalist because it was meant to be.
My grades stunk in high school and I dropped out of college, so I installed wallpaper, loaded trucks for UPS and became an emergency medical technician. I made a lot of cash selling beauty supplies. Sales taught me how to schmooze, solve problems and serve people — and how reputation was your currency. Sales was great, but I was miserable. At age 27, I begged back into Florida International University. In 1990, I graduated with a journalism degree from FIU.
But here is what my instructors never taught me: how to persuade a stoned drug dealer not to shoot you, or how to check for explosives under your car. Yes, those things happened.
This much I have learned:
Our readers expect us to be accurate, and when we err, we must admit the mistake and correct it.
Treat everyone with fairness, dignity and respect, especially our harshest critics. Always take the high road. Never twist the knife.
Quality journalism costs money; investigations take time. There are tears, anguish and second-guessing — often punctuated by personal attacks from those looking to intimidate or threaten our financial livelihood.
Faithful watchdogs
As these politically motivated attacks on the news media continue to gain traction, we risk losing the faithful watchdogs for our communities. That would be tragic. Every day, people call us, from across America, seeking our help. Not one asks our party affiliation.
I can reassure you that truth eventually wins. Injustices get corrected. And despite the divisive rhetoric, readers trust us, with their time and wallets.
In Arizona, our readers raised $65,000 for a Pearl Harbor survivor who got ripped off in a scam. And in Naples, Fla., a reader wrote a $10,000 check to help a single mother who escaped from a sex-trafficking ring.
“Journalism remains one of the world’s most noble professions,” said Jerry Mitchell, a reporter at The Clari-
on-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. His work helped put four Klansmen in prison for murder, put a suspected serial killer behind bars, and free a wrongly convicted woman from death row.
USA TODAY investigative reporter Alison Young documented how thousands of women suffer life-altering injuries or die during childbirth each year because hospitals and medical workers skip safety practices known to head off disaster. “The response we’ve received from readers has been overwhelming. Hundreds of women have contacted us with their own harrowing childbirth stories,” she said.
At The Arizona Republic, relentless reporting revealed how leaders in state government systematically fired employees, often older workers, nearing pension age. That reporting forced the governor to rehire 40 of those people. “Without the existence of the newspaper, those employees have no real recourse,” said Josh Susong, senior news director at The Republic.
In South Carolina, at the Anderson Independent Mail newspaper, reporter Nikie Mayo found instances of vulnerable residents disappearing or being raped at a local assisted-living facility. Her reporting led to a state investigation. “Many of us in small newsrooms see what we do as a calling,” Mayo said. “On the most difficult days, my hope is that our work will help people.” Servant leadership. It’s what we do. Thanks for your time, and trust. Please let me hear from you at 1-800872-7073, at accuracy@usatoday.com or on Twitter: