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Dec 2, 2016 | Alumni, News

Pulitzer winner and alumnus delivers convocation address

Harold Jackson giving convocation speech

On August 30, Baker University was honored to host Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Harold Jackson, a 1975 graduate, as the 2016 convocation keynote speaker. The theme of the convocation ceremony, held on Baker’s Baldwin City campus, “Baker Builds Achievers,” was the perfect platform for Jackson to speak from.

Jackson has served as the editorial page editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer since 2007 and received the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing in 1991 while working for the Birmingham News. He has been recognized throughout his career with numerous honors, including the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists Trailblazer Award and the Journalist of the Year award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

In his remarks, Jackson reflected on his upbringing in segregated Birmingham, Alabama, during the Civil Rights movement and how his experiences at Baker shaped him to be the journalist he is today. He cited Jesse Milan, Baker’s first African-American professor and founder of Mungano, the student-run diversity organization, as one of his main influences during his time at the university.

“Baker had only 10 to 15 black students before my class arrived in 1971, but that year we had about 50 black students. We bonded as members of Mungano, a black student union that had been formed the year before in 1970,” Jackson said. “Its members were involved in every aspect of student life like student government, choir, athletics, theater, the Baker Orange, KNBU radio, and intramurals.”

While a political science and journalism student, he was the editor of the Baker Orange and met his wife, Denise (Pledger) Jackson, ’76. After graduation, he returned home to start his career in journalism.

Convocation also featured video testimonials from alumni Gordon Lansford, ’93; Patti Phillips, ’88; Brandon Scarborough, ’02; and John Thomson, ’95; each of whom is a leader in his or her professional field.

To complement the convocation ceremony, the Baldwin City Public Library hosted a panel discussion, “Today’s Media in an Election Year: Information, Insight and Finding Truth,” which featured Jackson, Kansas Public Radio Statehouse Reporter Stephen Koranda, and Dave Helling of The Kansas City Star. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Joe Watson, chair of Baker’s Department of Mass Media and Visual Arts, and was coordinated as part of the Kansas Humanities Council’s 2016 Pulitzer Prize Centennial Campfires Initiative program.

While the panel discussed political coverage in modern-day media, an underlying theme emerged that focused on how the prevalence of digital platforms and the 24-hour news cycle are affecting journalism.

“My Baker Orange clips got me my first job…I am in no way intimidated by [the shift from traditional media] and neither should any of you students here at Baker who are considering a career in journalism. People still want the news. They want to know what is happening where they live and in the rest of the world, but they don’t want to pay for what they can get for free,” Jackson said. “But good journalism costs money… People much smarter than me have been trying to figure out how to solve that conundrum… In the meantime, I would like everyone to support journalism now. Subscribe to a newspaper, send a donation to public radio; otherwise, what you know about may not be what you have seen or heard, but based on rumor and propaganda. Imagine where that will take you. Imagine where it will take this nation.”

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