Amerikaneren Paul Conley, der har et imponerende CV har været på tur rundt på nogle af de universiteter, der underviser i journalistik, og det har han skrevet et blogindlæg om. Han har to klare konklusioner:
1) Alt for mange af underviserne er gammeldags og agerer som dinosaurer.
2) Journaliststuderende ved slet ikke nok om business.
Løsningen på disse problemer, ifølge Conley: Penge.
Hvis vi starter med den første, så skriver Conley:
[…]many journalism programs are doing a tremendous disservice to their students. Too many teachers are stuck firmly in the past. And they seem determined to drag their students back in time to an era they understood.
For every gifted educator like Ralph Braseth at Ole Miss, Jacquie Lamer at Northwest Missouri State and Chris Carroll at Vanderbilt, there are at least two dinosaurs filling students’ heads with nonsense.
Jeg har allerede beskæftiget mig en del med journalistunderviserne på denne blog, så det vil jeg ikke gå mere ind i her. Kigger vi på Conleys konklusion nummer to, der omhandler de studerende, skriver han:
[…] many journalism students are woefully unprepared to enter our business. Too many of them are preparing for careers that just won’t exist in the near future.
These students are naive. They seem to have little interest in studying the industry they are about to enter. They don’t read the trade press. They don’t follow the debates about the future of journalism. They seem unaware of the tremendous difficulties faced by most traditional publishers.
Because they don’t follow developments in the business, they have no idea of what the business wants from them.
Jeg må tilstå, at jeg ikke har svært ved at genkende billedet:
- Er det ikke de samme personer, herhjemme, der hele tiden diskuterer journalistikkens fremtid?
- Hvor mange af de studerende på de danske journalistuddannelser gør sig egentlig tanker om fremtiden for deres branche…
- …og hvor mange af dem deltager i snakken/debatten?
Mindy McAdams (hvor jeg læste om Conleys indlæg lægger vægt på 5 punkter, som Conley opsummerer ovenpå hans iagttagelser:
If you’re a teacher or college administrator who “gets it,” who understands the pressures upon the publishing world, sees the opportunities in digital media, and accepts that your students will work in a converged, new media world, this is what you should do:
- Give up on trying to convert your peers.
- Instead, push to give your students the tools that will allow them to see the world and the publishing industry clearly.
- Fight to have a business finance and/or accounting course as a requirement for graduation.
- Force every journalism student in your school to cover business. Invite business journalists to guest lecture on subjects like “reading an income statement” and “understanding SEC filings.” Don’t let anyone graduate who hasn’t produced at least five multimedia pieces that focus on the world of business, investments and/or personal finance.
- Distribute salary surveys whenever you can. Make sure your students know that new media pays more than old media.
Er det en god idé? Og er det danske mediebillede klar til en sådan forandring?