Despite our low approval rating among the general public, we journalists are among the most idealistic, hard-working and generous people I know.

The same is true of college professors.

One of the things I enjoy most about directing the Journalism Program is to bring people from both groups together, feed them, and listen to the wisdom that follows.

At the end of March, Journalism hosted a lunchtime roundtable for faculty and local journalists to talk about the challenges of teaching and practicing journalism in today’s political climate.

How do we report on the shakeup in the federal government in a way that is meaningful to readers? What can journalists do to protect themselves against the growing number of legal threats? And what can we do to help each other out?

Melanie Sill, the chair of N.C. Local, a non-profit created recently to support local journalism in North Carolina, reminded us to focus on stories that explore the impact of the many executive orders from the Trump administration on people here in North Carolina.

“How do we get better in line with what people need and what people want?” she asked. “If you ask a bunch of people about what is happening in the federal government, what is happening now, you would get different answers.”

The lunchtime roundtable was part of the Journalism Program’s commitment to support local journalism and interdisciplinary teaching. It was my pleasure to host faculty from Art, Communications, Law, Philosophy, Politics, and the ZSR Library with journalists from the Winston-Salem Journal, WFDD, Vox, The Assembly and Raw Story.

I left inspired by our collective commitment to report truthfully and independently on rapidly changing events. Many thanks to all who attended.

Phoebe Zerwick