Zimmer stresses ethics, accuracy

KOA Radio sports director Larry Zimmer shares with the class of 2003 some of the wisdom he's learned from a long career in journalism.

Radio 850 KOA Sports Director Larry Zimmer, who has announced athletic contests at CU-Boulder for 30 years and is widely known as the voice of the Colorado Buffaloes, delivered the School's graduation speech on May 8 in Macky Auditorium.

It is indeed an honor for me to be invited to address this gathering of distinguished faculty, students, parents, friends and, particularly, you, the Class of 2003.

You have reached a major milestone in your life. In accepting this invitation to address you, I recognize the responsibility.

I have some tough acts to follow. I'm aware of the fine address delivered by Jim Gray in the recent past. Then, there was the address by Doug Looney about interviewing a dead person. A year ago, we heard the inspirational message of former Dean Del Brinkman.

Well, I'm not a humorist, and I'm certainly not a dean, so I guess I'm on my own.

I asked President Betsy Hoffman for advice. She said keep it short. I'm reminded of the little girl in her first day of kindergarten when the teacher said, "If anyone has to go to the bathroom, hold up two fingers." The little girl said, "How will that help?"

So if this gets too long, hold up two fingers. I'll get the message.

I have been blessed in my career. In the days before television, radio provided the instant and intimate accounts of news and sports; it fascinated me and planted the seed.

For the past 30 years or so, I've been in sports. We jokingly call it the "playpen" of the news business. What we do is interesting and relevant but in the great scheme of things really not of great importance.

Don't get me wrong -– for the sports fan, it's serious business, so we must take it seriously – as long as we don't take ourselves too seriously.

Today marks the beginning of the next stage of your life. You are leaving the classroom and entering an imperfect world. I think back to my graduation day, and I'm sure my thoughts were the same as yours today. The idealism in all of us make us vow that we are going to have a part in changing the world.

In a speech at Eureka College 36 years ago, Ronald Reagan said, "Each generation is critical of its predecessor. But remember, we who preceded you asked those who preceded us why so many problems remain unsolved, and there's another generation on the way who will ask it of you."

Seniors mark graduation with the traditional moving of the tassel.

Journalism is a noble profession, but it is a broad heading. When you leave this great university, some of you will become reporters for newspapers, radio and television, some for the big city daily, some for the hometown weekly, some for the network, some for the small-market station in the middle of the Plains. Some of you will teach. Some will be in public relations, some will write for magazines. And many of you will be producing advertising in different media.

No matter what path you follow, I would like you to think about some things that have guided me and served me well in more than 45 years of my professional career.

My sports broadcasting students will tell you there's one word they hear in every one of my classes – preparation. Actually, you have been preparing since the day you were born. As you advanced through your formal education, preparation has simply become more intense. Remember, preparation never ends.

Humility: As a reporter, a columnist, a commentator, an advertising copywriter, you will reach a large audience. But you must not get carried away with your own importance. Legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow said, "Just because the microphone in front of you amplifies your voice around the world, [there] is no reason to think that we have any more wisdom than we had when our voices could reach from one end of the bar to the other."

Be humble and be honest. Start by being honest with yourself. Do what you think is right and don't be bothered with what others say as long as you are sure that you face yourself honestly.

This goes hand in hand with ethics. The media have changed dramatically in the past two decades. There are still the traditional newspapers, local and network radio, television and magazines. But now we have the cable with 24-hour news, where some incidents that would be barely mentioned locally become national headlines. We have had the proliferation of radio talk shows. The Internet has Web sites that give you rumors, unsubstantiated news on any subject that you choose. They vary politically from the extreme right to the extreme left and everything in between. You are about to enter a vast arena.

In many areas of this arena, ethics is a forgotten word. I hope that you will dedicate yourself to returning ethics to journalism. Veteran newscaster Walter Cronkite said, "The mark of a professional journalist is that we do adhere to an ethic. A professional journalist recognizes his prejudices and biases and avoids them in writing and reporting. There's no place in journalism for biased reporting on the front page. There is no place for subjective, personal opinions to creep in."

It is a creed that should be followed by every journalist, but we all know that we wouldn't have to search very long to find examples in today's news columns and on today's airwaves of violations of this creed. Leave the editorials on the editorial page. For those of you in the advertising field, you also face the challenge of ethical and truthful presentations of your product.

Fairness and accuracy follow ethics very closely.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his fourth presidential inaugural address was speaking to the country, but what he said applies to our profession. "We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immediately, but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes, but they must never be mistakes that result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle."

Mark Twain put it another way: "Supposing is good, but finding out is better."

Today you are understandably excited about the next phase of your life. Never lose that excitement. While in high school, I made an effort to meet sports reporters and talked myself into the newspaper's newsroom. There were no internships then; you made your own situations. Can you imagine my excitement the first time I was handed a piece of copy and told to write a 10-line story? I have never lost that excitement, whether it's doing a sportscast, an interview, broadcasting the Super Bowl or a high school game, a ski race or the Soapbox Derby. I hope you have that feeling today, and I truly hope that you never lose it.

Before I see two fingers go up, permit me to leave you with the words of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. While these were delivered to future officers at West Point, they are just as relevant to you as future journalists.

"Learn to master yourself before you seek to master others. Have a heart that is clean and a goal that is high. Learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep. To reach into the future yet never neglect the past. To be serious yet never take yourself too seriously. To be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. They give you a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, an appetite for adventure over love of ease. They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope for the joy and inspiration of life."

I congratulate you. Make us proud: your parents who have raised you, your teachers who have taught you, your friends who have supported you and, most of all, yourself.