I’m on the verge of recommending that our journalism program get out of the newspaper business.
(This is not an anti-print rant, nor does it mean I’m one of those who sees no future for print. What drives this isn’t a matter of platform, it’s thinking about how best to teach skills.)
Our print issue has long been the place where developing skills came together and were practically applied. Students learned about writing to deadline, regularly producing publishable copy, quickly working through the process of finding and focussing the story, doing the research and getting it written. They brought the skills from photo-j classes into the near-real world to produce effective images. They had a chance to experiment with storytelling. And they learned design and layout considerations and skills to bring it all together.
As we’ve added more and more multimedia storytelling skills, the role of print has changed. We’ve gone from an issue a week to an issue every three. We’ve changed from a mix of news and features to themed issues, some serious (Canada at war), some a less so (Cheap Stuff for Students).
We’ve been using our online edition to give students the practical experience of getting the story, quickly (and right), and getting it published, while the print edition gives them time to develop deeper, longer stories. They generate story ideas within the framework of a theme, helping with that most difficult of all questions that a lot of j-students wrestle with — what should I write about?
But here’s what I’m thinking: all of the skills that end in the production of a print newspaper can also be taught in a process that ends with online publication, with smart assigning. All except, that is, the skill that relates directly to the production of a newspaper — actually producing the pages.
(Teaching that came out of our roots as a trades school, and the old-time reality that most of our students were headed for community newspapers, which was the first stepping stone for a career in journalism for our diploma-wielding grads. Both have changed. A short-term seminar course could take care of inDesign skills.)
Near-real world experiences can as easily end online as in print; we are talking about the same basic journalism skills, regardless of platform. The emphasis needs to be firmly placed on the doing of the journalism, not which button gets pushed to spread the results.
One of the big problems, as I see it, with dual print and online publications is that students’ focus is split between what they have to do for each. Providing a single focus on the process of creating good journalism, and not the publishing of it, is where we really need to be. The “applied skill” should be the piece of journalism, not where it lives.
Some things to consider:
- Killing print would require some thoughtful assigning, to ensure students continue to develop the full range of written (as well as multimedia) storytelling skills, whether it’s producing perfect pithy briefs, fast-out-of-the-chute news coverage, or layered, nuanced and deep features.
- If themes are important for making students see how individual pieces can add up to a greater whole — and I think they are —, we could still set themes and require students to occasionally produce material on those throughout the semester, producing packages that evolve and grow, and develop the habit of continually monitoring areas of interest.
- We would need to continue to teach the importance, and strength, of print as a medium.
(Note: Students who wanted it, could still get a print experience through volunteer, and some paid, work with the recently launched student newspaper, which is financed by the student association.)
As I wrote, I’m on the verge of making the recommendation. Writing this post serves two purposes: one, it helped me tease out the original thought a little more, and, two, I can now throw this out there so that others can react and point to aspects of this I may be missing.
Tags: education, journalism, print
I don’t see any reason to split the two. There is no reason that long form investigative journalism should be somehow more geared towards print. There are not a lot of places for it online right now, but there will be, and that is the point in terms of teaching.
I am leaning towards agreeing with the other commenters…so many of the newspapers out there today also try to balance between online and print editions that I think you might be unintentionally doing a disservice to your students should you convert to online only.
Eric
Camping Food
Mark:
The deadline issue is real: we’d need to find a way to have real deadline pressure in an environment where the deadline is typically “now” or “whenever.”
LadyL:
Great point about newsroom duality and the new need for dual (or more) focus.
One of the big problems, as I see it, with dual print and online publications is that students’ focus is split between what they have to do for each. Providing a single focus on the process of creating good journalism, and not the publishing of it, is where we really need to be. The “applied skill” should be the piece of journalism, not where it lives.
The thing is, this problem is the reality of how mnay newspaper newsrooms still work. So maybe learning how to handle that dual focus is useful experience after all…
This makes a lot of sense in an educational setting. The key point, as you note, is narrowing students’ focus to doing the journalism, not a particular platform. A lot of the skills would translate from one to the other, of course, but a deep, layered feature would look much different online than it would in print.
You could use the themes to help students learn about curating the news and creating interesting landing pages for particular topics.
Seems like enforcing deadlines in an online-only environment would be tricky, beyond the idea that the deadline for most items would be “now, if not sooner.”
I hope part of your teaching the importance of print would be encouraging students who have the time to get involved with the newspaper.