Gwen Ifill absence will be felt in politics and journalism

There is not much more than can be said about Gwen Ifill that has not already been said.

She might not have been as much of a national figure as other media luminaries past, such as Peter Jennings, Walter Cronkite, Ben Bradlee or Watergate’s Woodward and Bernstein.

But while less gossip-worthy, her weight was more arguably more significant.

{mosads}She was part of that second generation of women reporters, following Fran Lewine and Helen Thomas in the first, and she was the first generation to break the color/gender barrier. Every African-American woman reporter on television today owes the fact that their presence is not an aberration, but a norm to Gwen for making that truly possible.

As a professor of media who sees mostly women in his classes, I see her mark every day.

Gwen, you left us too soon. But apparently not before we left you.

Frequently, the passing of a luminary means the handing of the torch to a new generation. But what torch is left to pass? Her PBS Newshour, although staffed by extraordinary journalists, is less than relevant and hasn’t been for a while now. I mention the program to my journalism students and am met with blank stares.

And if this media cycle has proven anything, the old modes have either lost their way or lost their influence. CNN and every other journalist that became the virtual Trump Network in the fall, carrying his every speech and ignoring the other candidates, handed him the nomination and abandoned their oft-proclaimed sacred trust. And then when it was too late, and they started to do the great journalism (the Washington Post in particular) that laid bare his glaring inadequacies, nobody beyond the Washington Beltway was listening anymore.

Just think of this: virtually unanimously, the nation’s mainstream media either endorsed Hillary Clinton or came out against Trump. And he still won the electoral college.

Perhaps I could opine against the coverage. But that is not the point here, because I know these journalists and they are consummate professionals, and to harp says they are either unprofessional or stupid-they are neither.

Ifill’s passing is like the sad coda on the end the era that she so valiantly, professionally and classily shaped.

Does it mean journalism is done? Absolutely not. If anything, the Trump Presidency could give the impetus for the media to find its voice renewed amidst the deafening social media noise.

But it has to be different. More importantly, it has to be good and it has to be engaging. The age of journalism for journalism’s sake, an age I grew up in, is over. This does not mean the old places are dead. The Washington Post and NY Times have been doing some interesting stuff. Great journalists like Jim Sciutto of CNN have the potential, if truly unleashed, to redefine how areas like national security is covered.

Gwen Ifill quietly reshaped media over her career. She might have done it again. Sadly for us we won’t get to find out. She has passed a torch and it is now ours to rekindle.

Gelb is a an Emmy Award winning television producer who spent more than a decade with CNN. He is currently the director of the Washington Media Institute and a co-founder of DCWitness.org, a homicide tracking news site. Follow DCWitness on Twitter @dcwitness

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