TIFFANY
1977
AMBITIONS BEYOND THE FRONT DESK
Tiffany works as the receptionist at the Toronto Gazette, but she has no intention of remaining behind the front desk. A journalism student with an alert mind and a genuine curiosity about reporting, she watches the newsroom as someone preparing for the day when she will become part of it.
Young and still learning, Tiffany nevertheless has strong ideas about what good journalism should be. She believes in facts, verification and getting the story right—principles she particularly admires in the kind of investigative reporter Jeff O’Brian once was.
LEARNING THE CRAFT
Tiffany pays close attention to the reporters around her, but Jeff particularly captures her interest. Despite the troubles that have followed his career, she sees in him the qualities that first drew her to journalism—the determination to ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions and keep searching when an answer does not quite make sense.
Her admiration is not entirely uncritical. Tiffany is developing her own ideas about what it means to be a good journalist, and her belief in accuracy, fairness and verification occasionally provides Jeff with an unexpected reminder of the standards he once demanded of himself.
THE NEXT GENERATION
Tiffany represents a new generation of journalists just beginning to find their place in the profession. She still approaches reporting with the enthusiasm and idealism of someone who believes that careful journalism can make a difference.
Her admiration for Jeff is a reminder of the reporter he once was—and perhaps the reporter he might still become. While Tiffany looks to Jeff as an example of the journalist she hopes to be, her own determination quietly reminds him why the work mattered to him in the first place.