I recommend watching the video of Bill Moyers‘ speech to the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communications (AEJMC) conference last week.
Meanwhile, a story in InsideHigherEd.com notes how little has changed in journalism education despite the rise of new-media. During a speech at the AEJMC conference, Associate Professor of Journalism David Wendelken of James Madison University quoted a ten year-old article in Quill, a publication of the Society of Professional Journalists, which deemed the ability to “deal with new media such as electronic newspapers or World Wide Web pages” as “nice, but not necessary.” Many panelists and audience members at this year’s AEJMC conference still cited resistance from some faculty who lack multimedia skills themselves or otherwise don’t see the need to instruct undergraduates in the digital media, according InsideHigherEd.com.
Moreover, many cited resistance from journalism students themselves. “A lot of college students select their medium in high school. When they come onto campus, they’re already a TV person or a radio person or a newspaper person,” said Wendelken. “I’m a print journalist,” he continued, imitating the attitude of many aspiring journalists. “Why do I need to learn video?”
In the lectures I’ve given at journalism schools, I’ve noticed that, too. It’s as if many journalism students have pre-decided to emulate old media journalists. You might think that the youngest people in journalism would be the most amenable to new-media, but that’s not true. I’ve found that journalists in their twenties have the best grasp and affinity for new-media journalism.