Discuss what journalism students should learn
Poynter intends to host a live chat tomorrow (Monday, March 23) titled “What Do College Journalism Students Need to Learn?” You should be able to see an archive of the chat after it’s complete.
URL: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=160355
Date: Monday 23 March 2009
Time: 1 p.m. EDT (GMT -4:00)
I hope it’s not just a rehash of the old “skills vs. mindset” debate. That only wastes time.
Of course the students need to learn the basic principles of journalism: accuracy, fairness, truth. They need to learn how to find and obtain public records. They must learn how to interview — and let me add, how to interview effectively.
In teaching a brand-new introductory multimedia reporting course this semester, I have discovered a lot about how students conduct interviews — because I have required them to turn in their raw audio files. Wow! It’s a revelation! While many of them are doing just fine, some of them are (even at mid-semester) really terrible at asking questions. Their tone of voice, in some cases, indicates a complete lack of interest in the story. They sound bored and distracted. They have no follow-up questions. They don’t listen to the answers given.
I think that if traditional “print reporting” instructors would require audio from their students, those instructors might get some new ideas about how to teach interviewing.
Categories: reporting, teaching
[...] right?This topic was a preface to Poynter’s chat about journalism education and response to a post by Mindy McAdams. McAdams writes that the typical “skills vs. mindset” debate wastes time: Of course [...]