I saw the future on the streets of San Francisco as I walked arm-in-arm with a brash high school student who happens to be blind. She made her way through thousands protesting the onset of war in Iraq and half a dozen potential interviews until she found one amazing story. It was about a veteran who had lost his brothers in Vietnam, but was at the San Francisco protest to show support for the new war.

I saw the future in the eyes of Jesus Gonzalez, as he regaled me over lunch with stories about how easy it is to get gns in his neighborhood and his astonishing views on the way New York police treat Latino youths. Jesus had done stories on these topics and more, including a commentary advising Mayor Bloomberg on how to fix New York schools, for WNYC's Radio Rookies training program in that city.

I heard the future in stories from other Radio Rookies participants, who dissect and unravel their own lives in autobigraphical pieces that make you laugh, cry, and walk away with a better understanding of what it means to travel in another person's shoes.

I saw the future in Springfield, MO, in the work of the students of Hillcrest High School's Dave Davis, who is as good a teacher as I've ever met and, in my book, one of the best "news directors" in America.

Let's face it. Ours is a battered and bruised industry. We are not well liked, nor particularly trusted. Every day our work is dissected and scrutinized by radio, television and newspaper pundits of all political stripes. We watch as our indistry's brightest stars make mistakes that cast a dark shadow across all our work.

This is tough to accept for those of us who came into journalism in the heyday of Watergate, a time when journalists were more likely to be viewed as trusted public servants continuing the time-honored work of holding the powerful accountable.

Tomorrow's journalists face challenging times. Not only have we seen a huge proliferation of media--hundreds of chanels, thousands of "blogs"--but also, attention to mainstream journalism is declining, especially among the younger set.

What do we veterans know about the journlists of tomorrow?

Two years ago, when Ibegan working for RTNDF's High School Journalism Project, i wasn't sure what I'd find, whom I woul dteach, adn what I expected them to learn. Would i encounter apathetic slackers with exposed midriffs, baggy pants, multiple piercings and attitude?

Would students listen? Would teachers care? The answers came quickly.

We immediately discovered that you theach high school students the way you teach college students, small-market reporters and photographers and large-market journalists. You teach the basics of journalism, stressing accuracy, accuracy, acuracy, balance, accountability and ethics. You teach them at a high level because it doesn't take long to realize they already have jumped over the bar you had hoped to set for them.

And they listen. Boy, do they listen. They soak up all you can throw at them and come back asking for more. They write, at times squeaky-clean copy, wedded to the video and they shoot as steady as a tank embedded in desert sand. They find wonderful, tough, quirky and funny stories that highlight the world of the American adolescent. They are devoted to finding the truth and just as devoted to making the truth compelling television.

The stories in Best Practices in High School Electronic Journalism vary from first efforts to national award winners. You will see mistakes. Shaky camera work, poor sound, awkward writing, stiff on-air performance. You also will see emotional, gut-wrenching stories of life and death issues.

Watch closely. Learn from the mistakes. Emulate the winners.

Watch closely and apply what you learn in your own program. Watch so you will be able to help kids tell the stories of your school in ways that matter to them. Teach them how to report with precision, accuracy, sensitivity and thought, in ways no other journalist can because no one knows the community the way they do. Teach the students to do this work because the rest of us need you to. Do this for the future of journalism. And when you do, those of us who are veteran journalists will rest easy, knowing that tomorrow's lights are shining brighter every day.

--Dale Russell
Senior Investigative Reporter
WAGA-TV