Journalism as a liberal art
April 2006 (updated from daily blog pages)
"It
would be nice if colleges taught Journalism 101 as if it was a
requirement for every kid getting a college degree... Starting right
now I think every kid should have basic journalism skills; they should
know about integrity and how to source some things... Integrity doesn't
change just because we're creating for other media." -- Dave Winer* interviewed on Rocketboom (watch here).
Why not reduce the "professionals only" emphasis in journalism schools? We could recast the subject as a "liberal art" -- one that combines clear writing, digging for facts, critical thinking and "watchdog civics," along with some background in communication law and ethics as applied to everything from Facebook to The New York Times.
I tried raising a "journalism courses for everyone" idea in a winter 2005-06 educators' forum about grassroots journalism,
but my note didn't inspire much discussion. It was a startup forum, didn't get much use, and all its contents eventually "went away.") A few months later, Dave, who is definitely a blogger, summed up the same idea in about 50
words while talking to Amanda Congdon on camera. I had dithered around for more than 300, asking a lot of rhetorical questions. Here's my retrieved original without some of the preamble:
- How
can journalism schools prepare students to be part of a "pro-am"
conversation between "professional" journalists, amateur journalists,
and readers?
- Should J schools try to convince universities that journalism is a "liberal art"?
- Instead
of treating journalism as only a professional set of skills, should
we be trying to reach more of the population -- by offering more
university-wide electives, more minors in journalism and more
in-service "updating" for the working press?
- Can that be done
without weakening accreditation standards or disrespecting the
institutions that contribute (or that we wish would contribute) to the
support our schools?
- For the common good, couldn't more
undergraduates use the skills of clear, concise, factual writing,
careful editing, healthy skepticism and cut-the-bullshit research
methods?
- And wouldn't it be nice if, along the way, they
picked up traditional journalism ethics and some of the basic civics
they missed in high school... even if they're intent on remaining in
"the audience"? (See Dan Gillmor's We the Media chapter about "the former audience," and the civics education suggestions in David Mindich's Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don't Read the News.)
- Getting some "elective" exposure to journalism
practices (and civics) might boost young folks' esteem for the
professional field. It might get newspapers more readers. It might get
us some late-blooming majors who don't just want to be sportswriters
and well-coiffed anchorpeople.
- Being open to the pro-am
conversation also might encourage future "grassroots journalists" to
see themselves as working with the pros... watchdogging the watchdogs
in a positive way as fact-checkers, double-checkers and adjunct
reporters... not just shouting "Rathergate" at the "elite, mainstream
media dinosaurs" when they screw up.
- Journalism schools also
could turn a critical and helpful eye on commercial papers' attempts to
co-opt the grassroots movement. Are they providing "forums" but not
listening? Are they using "citizens" as an excuse for cutting the
professional staff? Insincere efforts will leave newspapers looking
even more like dinosaurs -- who are trying to hide their scales
under a new metaphor.
* Winer is author of the Scripting News blog and founder of
Userland Software.
Background: I owe Dave -- not
only did his company make the blogging system I used to build this
blog
for seven years, he
tirelessly promoted RSS
syndication and with it drew
The New York Times toward the blogging world, which made it easier for
journalism teachers to provide students with long-lasting links to
Times stories. A few years ago Dave started a Harvard blogging roundtable
and let me join in, and now he's recommending
that more people take intro journalism courses -- just the kind I've been
teaching for the past couple of years. Thanks again, Dave!
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© Copyright
2009
Bob Stepno.
Last update:
7/27/09; 3:57:46 AM. |
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