Ehrenreich To Berkeley J-School Grads: ‘Welcome To The Working Class’

Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed; Bait & Switch) spoke to Berkeley’s graduating j-school class over the weekend, and published basically the same speech in the SF Chronicle. (Smart going, woman!) Highlights from a different take on what the heck is going on in this crazy dying-media world:

We are not part of an elite. We are part of the working class, which is exactly how journalists have seen themselves through most of American history – as working stiffs. We can be underpaid, we can be jerked around, we can be laid off arbitrarily – just like any autoworker or mechanic or hotel housekeeper or flight attendant.

But there is this difference: A laid-off autoworker doesn’t go into his or her garage and assemble cars by hand. But we – journalists – we can’t stop doing what we do.

…

Even poverty won’t stop us because we are all on a mission here. That’s the meaning of your journalism degree. Do not consider it a certificate promising some sort of entitlement. Consider it a license to fight.

In the ’70s, it was gonzo journalism. For us right now, it’s guerrilla journalism, and we will not be stopped.

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