Editor-in-Chief of Baylor Line Magazine Talks with Students

As Editor-in-Chief of Baylor Line Magazine, Jonathon Platt said he often wonders how journalism can be tailored to a younger population rather than an aging one. Platt said he looks back to what he learned as an undergraduate journalism student at Baylor University and tries to apply that knowledge to his work today.

Platt welcomed current Baylor University journalism students on Tuesday afternoon in a discussion about this topic.

Platt said an important aspect he learned during his undergraduate years at Baylor University is to make everyone the hero of their own story.

“Everybody is the hero of their own story,” Platt said. “You’re never going to become the hero of somebody’s story. That way leads to neglect of others.”

Platt offered his thoughts about the villainizing of journalists over the recent years.

“I think in a lot of ways we deserve it,” Platt said. “There is a way to hold power to account without being jerks. It doesn’t mean you have to lack moral integrity to do that.”

Platt said if he thinks the “using, abusing and losing” of journalism affects the younger population.

“Yes, absolutely,” Platt said. “There is this idea that everything that you do as a young journalist will be Watergate. There’s a way to not be that.”

Additionally, Platt said what he thought was the most challenging story of his life to write.

“It was the Baylor sexual assault incidence,” Platt said. “That story challenged me to see how other journalists did not have the same level of morality that I have.” Platt said this story caused him “to leave hard news.”

Carlye Thornton, who serves as a media analyst for Baylor marketing and communications, joined the discussion.

Thornton said her job can tailor to a younger population rather an aging one.

“My job is way on the digital side of things,” Thornton said. “My main day-to-day is just thinking about how well students interact with our content. How will they want to come to Baylor? How will they grow an affinity for Baylor that goes beyond when they graduate?”

Thornton said she considers her current job a form of “modern journalism.”

“I’m trying to tell a different story every day,” Thornton said. “It kind of is going back to traditional news. I’m looking for that click-click, that double-tap. I’m looking to connect with my stories.”

Making journalism tailored to a younger population is going to be a difficult process, but Platt said he is hopeful. This question is a significant one and it greatly circulates throughout all journalism and media companies, Platt said. “This is the number one piece of journalism we are still having to figure out,” he said. According to Platt, the New York Times and Texas Monthly are just two of the companies who are scrambling to find a solution this problem.