When ‘get it first’ isn’t enough

The 20-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is a few weeks away, which reminded me of a big “lesson learned” journalistic moment.

During the 1980s, the Eastern Bloc began to crumble. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan delivered his famous “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” speech in Germany. By 1989, major reform was taking place: Hungary had removed the physical barrier of the Iron Curtain and thousands of East Germans had crossed the border; similar emigrations were occurring in Czechoslovakia; the Solidarity organization of Poland was legalized, clearing the way for free elections; and demonstrations were breaking out throughout East Germany. On Nov. 9, the checkpoints between East and West Germany were opened.

Fast-forward 10 years.

Northwest Missouri State University, my alma mater, has a weekly newspaper, published each Thursday of the school year. It is somewhat unique for a student newspaper: It also covers community news and sports events, and is considered a competitor to the local daily. The campus also has a TV station and two radio stations (one is an NPR station, the other is your typical college rock station).

On Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1999, Lech Walesa visited Northwest as part of a lecture series. Walesa was a union organizer, co-founded Solidarity and became Poland’s first democratically elected president. He served a five-year term starting in 1990; by the end of his term, he had lost much of the popularity that got him elected in the first place. Walesa was succeeded by Aleksander Kwasniewski; as the end of Kwasniewski’s term neared, Walesa had avoided answering if he would again seek election.

Walesa did not meet with the media before his lecture. But after speaking about his experiences as a union leader and president, and his fight for democracy, Walesa fielded questions from audience members. (Unfortunately, I did not get to attend his lecture. I was trying to put the paper to bed.) One of those questions came from our reporter, who, of course, asked Walesa if he would run again.

He said yes.

“You ask me today, and today I say yes, I am going to run for president of my Polish republic, only because I disapprove of the way the country is being run now. I believe I could do better.”

There’s nothing like that feeling when you know you have a scoop. The reporter rushed back to file her story by deadline and the next afternoon that story and headline were quite prominent. But we weren’t the only media in the audience — the NPR station, the campus rock station and the TV station were there, too. The radio stations also led with Walesa’s announcement. But they did it much quicker.

Lesson learned: Getting it first doesn’t matter much if you can’t do anything with it.

Walesa did seek re-election, unsuccessfully. He continues to tour and lecture at colleges and universities.