I am mentoring student journalists at Ball State; with the business in shambles, am I wasting their time?

Some navel gazing from a guy who continues to love the business that never loves you back.

Almost every Monday, I drive up to Muncie, walk to the Ball State University journalism building, climb the stairs to the Ball State Daily News and work as a mentor – they call it “sports journalist in residence” – with the newspaper’s aspiring student journalists.

It's a great gig, one I enjoy immensely, editing copy, giving advice, acting as a sounding board for young people who love the business the way I once loved it – and still do despite some hard luck on the employment front in recent years.

And yet, I sometimes feel some guilt. (I’m Jewish; it comes with the territory.)

Sometimes, I feel like I’m teaching them how to operate the Gutenberg printing press. I feel like I’m leading them into a business that is on life support, a business where we’ve recently seen Sports Illustrated gutted and more than 100 journalists laid off by the once-formidable Los Angeles Times. There are new and exciting outlets for good writing – Substack comes immediately to mind, of course – but if we’re talking about mainstream journalism, the business is hobbled to say the least.

When I joined the Indianapolis Star in 2000, the paper had well over 300 people on the editorial side. Today, the Star’s staff directory lists 58 people.

Yeah…yikes.

Am I helping these students? Am I helping put them on a path that will lead them to a satisfying career that pays them enough to live a decent life? Am I doing them any favors by extolling the virtues of a life in sports journalism and journalism in general?

Let me answer my own question, and maybe this is just a case of me looking to justify my own existence:

I think I am. I think you feed young people’s dreams. At the same time, it’s important to make them understand the pitfalls of pursuing a life in sports journalism. By and large, it doesn’t pay well. By and large, you’ll start off at a small outlet in central Iowa doing high schools. It is a very tough way to make a living. And yet, if you’re good enough and you want it badly enough, you can have the job and the life you want. But you need patience. You need a boundless work ethic. You need crazy talent. And you need a whole lot of luck.