Johnny Ironic

John Diaz, the current Op-Ed page editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, was anything less than a glimpse into a future that I won't have.

His accomplishments already seem daunting to me in ways I couldn't even possibly begin to imagine. Becoming the page editor for the opinion section of a widely-circulated news publication - in the bay area. Kudos John.

However, from his speech to my opinion writing class at SF State, I couldn't help but feel displaced.

John comes from a world that doesn't exist anymore, or that is rapidly dying. It's no secret that the spider legs of the printed news industry have coiled into its body, awaiting a hopefully painless death and that a new wave of journalists are spawning - each with their own agendas and numerous masterful skills to better equip them in a cut-throat media world. However, John spoke from this old world, a world where being a successful journalist was attainable.

Even John would admit to the change in the news industry, but I feel as if when he was describing his editorial meeting with Mayor Gavin Newsom, positions like his will cease to exist or more egregiously, be cut out.

It's nice to see successful journalists doing and living the way we young reporters would like to envision the watchdog world to be, but what we really need to see is what is to come. I want to see a journalists who is freelance, working for nothing, starving, who does photography, headlining, artwork, and production all on his own - I want to see something real and believable.

I personally have ambitions of writing for a large syndicated news publication like the NY Times or the LA Times, or even the Washington Post, but the reality is I will only be able to see the aging souls who worked for these publications back during the golden days of journalism, before the internet, before all knowledge, legitimate or not, was sprayed like a blanket for which the world's secular population was cuddled under.

There is no questions, John Diaz knows what he's talking about, he knows how to talk to aspiring journalists and give them traditional knowledge on how to be successful in the news industry - a gift that should be shared, and that I am grateful for having access to.

However, the irony of the situation is the John Diaz's of the news world in the future won't be working for a printed publication, they will be working independently, and fighting the competition for accuracy and strength in their work.