I'll See Your "New Media" and Raise You "Old Media 2.0"
Sonya, we agree that the problem with j-schools is that most of them are late adopters of new media strategies, but isn't this "old media vs. new media" issue really a "plus" issue? These days, everyone should have traditional journalism skills
plus a working knowledge of new media if they want to continue in this business. That's why I appreciate yesterday's
MediaShift post from Alfred Hermida, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism and founding news editor of the BBC News Web site. He talked to leading multimedia journos and profs during the
Online News Association conference and came to this conclusion:
The advice for graduates was that they need journalism plus a new set
of skills. The basics of journalism — curiosity, passion, accuracy,
serving the public interest — were still important. But journalist
students also need to learn about how the digital revolution has
changed, and continues to change, the media.
I think that's something that
everyone can take to heart.