Sunday, June 17, 2007

Boost for journalism school

I'm two years late on unearthing this, but for my purposes, it's okay:

The leaders of five of the nation's most prominent journalism programs are joining in a three-year, $6 million effort to try to elevate the standing of journalism in academia and find ways to prepare journalists better.

The unusual collaboration, which has been developing for three years, involves Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University; Orville Schell, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley; Loren Ghiglione, dean of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University; Geoffrey Cowan, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California; and Alex S. Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University.

Journalism school may be more useful than in the past, according to Berekley's dean:

While journalists have long debated the value of journalism schools, Mr. Schell, who did not attend journalism school, said he now thought such institutions were more vital than they might have been in the past.

"Things have changed substantially since we came up the journalistic food chain," he said. "As news cycles have gotten faster and more bottom-line driven, there has been less inclination and capacity in media outlets to train, mentor and guide upcoming generations."


I'll keep posting about my own investigation into journalism school. My first j-school visit is planned for the weekend of July 27th to Medill at Northwestern, my alma mater.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

auspicious! ~ hm

Michael Blaine said...

I read that news when it came out, and I still have the same thoughts:

1. Since the big media outlets rolled over for Bush on the Iraq invasion, I can't trust them;

2. I want journalists to stop telling me about Paris Hilton, fuzzy puppies, and horrific crimes (unless they're put in a socioeconomic context, something I rarely if ever see.)

In any case, if the MSM don't change their behavior and product, having well-trained staff just won't matter.

Michael Blaine
www.rudelystamped.blogspot.com