I have written on this before and I am still adament that the future is online, but as I begin to read more and more blogs discussing this issue it is clear that the future of journalist it built on sand.As a journalism student at City University I know that there needs to be more intergration of multimedia journalism into the curriculum. Fortunately for me I learnt about dreamweaver and photoshop in the first year of my course, which enable to use these tools to improve my ability to tell a story. Unfortunately I am sure that it is not the case on many journalism course in the UK.
The other issue is the industry use of multimedia journalism. Although for the Telegraph and the Guardian it has become a must at the moment it seems the industry has not grasped how to make use of the new technlogies in an innovative way. A lot of them seem to use video which repeats what is said in the article and doesn't advance the piece in a cohesive way which is vital when trying to grab the audience online. This means that if journalism students fail to learn early on about the developmet of the digital age now, this innovative shift to multimedia journalism will be muted and lack the exciting potential that it can offer to creating a better to tell a story.
Whether Mindy McAdams and Martin Stabe are right about the importance of learning how to be a multimedia journalist is not the argument. The argument should be focus on how we can use the tools that are available to us in a way to keep the media industry fresh, innovative and connected to the audience. I think there needs to be less criticism and more proactiveness amongst those that believe that journalism courses have become archaic. What is the solution to the problem that faces students who enter the job market withouth the digital tools?
If your journalism course doesn't offer a module on new media then it is vital to take the innitiative and DIY it. There are also websites such as the Poynter Institute and Mindy McAdams blog also provides information. It may be time consuming and in all honesty it should be incorperated in the course, but the world isn't perfect.
1 comment:
The problem goes beyond teaching students HTML and Flash. The Web is, at a fundamental level, nothing more than databases and links. But when I say nothing more, I mean it's completely different than any other medium.
It's hard for a print journalism student to think in terms of video or spreadsheets, when they're not trained in those things.
I don't know if teaching HTML in J-school is going to save this profession, since the Web has advanced so far beyond flat pages.
What needs to be taught in J-school, more than anything, is a fundamental understanding of information.
The medium itself is really irrelevant.
You shouldn't expect journalists to go out and build Web sites, just like most aren't expected to lay out the paper, or direct the newscast.
But, they should understand the medium well enough to convey ideas to programmers, page designers and directors.
Zac Echola
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