Alan Sloan

Allan Sloan had a long and successful career working for Newsweek Magazine which culminated when he was appointed editor of Fortune Magazine. Born in Brooklyn, Sloan won two lifetime awards throughout his career as a journalist.

Yesterday Allan Sloan talked to a group of SMU students eager to discuss an important issue: is journalism dead? Sloan addressed the issue at the William J. O'Neil business lecture in Crum Auditorium.

Sloan thinks journalism is for sure not dead. He has been working for 40 years and was hired by seven employers. According to Sloan, the main problem with journalism is the low paycheck one gets at the end of the month. In order to be able to be an accomplished journalist you have to learn to work through difficult situations, to persevere and keep going even when times get rough.
Sloan said that people want to know what is going on in the world, and our job as journalists is to explain it to them in a clear and simple way.

Sloan dedicated a part of his speech to talking about his take on business journalism. When a student asked whether it would be better to major in journalism and minor in business or vieversa, Sloan said he had no idea. His conference was confusing in some parts as he really jumped from one topic to the next with little connection between them.

At the end of the conference he made a joke which I will not report as it was a bit vulgar, but that stated what he had been telling us throughouth the whole lecture: there is always a story, even when you don't think there is one. All you have to due is keep looking until you find it.

Sloan said he thinks eventually newspapers will fade away, however not any time soon. I remain curious, jsut like Sloan, of what journalism will be like in the future, and of the new ways journalists will find to present news.