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I have a disabled child and participate in a parents group aimed at advocating for our children with the local school district. The group is getting bigger and better known, and the other members of the group have asked me to become the first president. Prior to this, like most journalists, I've never been much of a "joiner," much less president of anything.

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Other than the possible time crunch, I have determined this is unlikely to conflict with my current job as a magazine writer, since I rarely cover local community issues. However, I started in daily journalism and have always thought I might return to a newspaper. I'm curious what reporting jobs might be closed to me if I become the president of an advocacy group for disabled children. Of course, I wouldn't expect to cover the school district our group deals with if I became an education reporter, but would some editors consider me too compromised to cover education at all? What about health care, or science, since both beats sometimes focus on the disabled? How disengaged, uninvolved and generally disinterested do I have to be to stay eligible for newspaper reporting jobs?

Thanks!

The Prez

A choice between advocating for your child and a potential future job is tough.

Much depends on how likely you are to pursue a journalism job -- and we have a largely unknown area about where a role as president would compel you to go.

Joe Grimm

You're going to have to make some informed guesses about how likely it is you will really be back into journalism and how strident this group will need to be.

The reason journalists don't get heavily involved in advocacy, politics and other partisan activities is that it can compromise our independence and cast doubt on the fairness of our journalism.

Extremists refuse even to vote, but most feel that voting is fine and that some level of community involvement is good and natural.

 

The danger zone is if your group becomes volatile, extreme or high profile and you, as president, later carry that reputation into a journalism job. A sedate group that works within the system is not likely to raise eyebrows with editors or readers. But once you raise questions about your independence, you will be closing some doors journalistically.