Lucky them.

Obviously, it helps if they can make a good judgment as to what online element would complement a print/text story, but that’s just gravy. A good editor who knows how to handle reporters will know how to handle multimedia reporters as well.

One question for people who know more than me (lots of you around here): Where do you see editors fitting into the team?

When I do, you’ll hear about it here.

Bingo! At this point in time, that appears (from everything I hear and see) to be at the crux of the problem. But we can’t totally blame the institutions doing the teaching. Rather, we can look at what’s going on in big and small newsrooms, how they are having a very difficult time understanding what of the new technoligies to incorporate and how to incorporate them (the LATimes recently had something of a coup d’etat an are going full-tilt on bringing all three into their newsroom asap)

Unfortunately, what’s happening at some places is they’re not giving the mid-careerists the chance to learn, and aren’t all that accepting of newcomers who aren’t coders. There was an excellent report issued a few months back (I’m still looking for it–should use delicious) that said what you’re saying about necessary newsroom skills for the future. If I can track it down, I’ll leave the url.

I certainly would love to study with, hire, and/or work with five-tool players who know more than a little about all these areas, plus narrative journalism and any Web development programming language, but that’s still a relatively rare find.

Regarding the assembly line: As undergraduates in film school, my classmates and I were required to spend our first two years taking approximately the same classes, to get a taste o a wide array of skills.

Then, in the second half of a four-year program, we were free to specialize, to learn a craft, a trade, or an art, depending on your creativity and point of view.

I’m pretty sure that’s how most schools are supposed to work, but I know plenty of students who leave some sophomore-year requirement for their last semester, or skip prerequisites because no one stops them from doing so, or who jump around in the curriculum based on scheduling conflicts.

But those are just bureaucratic problems.

The real issue in schools might be the attitude that these multimedia/interactivity/data skills aren’t “real” journalism, or a little less darkly, the catch could be having an instructor around who knows anything about one of the triad, much less all three.

My main point is this:

Mid-career journalists, j-profs, and students — don’t feel daunted by the task ahead — you don’t need to learn every coding language and know how to work an HD cam and blog for three years before you can get a job as a reporter.

But learn *something* that sets you apart from the pack, or your resume will be relegated to the “can-write-but-not-much-else” pile.

It’s going to be a big stack.

I hesitate to inhibit the curiosity of anyone–young or older returning student–who might want to explore and decide after working a bit to become an expert.

Your thoughts about “teach yourself” are very important and what people have been doing for many years. There are folks that are lifelong, outside-the-classroom learners, and that, too is where one develops expertise. We must always remain curious, always developing our skills and resisting pidgeonholse– or else suffer what used to be called Mao’s Iron Rice Bowl (and a kind of human “planned obsolescence) in the workplace.