Broadcast Journalists for Others
Jesuit-Educated Journalists Find Success
While Maintaining Values
By Grace Rice
Arguably, the Jesuits have always been involved in disseminating information globally. Saint Ignatius of Loyola is known for bringing the first printing press to Rome, as he recognized the importance of communication in advancing the mission of the Society of Jesus. And the Jesuits are prominent in the world of journalism today, publishing the award-winning magazine America.
But when thinking about the professions entered by graduates of Jesuit institutions, broadcast journalism might not come to mind immediately. Given that Jesuits famously champion the value of a liberal arts education and “educating the whole person,” not one of the 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States has an undergraduate school dedicated solely to journalism.
But Jesuit institutions continue to produce Emmy and Pulitzer Prize winners and iconic figures such as the late Tim Russert, a graduate of Canisius High School in Buffalo, New York, and John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio. While Russert actually went to law school after graduating from John Carroll in 1972, he would later credit his “superb” Jesuit education for his success as a journalist.
Russert had no on-camera training prior to hosting Meet the Press, but he quickly became known for his respectful tenacity and unrelenting
JOURNALISM EMBODIES THE BASIC VIRTUES OF SOCIETY. WE NEED THE PRESS TO CONDEMN WHAT IS WRONG AND EMBRACE WHAT IS BEST FOR THE COMMUNITY.
questioning. Following an explosive Meet the Press interview with a Serbian foreign minister, Russert said, “I was very specific, but persistent. It is that kind of intellectual preparation and rigidity that absolutely stems from what I learned from the Sisters of Mercy and the Jesuits in Buffalo.”
Russert also spoke highly of the Jesuits regarding their mission and sent his son to Boston College. In an interview with Sally Quinn for On Faith, Russert said, “The Jesuits talk about men and women for others, and that’s the central piece of my faith that I think is more important than any other, and that is . . . We have an obligation to help people who are less fortunate, who are needy—that, that is where you see the presence of God in others.”
In 2009, John Carroll renamed its department of communication and theatre arts in Russert’s honor and introduced a nine-month fellowship with Meet the Press for graduates.
The late Fr. Raymond Schroth, SJ, who was a print journalist, found the profession to be a noble calling. He wrote in a 2018 article for the National Catholic Reporter: “Journalism embodies the basic virtues of society. We need the press to condemn what is wrong and embrace what is best for the community.” In his nearly five decades as an educator at five Jesuit universities, Fr. Schroth formed generations of journalists in the Jesuit tradition of being “men and women for others.”
Shannon Longworth, investigative reporter and anchor at Straight Arrow News in Omaha, also finds the profession of journalism to be deeply rooted in morals. She cites cura personalis—care for the whole person—in her approach to reporting. Longworth, a graduate of Boston College, says, “To be a journalist, you need to care about people, and when you care about people, you become curious about the world and why people are in the situations that they’re in. I think that’s inherent to Jesuit values.”
The late Tim Russert, host of Meet the Press, at his alma mater, John Carroll University
While Longworth went to graduate school to hone her technical skills, she extols the importance of her liberal arts education in preparing her for her career, saying, “Going to a Jesuit liberal arts school fit my career path perfectly, because I learned through all these different subjects that I was able to dabble in, which is what I do for a paycheck now. I jump into different parts of life, learn, and then boil that down into content people can digest and feed it back out to the world. That’s exactly what I was doing in college.”
Hazel Sanchez, anchor for CBS affiliate PIX11 News in New York City, also notes that her job mirrors what she was doing in college at Marquette University. Sanchez was originally drawn to Marquette because of its smaller size and faith-based education, but the absence of a standalone school of journalism also proved beneficial in her case. Sanchez, a New York and Midwest Emmy award winner, studied broadcast journalism in the Diederich College of Communication.
She says, “One thing I really loved about Marquette is that you got hands-on experience right away. At most schools you can’t get real in front of the camera experience until you’re an upperclassman. Where at Marquette you can get hands-on experience, in front of the camera, as soon as you walk in the door.”
In New York’s often competitive reporting scene, Sanchez prioritizes sticking with her morals over getting the story every time. She has found success in her career by showing empathy and integrity, as she says, “I would rather give up the big interview to be the better person. I feel like the people who will last in this industry—now more than ever— will be those people who you feel like you really can trust.” Sanchez also stresses the importance of having a faith-based foundation. “Despite some of the difficult times I’ve had in New York, going through the world’s worst terrorist attack and all the things that have happened in this city since then, and then raising my family in the city, that [my faith] has really stayed with me.”
Shannon Longworth works as an investigative reporter and anchor at Straight Arrow News in Omaha.
TO BE A JOURNALIST, YOU NEED TO CARE ABOUT PEOPLE, AND WHEN YOU CARE ABOUT PEOPLE, YOU BECOME CURIOUS ABOUT THE WORLD AND WHY PEOPLE ARE IN THE SITUATIONS THAT THEY’RE IN. I THINK THAT’S INHERENT TO JESUIT VALUES.
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Photo: Holly Schapker