[Monday morning came faster than I expected it this weekend. I’m starting to get the feeling I won’t fully catch up on little things like sleep and rest until I’m on the plane to Miami next Thursday. Nevertheless, I’m on the train on the way to school, and I’m just itching to put some thoughts down on fiber.]
Rebecca MacKinnon, former reporter for CNN and current blogger at Global Voices and her own RConversations, posted her thoughts on the future of journalism this weekend:
As Craig Newmark describes it, all he did originally was to create an online “list of stuff” that he and his friends found useful. If Craig can create a revolution in classified advertising with a simple website, why can’t journalism students be the source of the next big innovations in news? They can, and they should, if journalism schools would support and encourage them in doing so. Journalism schools should be the R&D centers to which news organizations turn for fresh ideas, and from which new journalistic ventures are launched.
This sounds like a great idea to me — instead of playing catch-up with technology and trends in media all the time, a J-School can be the lab for the future of journalism. Yes, of course, the essential core curriculum should always prepare students to be reporters, writers, and editors, but there’s so many opportunities in all the disciplines (broadcast, newspaper, magazine, online) to create new ideas of our own.
But, yes, we learn to walk before we can run. How do you think we should provide students with opportunities to innovate while still giving them the basic technological knowledge they need to be online-savvy reporters and editors?
[BONUS LINK: Global Voices is hiring a managing editor. I *so* want that job, in like, a year and a half.]
[tags]j-school, sjsu, new media[/tags]
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