In The Wake Of Halberstam's Death, Journalists Need Mentors

Yesterday's news of the death of 73-year-old, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Halberstam reminded me of why journalists need mentors.

Within 24 hours, news outlets posted their odes to the journalist, who died in a car crash with a journalism graduate student from Berkeley behind the wheel. The Harvard Crimson, the New York Times, the San Jose Mercury News, and other columnists all gave Halberstam his journalistic due with fine obituaries and columns.

But what about that student? Why was he there?

According to some of the articles, Halberstam was on his way to interview former New York Giants quarterback Y.A. Tittle for a book he was writing about the 1958 NFL championship between Tittle's Giants and the Baltimore Colts. Kevin Jones, a first-year graduate student, was driving.

So far, nothing has been heard from Jones, who survived with minor injuries. But in time, shedding light on the accident might allow Halbertsam another accolade: mentor.

According to reports, Halberstam had just given a speech at UC-Berkeley on "Turning Journalism into History." Jones had what would normally be the amazing experience of accompanying Halberstam on the job.

In a 1993 interview with the Mercury News, Halberstam said that "The public perceives us as being too powerful and too arrogant. We give a jarring perception of reality to people."

Nevertheless, as one of the more decorated journalists in the biz, Halberstam didn't seem too arrogant or powerful enough to take Jones with him to a big interview. That's a hell of a learning experience, I think -- seeing the master at work.

I might be assuming too much, since the story is still developing. For all I know, maybe Halberstam brought Jones along to fetch coffee. I can't say one way or the other -- I wasn't there. Maybe Halberstam's wife can reveal more in due time. But for now, Jones's presence in the car makes me believe that the industrious Halberstam was extending a hand to a new generation of young journalists.

Pulitzer Prize winner? Sure. Author of 15 bestsellers? Great. One of journalism's finest? Absolutely. But bringing along a journalism graduate student to a big interview? That sounds like a mentor to me. And I think it should work its way up toward the lede in many of his obits.

With Halberstam's death, there remains an ever-growing hole in the cultivation of the new generation. Journalists of all ages need mentors. It could be a boss, it could be a peer, it could be someone at the Poynter Institute or someone completely unassociated. But journalists can learn from each other. And I'm willing to bet that Halberstam, decorated as he was, was learning just as much from Jones as he was him -- the "reverse mentoring" that Jeffrey Dvorkin spoke about earlier this year.

Newsrooms have talked about it. Magazine offices have mentioned it. Ed2010 has the next generation buzzing about it.

So tell me, readers -- do you have a mentor? How has that affected your path?