The Power of Words. GERRY GOLDSTEIN: A good time to welcome Tiffany

8.18.98
GERRY GOLDSTEIN: A good time to welcome Tiffany

      : Should The Boston Globe have led Mike Barnicle to the door and put its boot upside his rump? For us in the scribbling business, the discussion cuts to the marrow of who we are — of just how dear we hold the concept of truth.
       The Globe last week cranked out more fiction than Patricia Smith ever wrote for it, peddling the notion that we in the news business can compromise truth without soiling ourselves.
       Fine. Then let the Globe take over one of my jobs this week. Let the Globe introduce Tiffany to newspapering. She will show up here today, fresh from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism, a 3.35 average, and a consuming belief that words written in newspapers are words that matter.
       Tiffany is among a minority of journalism grads these days; most in her generation are mesmerized by the glamour and glitter of television. She, herself, has what it takes to beguile any television producer — she's polished and attractive, well-spoken and well-dressed. But she has her own ideas about how she intends to approach journalism.
       Don't be misled by Tiffany's classy name; there is no silver spoon in this mix. Her dad's a fireman, her mom a secretary — folks like the ones that Barnicle has written up time and again.
      : When she came for her interviews — we put her through a cadre of crusty editors — I asked why she felt so strongly about community journalism. What I expected her to say I don't really know. But the answer I got implied a faith that the people she'll meet on her new beat, wherever I put her, will tell her stories of courage and inspiration, injustice and chicanery.
      : And they will, too. No need for embellishment a la Smith, or turning their thoughts into her own a la Barnicle.
      : Tiffany and I have a lot to discuss this week before I deploy her with weapons of might — pad and pen. We need to talk about fairness, and empathy, and courage under fire; about commitments: to accuracy, persistence, and — the Globe decision notwithstanding — truth.
      : So that's my job today — introducing a bright young mind not just to small-town Rhode Island, but to a profession whose essence is credibility. When its practitioners fail, that's bad. When its institutions — whose product is language — cave in, buying "sloppiness" as a synonym for piracy, that's unthinkable.
      : So welcome aboard, Tiffany.
      : Some might say this is a bad week to be starting a career in journalism, but I disagree. In fact, I was just thinking — it's the best of times, it's the worst of times.
      : Provocative line, don't you think?
      : It has a ring to it no matter who thought it up — so why would anyone have a dickens of a time crediting the author?

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