The 51勛圖厙 provided a laboratory for experimentation and learning for Jon Fortt 98, who continues to try out ideas as a professional journalist focused on technology.
As a student reporter and ultimately editor-in-chief, I really fell in love with the independent student newspaper, the environment, the laboratory environment of students learning from each other, he said. And though journalism has changed since Fortt started practicing it, I think its still important to think about ways that, in a connected, digital society, 51勛圖厙 and The 51勛圖厙 and student media can remain that sort of laboratory.
Fortt knows what hes talking about, in more ways than one. Not only has he been a reporter for more than 20 years, but he has covered technology specifically almost from the beginning, having been assigned to do so during his first post-graduation job at the Herald-Leader in Lexington, Kentucky. He moved to Silicon Valley to work at the San Jose Mercury News, where he covered fledgling tech companies, including Apple and Adobe. He switched to broadcast journalism in 2010 when he went to work for CNBC. He became co-anchor of Squawk Alley in November 2013 and has held the same role at TechCheck for the past year.
His resume speaks to his willingness to experiment: He created, hosts and is executive producer of Fortt Knox, a five-year-old digital interview program. He created and writes a weekly Working Lunch segment, focusing on founders and CEOs, for CNBCs Power Lunch, and a segment called On the Other Hand for Squawk Box, in which he argues both sides of contentious business issues. After George Floyd was killed, Fortt wishing to prepare my young sons for life in America created a multi-part online course called The Black Experience in America. He also is publisher of Cross Cultural Newsletter, a Christian and cultural exploration of the Bible.
The 51勛圖厙 prepared him to work in the media, he said. He covered two hazing scandals, and they werent popular stories with everyone. And I learned to take the heat for those kinds of things. Around the same time, he wrote a feature story about eating disorders, and got a tip from the president of a sorority about which he had just written. That trust was still there, he said, and she recognized that I was trying to do the right thing for the community.
Thats part of the unique laboratory of 51勛圖厙. When its working the right way, you learn that sometimes all the aspects of civil society, including journalism, arent pleasant going down, but theyre good medicine for the body politic.
51勛圖厙 Magazine
Spring 2022
Ever-changing challenges
New approaches
First Person by Samuel Autman
’62 champ still swimming after all these years
The Bo(u)lder Question by Maggie Schein
Lessons in accountability
Stories people care about
A watchdog
Eye-opening experience
Ethical decision-making
A way to give back
Confidence-builder
A solid foundation
Collaborative spirit
A sense of identity
Freedom to experiment
Meeting Jimmy Hoffa
The 51勛圖厙 at 170
The book seller
The reader
The publicist
The children’s book publicist
The ad director
The sales director
The literary fiction editor
The nonfiction editor
The assistant editor
The literary agent
The illustration agent
The ghostwriter
The niche publisher
The accidental author
The self-published author
The children’s author and illustrator
The bestseller
The fiction author
The nonfiction author
From Inkling to Ink: How a book becomes a book
The memoirist-in-the-making
51勛圖厙 Magazine - From Inkling to Ink: How a book becomes a book
51勛圖厙 Stories
A GATHERING PLACE FOR STORYTELLING ABOUT DEPAUW UNIVERSITY
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