By Steve Buttry and Michael Bugeja
We agree more than we disagree about journalism education and its future.
Buttry: Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University, and I aired a disagreement this week in comments on this blog and Tim McGuire’s McGuire on Media blog. Frankly, I enjoy a spirited debate and thought this was civil, but after my longtime friend Barb Mack admonished me to use my “inside voice” and Tim (also a friend, though not for as long as Barb) tweeted that a “fight broke out” in his blog comments, I must agree that it was time to dial it down a bit.
This was not the first public disagreement between Michael and me. At last year’s First Amendment Day at Iowa State University, we disagreed strongly about whether Google was a threat to freedom of the press. Attendees said it made for a lively panel discussion.
Our disagreements remain real and strong. But after we exchanged a few blog comments and emails, Michael suggested we talk, always a good idea in such situations. He noted correctly that we agree more than we disagree and that our disagreements are fueled by shared passions about journalism and journalism education. We agreed to write a blog post that focused on those agreements without glossing over the disagreements.
Rather than writing a joint piece that was an awkward attempt to merge our distinct voices, we are writing in dialogue.
Bugeja: On Sept. 11, in a post on The Buttry Diary, Steve Buttry wrote this lead: “Journalism education needs an update. You can and must teach and honor the timeless fundamentals of journalism and still prepare journalists for the dynamic job market they will be entering.”
I couldn’t agree more.
In that post, Buttry wrote about news concerning the discontinuation of the Colorado program: “We need to adjust to digital challenges and journalism educators need to stop using ‘basics’ as an excuse. They need to develop ways to teach the basics along with principles and skills of innovation. I don’t know whether the University of Colorado will find the right future for journalism education by planning to close its journalism school in favor of a new school of information and technology. But I’m certain that the way forward will not be found by looking backward.”
I also wrote that week about the Colorado situation in an article posted at Inside Higher Ed, an online site that frequently runs my views about academe. I also write for other online and print publications and try to return to the digital newsroom when I have the chance, such as a recent gig at The Des Moines Register, which I chronicled in my blog “My Register Experience.”
Steve has been active in both digital media and academe since leaving his post at Gazette Communications in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was editor of The Gazette and GazetteOnline and C3 Innovation Coach, as his bio note also documents. More important, viewers can see in that bio note and mine that Steve and I worked in journalism in Ohio, Nebraska, Iowa and the Dakotas at various times in our careers. Our paths crossed more than at a First Amendment Day debate on the Ames, Iowa, campus in April 2009. We share other similarities too numerous to mention, from personal demographics to gigs abroad.
Admittedly at times, we have argued, sometimes too zealously, for what we both believe in fervently. I tend to put more emphasis on journalism’s past, Buttry on journalism’s future. But the operative word here is “journalism” rather than “past” or “future.” We both want journalism to thrive and colleges and universities to prepare the next generation of zealous, committed journalists, regardless of the platform.
Like many journalists, however, we are used to arguing about the 5 percent where we disagree, overlooking the 95 percent where we share common ground. Anyone who has worked in a traditional or digital newsroom has experienced the heated debates between reporter and editor bickering over the 5 percent of an otherwise brilliant story or post, getting ornery about how a few paragraphs should have been improved, handled and/or communicated.
That’s part of being a journalist. We may argue over whether “objectivity” is important for journalists, but both would hold the banner on “accuracy, accuracy, accuracy.”
Accuracy remains as important as ever, or even more so, in the digital era, when many folks wonder, “Is everyone is journalist?” I say no, but if that is the conventional wisdom, then journalism education should be mandatory in academe.
Buttry: I am not as concerned as Michael about who we call a journalist or what we call journalism education. But I agree with him that universities must provide sound education in the principles, skills and ethics of journalism to ensure our democracy of a vigorous, skilled, skeptical watchdog on the media platforms of the present and future.
Bugeja: Several weeks ago I was interviewed about the Greenlee School’s converged curriculum. My quote appears in the round-up story, Professors Speak Out About Changes Coming to J-Schools. Specifically, it states: “At the Greenlee School we opted for a ‘converged’ curriculum to match the converged media landscape. What that means, simply, is we eliminated silos … those emphases like newspapers, photojournalism, magazine, broadcasting, etc. That’s not to say that traditional media aren’t important … they are; the difference is, in today’s digital environment, our journalists and advertisers must learn to write, report and create across platforms. And students aspiring to work in PR must know each intimately as well. A converged curriculum also makes you focus on what’s important and what isn’t. So our operations are as streamlined as they are inclusive.”
I think this shows that if ISU’s journalism school can end traditional silos, which go against the grain of innovation in media, that task can be done anywhere by professors who want to move forward as Steve Buttry has suggested. We were among the first to streamline in this manner. I wrote an article “The Economics of Curricular Convergence” about what we accomplished. The article no longer appears on the AEJMC site, but was commissioned as one of the first “hot topics” by the organization. That was followed by articles on the converged curricula in The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription) under the titles “The High Cost of Curricular Glut” and “The Elephant in the Room.”
The point here is in order to innovate digitally, silos must end, rigor must be applied, and journalism across platforms must be practiced — all of which is in keeping with both my and Steve’s standards of remembering the past as we push forward.
Buttry: I should correct a statement I made in comments on Tim’s and my blogs. The Greenlee School web page, when I checked Monday morning, still listed a print emphasis for journalism majors. Though that emphasis was dropped in 2008, journalism students enrolled before the change could use the outdated curriculum, so it remained on the website. I’m pleased that the outdated print sequence is no longer offered to Iowa State students (and that the website has been updated).
I agree with Michael that academic silos are counterproductive. I caution him and all educators that the “converged” newsrooms that were the rage a decade ago in many cases did not result in the depth of digital innovation that journalism needs. A journalism program must teach data analysis, social media, analytics and the full range of digital skills and issues. Michael and I also agree that updating classroom teaching is essential to carry out any curriculum improvements, and that is a continual challenge.
I won’t pretend to know the details of Iowa State’s revised curriculum, but I do believe that media are changing so quickly that journalism educators – schools as well as individual faculty – need to update continually. While I applaud Greenlee and others that have updated recently, I remind them that this work must continue.
Bugeja: Steve and I agree that the platform is important in reaching new audiences, that Internet can be more powerful than print because of access, that journalism educators for too long associated their discipline with newspapers, and that the practice of journalism today is based on both past and future.
Buttry: Digital technology presents opportunities for building important, lasting community and national news organizations using new platforms. Michael and I agree that journalism educators serve must serve students and society by teaching about the business of media as well as the principles and skills of journalism.
Bugeja: The next generation of journalists may be working in newsrooms, information centers or at home in a golden age, using digital tools, but no matter the platform, they still will be “Doing Journalism.”
Buttry and Bugeja: By agreeing to a double byline with this post, we are reaffirming our shared belief in the importance of journalism and journalism education. Whatever the future holds, we agree that our communities and our democracy need a strong Fourth Estate, continually renewed by students grounded in journalism principles.
I rarely speak out about journalism education, but this hits close to home. I attended Iowa State, and I would not be the journalist I am without my education there.
However, I began my career as a print journalist and have since made the shift to digital. I still speak now and again to students attending ISU.
I am worried.
I am worried that they are not learning digital skills that as an editor, I have looked for in job candidates. I am concerned that they do not understand the importance of social media, blogging, audio/visual skills, and content production on a digital level.
Last I heard, and this was maybe before the changes Michael indicated, but the sole digital journalism class was eliminated from the curriculum. Reporters have to be more than they ever have. When I entered the field in 2005, I only had to know how to report and write well. But now, reporters must have some grasp of video skills, blog, and tweet as well. It’s necessary to further their career.
J-Schools need to teach what they always have — amazing storytelling — but they also need to teach students the tools to do so in a evolving digital world.
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