麻豆影院

Former Chair,听Department of Journalism 鈥⑻鼳mateur Jazz Musician

When Mardi Gras rolls around, Paul Voakes grabs his tenor saxophone and joins a party band. His horn brings a New Orleans vibe to the music. Musical performance is a new experience for him. He鈥檚 a longtime fan of the saxophone鈥攅specially in jazz鈥攂ut just started lessons two years ago. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a struggle,鈥� he admits, 鈥渂ut I need to be a student of something all the time in my life.鈥�

Just as learning and improvisation are key to Voakes鈥� jazz, they are key to his journalism. As a reporter and editor for the听San Jose Mercury News听in the 1980s, he often followed new information in different directions in his stories. Like jazz, it was a bit of a performance, with tight deadlines and an audience of hundreds of thousands.

As a child, Voakes loved being the first person to learn something new and tell others about it. As a college freshman, he planned to become an actor, but his curiosity and knack for writing drew him to journalism.

鈥淛ournalism is like jazz鈥攊mprovisation and performance.鈥�

- Paul Voakes

Next, as a professor, he remained a student, eagerly adopting the industry鈥檚 new tools while applying journalism fundamentals such as accuracy and ethics听to new media platforms.

In a recent ethics class, for instance, he explained the rules of publishing people鈥檚 pictures. His students brought up the case of a college football player who sued a video game manufacturer for using his image without permission.听听The students鈥� debate over whether athletes should be paid when their images are used was Voakes鈥� favorite discussion of the semester.

鈥淭he great thing about teaching is that I get to work with intelligent, young, media-savvy people,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 never sure what direction any class will take us. Quite often my students end up teaching me as much as I teach them.鈥�

Paul Voakes retired in December 2017.