© 2008
Bio of a HOH Journalist
by Lorne Smith
Newspaper journalism is an exciting field for a hearing person. It's a fast-paced, high-profile profession in which a person's work can be seen, often almost instantly, by hundreds of thousands of people. It's also a field in which accuracy is paramount and the spoken word must be understood
and transcribed flawlessly.
Although the Internet has greatly expanded the possibilities for online research, journalists still rely largely on oral quotes obtained through telephone or personal interviews, and often in noisy environments. Imagine dozens of reporters shouting questions to a politician in a crowded press
conference, or huddling around and quizzing an emergency official or eyewitness while police and firefighters scurry about, traffic whizzes by and sirens wail. Imagine interviewing an athlete amid the din of thousands of spectators, and then having just minutes to transcribe the athlete's quotes and shape them into a coherent article.
When I was in high school, I failed a hearing screening but I didn't tell anyone or do anything about it. I wasn't ready to wear hearing aids. For the next two decades, I didn't give much thought to my hearing loss. I couldn't hear much in crowded restaurants or at parties, so I just tried to avoid social situations that made me uncomfortable. Professionally, though, I had few concerns.
When I entered daily newspaper journalism 30 years ago, I could conduct interviews in person and over the phone and have confidence that my written notes were accurate. I could interview athletes and coaches in stadiumlocker rooms. I could report on crowded political meetings, court proceedings and public hearings, often attended by hundreds of people. I wouldn't want to do any of that today. Fortunately, I don't have to.
For the past 25 years, I've primarily worked as an editor of one sort or another: city editor, business editor or my current position, news editor. In newspaper journalism, reporters rely mainly on the spoken word of people they have interviewed or heard speak in public. Editors rely mainly on the written word of reporters. As an editor, I can give written instructions to reporters and copy editors and read their work without having to see or speak to them in person or by phone. Technology allows electronic communication to be the standard means of conveying essential information in the newsroom and to those working outside the newsroom.
As my hearing loss progressed, I had more difficulty at home and at work. After turning 40, I got a promotion and then spent two hours in a meeting in which I didn't hear anything. I realized then that I could no longer function without hearing aids.
For several years after getting my first hearing aids, I was directly responsible for dozens of reporters and copy editors and a half-dozen photographers. I monitored radio and TV newscasts and took endless phone calls from the general public, from public-relations specialists and from reporters and photographers in the field. I participated in several daily news meetings, some more structured than others, and I often had several people lining up to talk to me at once. As my hearing loss progressed, I upgraded to newer and more sophisticated hearing aids but I still struggled to hear, especially on the telephone.
In recent years, I've rearranged and simplified my responsibilities so that I seldom have to answer phone calls. I can send written instructions to reporters and editors electronically. Personal discussions are a supplemental but vital part of shaping and refining the written word, and these discussions are generally held in a controlled environment on a one-on-one basis or in small groups, where I can generally function as a hearing person. I conduct one daily news meeting with up to a dozen editors in the boardroom, where I usually arrange to sit at the head of the table and face everyone. If they face me when they speak, I can generally understand them.
During my career, technology has greatly transformed many aspects of newspaper journalism. Tape recorders and digital audio recorders have largely replaced reporters' pencils and notepads. Reporters can replay their recorded interviews as often as needed, sometimes through amplified headphones. Instead of dictating their stories over the phone, reporters can write and file them from almost anywhere in the world using laptop computers and the Internet. Wireless technology has allowed email communications to replace oral conversations that would be conducted with cell phones just a couple of years ago. With multiplatform news reporting, radio and television stations post written versions of their news stories to the web, making it possible for staff of other news agencies to monitor the radio and TV without having to listen to anything. Transcripts of television news reports also are available, although they are generally not accurate enough to be quoted directly in news stories. The rapid expansion of online news sites has increased job opportunities for journalists who specialize in gathering and disseminating news stories through the web. New agencies transmit stories electronically around the world, so editors who work exclusively with national or foreign wire copy seldom have to talk to anyone during a normal work day. Editors can produce entire newspaper pages, including articles, headlines, photos and advertisements, on their desktop computers and transmit them directly to the production department with the push of a button.
Journalism is just as exciting today as it was 30 years ago. The Internet has made it even faster-paced and more competitive than ever. And while newspaper reporting is still primarily a field for hearing people, technology has made it much easier for an editor with hearing loss to focus on the written word. And the written word is still paramount in newspaper journalism. For that, I'm greatly thankful.