William Hartnett’s post Don’t let it go without saying: Reporting skill still matters, always will, starts of this way:
Does the need for fundamental reporting skill go without saying when folks in future-of-newspaper circles talk about the tools that journalism students need to have? Because, if it does go without saying, it absolutely should not.
Apparently he’s upset with all those folks talking about the skills that journalists now need without ensuring that reporting is on the list. Fair point.
But I’m not sure where the angst comes from. I’ve always read the commentary on new media skill development as being built on a base on basic journalism skills: reporting and writing, investigative skills, sound ethical practice and all the rest. The constant refrain in my classrooms is “It’s about the journalism, not the tools,” and I doubt I’m unique in that.
Hartnett continues:
If we continue to devalue journalism and reporting by leaving it out of the conversation on the future of newspapers, we run the risk of losing one of our great franchises, and the main attribute that, to me, makes the industry worth saving in the first place: Public service reporting that rights wrongs both large and small and makes our communities a better place.
A great point. But I’m still not convinced we need constant reminders of the basics on which new methods of storytelling are being built.
(Note: Harnett’s blog is new to me and I’ve subscribed. How could I not given this tagline: Journalism, the future of newspapers, and cat pictures.)
SOURCE: JOURNERDISM | TAGS: JOURNALISM, NEW MEDIA, SKILLS
I’m subscribing to his blog also. I’m a journalism student, and most of my peers must be reminded what their purpose as a journalist is. Its all about the stories, not the drama.
The thing that resonates with me about what Mark said is that the background in reporting is so important for doing effective public service journalism. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard a reporter recount the steps he/she took to get a piece of information when obtaining it and the data to place it in a larger context were readily available – if only the reporter knew what to ask for, how to ask for it and how to use it.
That, William, is an argument I can fully buy in to.
Congratulations for joining the elite, which is to say quite small, group of regular readers of my very rarely on-topic site!
Observing the tardy and, as a result, often ill-considered manner in which so many actual newsrooms are going about the transition to multimedia storytelling, I maintain that we do need constant reminders that the basics still matter.
Under immense fiscal pressure, the easy, unthinking path for the news executive is to simply hire or flip existing FTEs with storytelling solely in mind, and with much less regard for the value of reporting.
Doing so defies logic, but, honestly, when have newsroom hiring and personnel decisions ever been made with only the purest logic in mind? In a period of panic, the more middling of managers will merely react to the brightest light and loudest noise in their immediate vicinity.