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Though the world has changed, we'll always need truth seekers and storytellers

By Trish Crawford, BA'74, Journalism

Summer 2024

We were Western's Journalism Class of '74 -- 15 plaid-wearing, long-haired, earnest graduates in search of jobs and adventure.

For four years of journalism study, we'd taken notes in our own special shorthand and pounded out yarns on noisy black Remington typewriters. We'd used pencils, notebooks, three-ply carbon paper and our brains. We drank beer in the Spoke 'n Rim, wrote for The Gazette, and hung out in the "reading room" with newspapers and magazines hanging from long wooden spools.

Assembled on a battered working table in Middlesex College, where we took all of our classes, we sat for a graduation photo excited for our future -- these were the heady days of Woodward and Bernstein, when journalism was seen as a "calling". We were truth seekers, story-tellers and fact-finders.

We got the shock of our lives.

Think buggy-makers at the advent of the car. Papers disappeared, the job pool shrank, technological advances ruthlessly marched through all aspects of the industry and journalists fell off their lofty perches.

What happened to those 15 in the following half century of tumult?

Back Row: Doug Specht, Peggy Stewart, Paul Jankowski, Barbara Keddy, Catherine Finlayson. Second Row: Val Schlegel, David Pommer, Barbara Downer, David Fuller, Trish Crawford, Liz Palmer. Front Row: Pat Tonkin, Jeanette Jamieson, Chip (Brian) Martin, Diane Merlevede

We honed our craft in small weeklies, trade journals, wire services, national magazines,major newspapers and broadcasters. We reported for the Canadian Press, the CBC, Chatelaine, the Owen Sound Sun Times, the London Free Press, the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun. We covered beats and breaking news in the wild thrum that is "history on the fly". We freelanced and travelled in search of opportunities.

We persisted and thrived.

It was clear fairly early on to those earning peanuts or in remote locations that they'd be better served moving to the fields of public relations, communications and publicity which valued their writing and research skills. This was jokingly referred to as "the dark side". Two went back to school to become a teacher and a librarian. Four have died.

The bond that had been forged on Western's campus has proven strong enough to last half a century.

We kept in touch with each other and professors Ken Bambrick and Mac Laing, who'd been our mentors. We had a 20th and 30th reunion which brought us back to campus and the Mustang football games. A group gathered in Washington D.C. where a classmate had relocated and there was a pre-Covid pub lunch in Toronto. The 50th anniversary of our graduation called out for a special celebration so we returned to Western and ventured into the current training ground for tomorrow's truth seekers -- the Faculty of Information and Media Studies.

Back Row: Paul Jankowski, David Fuller, Elizabeth (Powell) Bohaychuk. Front Row: Valerie (Kremer) Schlegel, Barbara (Downer) Dalziel, Peggy (Stewart) Murphy, Chip (Brian) Martin, Trish Crawford

"All we had was a pencil and notebook", we mumbled, looking at the 3-D printer, designated library, studios, cameras, screens, audio boards and technicians.

Staff, resources, space -- we were overwhelmed by FIMS. It was glorious to see all forms of journalism, from podcasting to investigations, being recognized.

We were given a guided tour (we went on a weekday during the summer), got to sit in classrooms and ask our questions. The dean!!! Lisa Henderson threw her notes aside and engaged in a lively question session that spanned job prospects, the fundamentals of democracy and importance of media literacy. We could have grilled her all day and the fire she lit under us continued to glow as we ate lunch, took photos and got lost in Middlesex College (which is now the math department).

We were buoyed by the university's decision to adapt to changing times, expect the best of the earnest students, help them find or create jobs and study pillars of a just society. Clutching our 50-year alumni pins, we remarked on dean Henderson's positivity, hopefulness and pride.

The eight of us spent the evening talking about how we'll never stop wanting to know what is going on in our world, how friendships forged and skills learned all those years ago have served us well. How fortunate we are.