» Journalism

J-School Curriculum in question?

Stokely — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:24:01 +0000

NY MAG’s Daily Intel: The media bloodbath hasn’t made for happy days at Columbia Journalism School. When the Times recently announced that its new, hyperlocal blog experiment “The Local” would be assisted by journalism students not from Columbia but from the City University of New York, you could practically hear the collective gasp echoing in the hallowed halls uptown. CUNY? Since when does CUNY trump Columbia? Well, since digital journalism became the single ray of hope on an otherwise dark media horizon, and Columbia’s vaunted ability to train students as print reporters began to appear obsolete. And so the school is trying to change. Fast.

Duy Linh Tu, Bill Grueskin, and Ari Goldman quoted.

The comment section provides a great discussion on Columbia’s curriculum between print reporters and those who have adapted to new media. While facts within the article may be questionable – the curriculum of ALL journalism schools are debatable especially with the current state of the industry. What should future reporters learn? Subject-specific schooling? Enterprising journalism? Business models? Computer Science? Graphic design? Video? Audio? Computer-Assisted Reporting? New technology?

At the end of the day, reporters have to evolve with new technology, new business models, and new forms of storytelling to transform journalism for a new age of news-goers.

Video on the final months at Rocky Mountain News, more paper cuts

Stokely — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:24:52 +0000

Another sad day in the news world…

After 149 years and 311 days, the Rocky Mountain News published its final edition on February 27, 2009. The project was begun on Dec. 4th, when E.W. Scripps announced that the paper was for sale. It was shot and edited during the intervening months, but a great deal of final editing was done in the past week and well into last night by Matthew Roberts.

Visit http://graphicdesignr.net/papercuts/ to view all the layoffs and buyouts occurring in the industry.

Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.

Palin on the state of journalism, regret about the campaign

Stokely — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:06:38 +0000

Via Nusca’s G-Chat headline:

Asked if she had any regrets about the campaign, Palin bemoaned “the state of journalism today.” “The blogosphere, the two, three hour news cycles, where just too much is reported based on gossip and innuendo and things taken out of context,” she explained, adding that she’d like to help improve the profession because she has “great respect for the world of journalism.” Read more.

Meet Juan Crow

Stokely — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:43:36 +0000

Renee & I just published

Meet Juan Crow.
In the border state of Arizona a tough voter registration law is suppressing the nation’s fastest growing voting block. Arizona is the only state in the nation that requires documented proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. Supporters say the requirement stops voter fraud by illegal immigrants. Critics say the law has a different purpose. Largely because of its requirements, the state has rejected nearly 40,000 voter registration applications in just 3 years. Many of the applicants were eligible Latino immigrants. At least 19 other states have considered similar requirements.

To see our in-depth video report, interactive map, and more, out the site at http://news21project.org/story/2008/07/22/meet_juan_crow

About the project:

This project is part of a broader look at Immigration: New Voters, Old Fears by our colleagues from The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and several other schools that participated in News21, a product of Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education, in which selected journalism-school graduates produce challenging stories in ways that push the boundaries of the form.