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POCATELLO -- Tom Terry is a second-generation journalist who not only thinks reporters have the right to hold government officials accountable, but also believes the Founding Fathers of the United States made that point glaringly obvious.

"The Founding Fathers knew it was essential we have a watchdog poking its nose in to the government's business," Terry said. "It isn't their business. It's ours. We hired them to take care of it."

He said the way to make sure they are taking care of it is by putting a spotlight on what they are doing.

"We do that through journalists," he said.

In August, Terry brought his passion for journalism to Idaho State University's James E. Rogers Department of Mass Communication, where he is chairman of the department and an associate professor.

"It's a spectacular setting," he said of the department. "It's a great opportunity to have an important impact in a relatively small department. We are extremely tight-knit faculty."

He came to Pocatello from North Carolina where he spent the past seven years working on his master's and Ph.D. degrees, both in mass communication, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

From an early age, Terry said he never doubted his future would be in journalism. It didn't hurt that he practically grew up at a newspaper; his family owned five weekly newspapers in Geneseo, Ill., where he was raised.

"I did everything there," Terry said. "I am probably one of the few reporters who could run a printing press, and I have the partially missing finger to prove it. It's in my blood. I bleed ink."

He said his father insisted he learn all aspects of the business as part of an overall philosophy of letting no employee hold him hostage because he couldn't do the job himself.

Despite his deep passion for journalism, even more important to Terry is family. He's been married to Cathy Terry for 34 years and the couple has three children, two boys currently in college and a daughter in the eighth grade.

"She's told us we can't move any more," Terry said of his daughter's love for Pocatello.

As a teacher, Terry tells his student that the mission of journalists is to "explain and contextualize an increasingly complex world and society to our readers."

He said its the same job regardless of what medium is being used.

"We are unaccountable, unrepentant and unapologetic," Terry said. "This is what we do and they can't regulate it."

And now for the questions:

 

ISJ: What's your favorite food?

Terry: Deep-dish cheese pizza with extra sauce -- seductively delicious!

ISJ: If you could have dinner with one famous person, who would it be?

Terry: Winston Churchill.

ISJ: Who inspires you the most?

Terry: My wife and daughter: everything I do I judge myself by how I will look in their eyes.

 

ISJ: Who's your ideal next-door neighbor?

Terry: Someone with a small private plane, plenty of free time and an eagerness to take along a fellow pilot to just drill holes in the sky or chase a $100 hamburger.

 

ISJ: If you could return to any age, what age would you be and why?

Terry: Twenty-three. Just married, my parents still alive, and my children soon to be born. A time of promise and joy. Life spreading out endlessly ahead.

 

By Jimmy Hancock

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