Comments on: Changing culture from the top down

By: Change, progress and the journalism curriculum « Ethical Martini

Change, progress and the journalism curriculum « Ethical Martini — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:42:57 +0000

[...] progress and the journalism curriculum Mindy McAdams blog is a great place to keep up with current debates in journalism education. A current thread there [...]

By: Martn Hirst

Martn Hirst — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:34:39 +0000

I’m currently right in the middle of this change process with my faculty. I can tell you from bitter experience that it can be frustrating.
First of all the evidence that we need to change is all around us in industry, but there’s any number of lecturing and tutoring staff who feel that what they currently have is in many ways scroscanct.
I come across the “if it ain’t broke,don’t fix it,” mantra constantly and that’s a hard one to beat.
Also it seems that some staff can pluck numbers out of thin air, particularly about what students want and or think.
They have no real empirical basis for this, but it doesn’t stop them.
Patience is a virtue, but meantime the world rushes on by.
I learn a lot from my postgraduate students, like Flock and Tweeting and mountains of stuff that is being used in news experiments right around the world.
Is there a danger that we get caught in a change merry-go-round and never actually make up any distance in the race with technology?
I don’t know the answer, but would love some advice.
Marty

By: Mindy

Mindy — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:47:12 +0000

I strongly believe charging a fee for online content would not have helped newspapers one bit.

What would have helped them was adapting to the new medium, changing the newsroom work processes, retraining and investing in the newsroom staff, and designing sites that were pleasant to use — instead of slow, bloated, and tortuous.

By: Larry L. Lynch

Larry L. Lynch — Tue, 27 May 2008 23:42:13 +0000

From where I sit in semi-retirement after J-school and more than 40 years in reporting and editing, having the time now as well as a reason to use and enjoy it all — Internet, TV, and print journalism — I see the issues you write about as complex and the future as very hazy. If newspaper executives across the board had simply had the good sense to put a price on their content and ride out the result, as the Wall Street Journal once did effectively, we’d all be living and working in a different communication context. And more newspapers would be relevant. Decisions do count, and over the long run I believe thoughtful, mediated communication will out. Technological skills will be understood as a tool and not an end, and the person who waves them as a magic wand will wind up with no clothes. But the pendulum may have a ways to swing before it returns to the word — or at least to the provably unaltered video.

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:10:37 +0000

I’m a UF journalism student currently interning at PBS in DC. I just thought I’d mention that I keep running into your blog while exploring ideas for an interactive site I’m working on — I’m thrilled to see a UF professor so active online and teaching people outside of a lecture hall. Thanks for everything.

By: Gary Smith

Gary Smith — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:54:20 +0000

I am a current student journalist at the high school level. I am going to pursue it in college, and I am fascinated with convergence and its effect on journalism, so where would people like me fit into the picture? What do you think will happen with people like me who have grown up in the computer age, and therefore already have many of the skills necessary to further this style of journalism?

By: John Kroll

John Kroll — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:54:39 +0000

You’re right about those people who want to learn. One more thing to emphasize: The one-in-four who are early adopters include many folks who don’t want to share their learning — whether because they’re afraid that sharing will cut into their advantage, or too modest about their own skills, or some other reason.

Part of what an online leader should be doing is training. But another part is actively encouraging — even pushing — others to share their knowledge.

By: links for 2008-05-07 : William M. Hartnett

links for 2008-05-07 : William M. Hartnett — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:38:56 +0000

[...] Changing culture from the top down -Teaching Online Journalism “In newsrooms, the gang at the top often mouths words about the Web site … moving his or her lips along with the music. But not really doing anything about it. Not really making it happen. Not paving a road that will lead there.” (tags: newspapers newsroom-culture management leadership) [...]