A Call to Action for Journalism Schools
Earlier this summer, I attended the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communications (AEJMC) conference in Boston. It was interesting to see how the challenges facing news organizations nationwide are filtering down to those who are trying to prepare the next generation of journalists.
The attendees asked questions that were slightly different from those asked in other journalism conversations; instead of “What’s the future of News?” I mostly heard people ask, “How do we prepare students for an unknown future?” But the questions not being asked remained the same.
While I saw distinct interest in new models – especially nonprofit models for journalism – there was little discussion of the policies we need to ensure a level playing field for these new models. When questions of public policy did arise – like David Westphal’s excellent session on his research into journalism and public policy – they tended to be treated as academic exercises rather than points for action.