New media changes at journalism school criticized
Cory Bergman March 7th, 2007
An opinion piece posted on the university newspaper site The Daily Northwestern criticizes recent changes at the Medill School of Journalism to incorporate technology, business and marketing curriculum into the program. “I wonder why signs that used to say ‘Medill School of Journalism’ have been replaced with ‘Medill Media Management Center,’” writes Loka Ashwood, a student in the program. “I can’t wrap my mind around professors’ instructions in a senior-level course that I need to write a product and not the news. Instead of being encouraged to inform the public, I am told to target a consumer.” Now, we don’t know all the facts from the editorial, and I’m sure Medill continues to teach quality journalism and its importance as a public service. Journalism professors will call it news, and marketing professors will call it a product. But many journalists, like Ashwood, find it appalling that journalism today can’t exist without marketing. As margins shrink, the old models are falling apart, and we need new approaches to attract eyeballs, generate revenue and preserve newsroom jobs. Understanding the opportunities of marketing and technology doesn’t diminish the value of journalism, in fact, it helps protect it. As we move to an on-demand world, if an important story doesn’t get any clicks, does it have value? I believe technology allows us to improve our storytelling without diluting our journalism or failing our public service, but at the same time, we better have a good idea how to get people to read and watch us. And that’s every journalist’s responsibility.
(Full disclosure: My undergraduate degree is in marketing, and I have an MBA. I also have 16 years experience as a journalist working in some of the nation’s most respected news operations, from NBC News to KCRA to KING.)
Adds Adam in comments: “Cory you wrote, ‘…we better have a good idea how to get people to read and watch us.’ I think you’re covering two distinctly seperate ideas with one line. There’s the micro and macro. On the micro level, there’s storytelling, grabbing the audiences attention and holding it. On the macro level there’s defining, finding and drawing the audience in so they you can bring them to the story and the sponsors thereof. I think they’re very different. I think every field journalists job is to tell the best, accurate and compelling story they’re assigned. The managing editors, ND’s etc. are responsible to find the relevant assignments and worry about getting the audience to watch. When a reporter starts to worry about how many clicks he’s going to generate, their eye is off the ball.”
7 Comments Add your own
1. adam | March 7th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Corey you wrote;
“…we better have a good idea how to get people to read and watch us.”
I think you’re covering two distinctly seperate ideas with one line. There’s the micro and macro. On the micro level, there’s storytelling, grabbing the audiences attention and holding it. On the macro level there’s defining, finding and drawing the audience in so they you can bring them to the story and the sponsors thereof. I think they’re very different. I think every field journalists job is to tell the best, accurate and compelling story they’re assigned. The managing editors, ND’s etc. are responsible to find the relevant assignments and worry about getting the audience to watch. When a reporter starts to worry about how many clicks he’s going to generate, they eye is off the ball.
2. Steve Safran | March 7th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Sorry, kid. We can’t ignore the money anymore. We should never compromise our journalistic ethics because of a business decision. But it’s naive to think we can no longer “dirty ourselves” with the knowledge that we’re in business to be a business.
Help your company identify niches in journalism, and then let them market and monetize it while you report. You want a raise? Help the station find ways to make money from untapped markets.
That doesn’t make you any less of a journalist. It makes you smart. The reporter isn’t responsible for the clicks, no. But that reporter is going to be a manager (if they are promoted) and they aren’t going back to J-School at that point. They are at J-School to learn the business of journalism. That the business of journalism now includes business is simply reality. And a smart one at that.
3. Rex | March 7th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Wait, Cory has an MBA? The wedding is off!
4. Cory | March 8th, 2007 at 12:09 am
Great points, Adam. Although I think the differentiation between the two is blurring as the web is more of an individual experience than TV, which requires a big team to put something on the air.
And Rex, please don’t hate me.
5. David Johnson | March 8th, 2007 at 8:42 am
i’m incorporating basic business fundamentals into the graduate level journalism courses i am teaching now, and my students really seem to appreciate it. they get a dose of jargon, get exposed to a proforma and i explain a few revenue models for ad and subscription strategies. they need to know about rotating banner campaigns, standard ad sizes and traffic models. even if they don’t sell them, they need to be able to work around and/or with them.
in this day and age and current climate, j-schools need to empower grads with entrepreneurial skills because it is just as likely that they will start their own online business as get hired by an established media company. anyone can sign up with an ad company like google, blog ads or federated and start working immediately to build traffic and a reputation. i encourage all students to start blogs and subsidize them along with buying their name.com and putting their clips and resume there.
disclaimer: i have an MA in anthropology and a graduate certificate in business, and now teach journalism. my studies of anthropology and business have been absolutely invaluable in my career both as a journalist and technologist.
6. Adam | March 8th, 2007 at 9:05 am
On a whole I agree with the observations that the line is blured and we’re all in this no-mans-land together. Furthermore, I think it is entirely pragmatic and beneficial to teach the business of journalism to students.
With that said, I think first and foremost, people need to be competent, unburdened journalists. I’ve personally come up with ways to promote stories on the web and add content… after the story was done. But as I was gathering news, it was the furthest thing from my mind.
I think of the relationship between journalism/craft and business the same a restaurant might; when you’re in the kitchen it’s about spices and sauce. When the customers leave it’s time to look over inventory and plan for tomorrow’s meal.
7. Bryan Murley | March 8th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
When a reporter starts to worry about how many clicks he’s going to generate, their eye is off the ball.
But reporters do that all the time. It’s called a lede. The lede is intended to grab eyeballs. Steve nails this one. Reporters *become* editors and news directors. And they do those reports that scream about predators near schools and consumer action reports - all about grabbing eyeballs. They do investigative pieces with eyes half turned to industry awards like Pulitzers, etc.. That’s all been part of the mix for a long time.
And newspapers and tv news organizations are starting more and more to think of themselves as news *media* companies. That’s a fact of life. And I’m amazed that a beginning journalist has such a narrow view of the field.
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