A Mirror and a Window
Retired journalist Jim Bettinger ’69 supports the Daily Nexus
A chance invitation drew Jim Bettinger ’69 into journalism. A friend asked him to cover rock music for El Gaucho, the student newspaper. Jim spent the summer of 1967 reviewing albums including “Flowers” by the Rolling Stones. Over 50 years later, after a long career, Jim has created the first legacy commitment dedicated to what is now the Daily Nexus.
“The lesson I draw from that experience is that it’s important to be open to possibilities. That was a value that was both instilled and enhanced at UC Santa Barbara — to be open,” said Jim.
UC Santa Barbara enrollment increased by 36% while Jim was a student. The country was changing just as rapidly. He remembers his classmates as the “last innocent class,” the final cohort to graduate from high school before the Vietnam War draft spiked anxiety levels.
“Everybody is different at the end of four years, but we felt like we were really different,” he said.
Jim’s own transformation was profound. No journalism classes were offered at UC Santa Barbara, so Jim learned through daily practice with his peers. He loved that journalism provided a license to educate himself, both in the craft and in the subjects he covered.
As a senior, Jim served as editor-in-chief. It was a consequential year. His headlines covered the Black student movement, the faculty club bombing, and student protests. The morning after each issue, his staff would compare their articles to what local and national papers published.
“Nobody felt any qualms about marching into the editor’s office and griping if they didn’t like what we’d done. That was a really useful thing for me as a journalist: to understand the impact of what I was writing,” said Jim.
After graduation, Jim wrote and edited for the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the San Jose Mercury News. He then led the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship program at Stanford University for 27 years, the last 16 as director, until his retirement in 2016.
Jim has a keen understanding of the challenges of being a college student, and particularly, a college journalist. His planned gift in support of the Daily Nexus will help students learn by doing.
“The most essential part of a college education isn’t preparing for a job. It’s honing those skills and techniques to find out what the world is like,” said Jim.
Like Jim, current Daily Nexus editor Iris Guo, Class of 2027, didn’t intend to begin a career in journalism.
“I wanted to find a place where I could meet people, so I joined the Daily Nexus. It’s a great opportunity to develop professional skills and work on a team. Journalism sounded interesting because it gave me the chance to share people’s perspectives on topics others might not otherwise know about,” said Iris, who plans to work for a newspaper after graduation. “It’s such an honor that Jim still thinks about the paper even though it’s part of his life from such a long time ago.”
Jim’s gift will help future student journalists continue to share perspectives for generations to come. After four decades in the field, Jim’s view of journalism remains simple.
“Really good journalism is both a mirror and a window,” said Jim. “It’s a mirror because it helps people see themselves. It’s a window because you see people who are not like you.”
Published October 2026
Really good journalism is both a mirror and a window. It’s a mirror because it helps people see themselves. It’s a window because you see people who are not like you.
Jim Bettinger ’69
