I have to admit, working in a newsroom certainly has it’s perks. I spent yesterday as part of an editorial board asking the CEO of the local hospital questions about how health care reform will impact his organization, and then in the afternoon the office was discussing how opinion veiled as news affects democracy. I don’t see reporting as just a job—it’s part of the underpinnings of our government, of our ability to self-govern. Careful, concerted practice of the trade leads to a more informed public.

But what is a concerted practice of journalism? It doesn’t have laws. It moves and flows and needs to be debated and discussed. Working in an office, where those debates happen on the fly, is a great change. It’s a chance to test those ideas out, and have them challenged by other practitioners. It inspires spirited, constructive debate, which is what journalism is supposed to do in the first place.