The Roanoker - July/August 2019 - 85

" WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN TRAINED to per form at a high
l eve l e a c h d a y an d t ake pr ide in yo ur wo r k , i t i s t o u g h t o
c o m p ro m i s e . I s e e T V re p o r t e r s eve r y d a y w h o a re r u n n i n g a round p ro duc ing c o nt ent t o sim pl y f i l l a t i me sl o t .
W h e n t h ey l e a ve t h e n ew s r o o m , i t s e e m s a s t h o u g h n o
o n e is a s k ing t hem t o invest igat e t his o r t hat , bu t rat her
t o g e t t h re e s t o r i e s a n d f i l l a c e r t a i n a m o u n t o f t i m e o r
s p a ce. ... I t hin k t he deman ds t o pro d u ce mo re and mo re
co n t ent f or s oci al media an d websit e s, bef o re t he paper
comes out or t he newscast begins, has been a real f actor."
-MI K E S TE VE NS
name papers ... But alas, it's what they
seem to want now-or maybe it's their
parents' ill-informed ideas of the future
of those two fields [journalism and public
relations] for an elite W&L graduate."
BILL KOVARIK , a Radford University
journalism professor and former newspaper
reporter, backs up Cumming's observations:
"We have roughly the same number of
students in communication overall but fewer
in journalism. Students are worried about
jobs and they get a lot of social pressure.
Radford has cut back on the frequency of
journalism classes, with advanced classes
being taught every other semester now."
Kovarik sees some light ahead: "RU
journalism is in the process of re-imagining
the curriculum and having a new emphasis
on media services to bring back financial
stability to community papers. New
technology has undercut advertising revenue,
but at the same time, new technology opens
lots of avenues for public service."
The Roanoke Valley is a mid-sized
market for all its news gathering agencies:
TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and
the internet. As such, pay levels are
relatively low, according to journalists
who work here, and the temptation
to leave journalism is high, especially
for PR jobs with large corporations.
Virginia Tech has about 100 people in
communications, according to Virginia
Tech communications executive Eric
Earnhart, considerably more than The
TheRoanoker.com

Roanoke Times, which has become a
dependable source for Tech employees,
as have local TV stations.
We undertook to identify many of the
journalists who've moved on and to chat
with a few. Here is what they have to say:
ZEKE BARLOW is a former Roanoke
Times reporter (called by columnist Dan
Casey "hands-down my favorite reporter
at TRT. He was always curious, intrepid
as hell, always landed the story and never
filed his ego with it") who is now in public
information at Virginia Tech.
He says his move to Tech "was a natural
transition for me. I wanted to tell good
stories. I still do that." He believes "public
relations and journalism [professionals]
are cut from the same cloth. ... I didn't
want to go to just any corporation.
Virginia Tech has a great story to tell."
Even with the move, "journalism is who
I am," he says.
CAROLE TARRANT was editor of The
Roanoke Times when it was bought
by BH Media. She is now Coordinator
of Development at Virginia Western
Community College. She and publisher
Debbie Meade were replaced in the
ownership change. It was, she says, "a bad
breakup of a relationship." She "felt like I
had done what I should have done and I
tried to do my best," working "so hard for
so long." She was hurt, disillusioned and
disappointed because "the new company
didn't appreciate what I had done."

Tarrant was "so in love with journalism"
and believed she could get a highranking job elsewhere, "but in a blink
[being replaced] could happen again."
She believes newspapers were "ver y
late understanding the change" that
was happening around them. "We were
spending money for custom fonts for a
re-design" rather than for reporters. "It is
infuriating to think about it."
Her new job is completely different,
raising money for scholarships. She says,
"I give away money," and smiles. She also
gets "to see the inner-workings" of an
organization by "people who want to keep
their names out of the paper."
She remains a fan-and subscriber-
to The Times and doesn't "want to leave
a bleak impression" about the future of
newspapers. "Most who leave want it to
survive."
ERIC EARNHART is a former WDBJ7
reporter and weekend anchor, now
working at Tech, writing speeches for
President Tim Sands, among other duties.
He also worked at Carilion in PR.
Tech, he says, doesn't "operate a 'newsroom'
as such, rather these professionals are
distributed among our nine colleges and
other unit affiliations ... Those colleges
and units have an audience that includes
30,000 current students, 10,000 employees,
250,000 alumni, countless prospective
students and potential employees, and the
broader general public both nationally and
internationally."
His decision to leave TV news "was
totally family," he says. "I was working
nights; my daughter had just started
elementary school and I didn't get to see
her. I couldn't feel good about that and I
wanted an 8 a.m.-5 p.m. schedule." And
there was this: "Staying in journalism [in
Roanoke] did not offer opportunities to
move up," since there are few anchor jobs.
JUSTIN MCLEOD was a WDBJ7
reporter and Danville bureau chief for
12 years, leaving to join the Roanoke
City Schools in public information. He
basically burned out on the news, seeing
"so much misery day after day," especially
during the "two months straight " of
coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings.
"I was 35 at the time [he left] and
looking down the road, I didn't know if
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