Even the best college journalists make bad calls. I made plenty. Thankfully, there was no Twitter to sneer at me for not "getting it." Empathy isn't just something we ought to extend to our sources, it's something we ought to extend to the next generation of journalists.

We're in big trouble if we climb the journalism ladder, forget how hard it was to climb, and also roll our eyes at those now trying to climb — while occasionally slipping — a much more treacherous and wobbly ladder.