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The greatest journalism teacher I ever encountered did not teach at Union Grove Union High School, or in the University of Wisconsin System, or even at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism all of which I was privileged to attend.

She did not work for the New York Times or the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette or the Toledo Blade or The Capital Times all of which I have been privileged to write for over the past several decades.

The greatest journalism teacher I ever encountered was a working mom from Silver Lake, Wis., who for several decades edited local newspapers in southeastern Wisconsin.

I came to know Edna Mescher when she began editing the Westine Report, the weekly newspaper that I started writing for when I was still too young to drive. Edna actually recruited me for the job.

I had been writing since I was 11 years old for another newspaper in Union Grove, the Sun. Edna offered me a chance to cover more politics, which I loved doing even then, and even chipped in for film for the clunky Polaroid camera with which I took pictures.

Neither Edna nor I ever made a living wage. But that wasn't the point of journalism, as she taught me over our many years together.

To Edna, journalism was a grand mix of pleasure and responsibility. She taught me the joy of taking on any assignment, of rushing into the thick of whatever story was interesting or important or supposedly secret, and most of all of coming up with new and creative ways to write those stories up. She also taught me that, even in our distant corner of the Republic, we small-town journalists had a responsibility to stand up for basic principles of democracy, open government and speaking truth to power.

Edna backed me up when, as a high school student, I wrote stories that raised questions about the actions of the school board. She encouraged me to track down presidential candidates back in the days when the Wisconsin primary meant enough for them to visit small towns and ask them probing questions because, as she said, "There are issues that our readers want to know about that will never be raised by the reporters from the big-city papers." And she showed me how to treat even the most prominent and powerful officials with respect but never with deference.

The lessons that Edna Mescher taught have carried this reporter through a career that has taken me to the White House, to war zones in Latin America and the Middle East, and to the side of Nelson Mandela when he campaigned for president of South Africa. They have, as well, inspired my activism on behalf of media reforms to guarantee that America never has the sort of one-size-fits-all media in which the questions of rural towns, inner cities and other neglected regions go unasked.

It turns out that Edna's lessons were universal.

When I delivered the keynote address at the International Federation of Journalists Congress in Athens, Greece, two years ago this spring, I spoke of Edna Mescher and the sort of journalism she encouraged me to practice. The hundreds of writers and reporters from Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and North and South America applauded with an appreciation born of experience and an enthusiasm energized by a determination to carry those lessons forward into a new century.

It was a fitting tribute for Edna Mescher, who, until her death Jan. 10 after a long and rich life, remained a faithful believer in the redemptive promise of American journalism. It is a faith that those of us who were privileged to learn the craft from her will strive to maintain.

John Nichols is associate editor of The Capital Times. E-mail: jnichols@madison.com
Copyright, 2006, The Capital Times.