When the other group presenting on "The Insider" announced that they had contacted Jeffrey Wigand, we knew that we had to step up our game and somehow get a hold of Lowell Bergman. Lucky for us, he teaches at the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and both his telephone and email were listed in his contact information. So, shooting for the moon, we explained who we were and what we were doing and emailed him a couple of questions we thought it'd be neat if he answered. After about a week of waiting, we called the number and left him a voice mail. Admittedly we did a lot of pestering to get him to talk to us (but isn't that an admirable trait for aspiring journalists?). Finally he responded with a brief email and even wished us good luck on our project!
Investigative journalism has changed a lot in just the past decade that this occurred. How do you view investigative journalism? What major changes have you noticed?
Investigative journalism is a form of public interest reporting that is a "Public Good". Its not something that you pay for. Its purpose is to help society.
I would agree that investigative journalism has changed dramatically, not in the way it is performed, but more so in the way it is published. If anything there is more of it going on. Obviously not in major newspapers, those are a dying breed. But there is a lot more going on online and in nonprofit investigative reporting groups that have proliferated around the world.
How did your involvement with the story and interview affect yourself? Have you learned anything from it?
There's a line in the movie where Al Pacino is frustrated and tells his wife that nobody will talk to him unless he mentions that he is with 60 Minutes. While that was true for me then, it definitley is not now. I tell people that I'm "just" Lowell Bergman and they'll say anything I ask. In seriousness, it made me leave television news, in the end though it's allowed my career to flourish.
What did I learn from the interview? Ah, now that's a long story...I'll let you know when I figure it out myself.
What advice could you offer us and our peers as we pursue journalistic careers?
Keep going. If you're still pursing journalism at this point, you know that the field is very competitive and that furthering your future will not be an easy path. The ethical state of journalism sucks but that is not new. You're entering the field at a much more challenging time then I did and I admire your gusto. So if you love it and if it's important to you, keep going.
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