I am getting really tired of blogs. They're the new black. Or chocolate. Or the Rosetta Stone. Suddenly no one is a journalist anymore. We're all supposed to be bloggers. On the same page as a kid chronicling her oh-so-ordinary 15 year old life on MySpace. Well count me out.
"Blog" to me is just another buzzword. And the media world has gone crazy over the buzz because 50-something executives think this is the way to get 20-somethings to watch TV news and read newspapers. And if you can put three words together you can blog and your thoughts and opinions are just as valuable as the knowledge and research and talent of a reporter or columnist with 30 years of writing experience. And why do the media companies care so much about blogs and bloggers? Because media companies survive on advertising and the ad agencies (largely staffed these days by 20-somethings) are convinced no one over 35 ever tries any new product. Never mind that baby boomers (now hitting 60 in ever fatter waves) have all the money and all the curiosity and have always tried every new thing that ever came along. Nope. Old is old is dead.
Thus the blogs -- and the media companies' year(s) of magical thinking.
I do journalism (or what these days passes for journalism) for a living. And I think blogs are just another way to add to our workload. When you are researching a story and need as much material as you can find, the better blogs which are written by people with specialized insight and knowledge can be useful. And the story behind the story can be fascinating. But a lot of blogging is more like "dear diary". I really don't care about someone whom I don't know and don't want to know baring all --- every moment of life, every hour-by-hour experience. Not at 15, not at 50. Nor do I care about that someone's preferences in food or last night's blind date. Y'know??? When you're working hard and hitting 24/7 deadlines that didn't exist a few years back and trying to hit those deadlines with a well-researched, accurate story -- you really don't have time to read the blogs, never mind write them ---UNLESS you have something really important to say.
There is something to be said for the old gatekeeper method of making editorial decisions. Decisions based on an understanding of what everyday working folks need to know to run their lives and vote intelligently enough to keep the country running properly. Everyone who can type out a blog is NOT qualified to be a journalist!!! I almost feel politically incorrect saying all this. But the Internet can be a terrible time waster unless you are searching for specific information and know how to find it. With all those YouTube and MySpace videos and blogs and the 1000 new best friends this all generates -- when do the denizens of these online communities have time for studying, working or - God forbid - actually interacting with real people in the real world? You know -- something beyond text messages and IM 's. I know people who work in next-to-each-other cubicles --- who email and text and never think of standing up and just talking over the divider.
So get a life, you bloggers. A real, not a virtual life. Walk outside, say hello to the guy behind the fruit stand. Look -- really look at your office mate. Maybe you both can take your sandwiches outdoors for the five minutes that passes for lunch these days and talk about the Red Sox (OK -- I'm from Boston. Forever.)
And maybe the next time you think everyone on the Internet really needs to know what you think about life, liberty and the pursuit of the American dream -- you'll skip the blog and have a discussion with someone. Real voices. Real arguments. Real interaction. And leave the journalism to the people trained to ask the questions and get the answers. The accurate answers.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Ode to a Dean with a Doctorate
There are some things which just have to be said – in a very loud voice and with total conviction. You’ve probably heard the phrase “publish or perish” – the mantra of successful university professors since the first days of Gutenberg. Well now you have to add “advanced degrees”. And while studying under a professor with a string of initials after his or her name may make sense for a philosophy major – it makes no sense at all for a journalism or media student.
Journalism is a word game; you need to write with color and at least reasonably correct grammar. And today’s multi-fingered media world requires also that you learn to use a camera and a website uploader. And then there’s the ability to interview well. And craft a TV script. And act like an anchor on your live shot. And mixed in somewhere – you’ll need historical context and an understanding of ethics in covering the news. And long, blond, straight hair won’t hurt either.
Gee—I don’t see anything in that job description about an advanced degree.
And so – my ode to the acting Dean of my alma mater – as follows:
Dear Dean,
I have to take issue with the message in your letter -- which thanked me for a donation to the alumni fund -- and then promoted the quality of the current faculty. With the emphasis on "advanced degrees" and "highly regarded academics with doctorates in related fields". The working professionals who serve as adjuncts and guest speakers were more or less relegated to afterthought status.
As a working professional broadcaster without an advanced degree I believe it is academic bias like this that turns out J-school grads who haven't the foggiest notion about the real world or the needs of a real world job. I work all the time with interns and grads (many with Master's degrees) in their first jobs. Many of them have no contextual knowledge of history or its relation to current events, don't know how to write, and don't have any idea how to apply the lectures on ethics and the like. We even have one recent hire at my TV news operation who recently asked a colleague -- "What's videotape?" Now maybe that's not the end of the world -- but that’s from a broadcasting and communications graduate of a "good" school.
I have been fortunate to co-lead a number of journalism workshops for professionals in former communist countries. The participants range from quite young to seasoned journalists. I focus on the nuts and bolts -- the "how to's" and the "why's". Last July I was co-leading several business journalism workshops in Serbia. We worked on using the internet for research and information and on the basics of economic, financial and business practices in a capitalist society. We had real case studies suggested by our participants -- who are struggling to report intelligently on the privatization of everything from factories to the media. In the end I would have hired most of them gladly back here in the US. And some of them never made it past secondary school.
What I'm trying to say -- in what I realize is a somewhat wordy effort -- is that while some theoretical knowledge can be useful -- I would much rather learn my profession from someone who is IN that profession. If someone has a gift for teaching and cares enough about the future of our profession (and our world) to work with students - that person should be welcomed -- not pushed away because he/she hasn't an advanced degree.
I fully admit that the most influential professor of my time at the university was a Ph.D. But it wasn't his theoretical knowledge that drew me in. Murray cared. About the profession - yes. But most of all about his students -- about helping us find ourselves as people -- as well as communicators. He didn't need his Ph.D for that.
At some point down the road I may want to do some adjunct teaching. I have a long and varied career and a lot of knowledge which could help students. But letters like yours push me further and further away from even trying. Why even make the effort -- if someone is going to say - snidely -- sorry -- that advanced degree you didn't get 30 years ago is much more important than the decades-worth of knowledge every journalist of a certain age has absorbed.
I realize you have a Ph.D -- which you no doubt need to be even an interim Dean. So I'm probably wasting my words here. But that has never stopped me when I get really angry. And as a graduate of “our” school -- I'm really angry.
Journalism is a word game; you need to write with color and at least reasonably correct grammar. And today’s multi-fingered media world requires also that you learn to use a camera and a website uploader. And then there’s the ability to interview well. And craft a TV script. And act like an anchor on your live shot. And mixed in somewhere – you’ll need historical context and an understanding of ethics in covering the news. And long, blond, straight hair won’t hurt either.
Gee—I don’t see anything in that job description about an advanced degree.
And so – my ode to the acting Dean of my alma mater – as follows:
Dear Dean,
I have to take issue with the message in your letter -- which thanked me for a donation to the alumni fund -- and then promoted the quality of the current faculty. With the emphasis on "advanced degrees" and "highly regarded academics with doctorates in related fields". The working professionals who serve as adjuncts and guest speakers were more or less relegated to afterthought status.
As a working professional broadcaster without an advanced degree I believe it is academic bias like this that turns out J-school grads who haven't the foggiest notion about the real world or the needs of a real world job. I work all the time with interns and grads (many with Master's degrees) in their first jobs. Many of them have no contextual knowledge of history or its relation to current events, don't know how to write, and don't have any idea how to apply the lectures on ethics and the like. We even have one recent hire at my TV news operation who recently asked a colleague -- "What's videotape?" Now maybe that's not the end of the world -- but that’s from a broadcasting and communications graduate of a "good" school.
I have been fortunate to co-lead a number of journalism workshops for professionals in former communist countries. The participants range from quite young to seasoned journalists. I focus on the nuts and bolts -- the "how to's" and the "why's". Last July I was co-leading several business journalism workshops in Serbia. We worked on using the internet for research and information and on the basics of economic, financial and business practices in a capitalist society. We had real case studies suggested by our participants -- who are struggling to report intelligently on the privatization of everything from factories to the media. In the end I would have hired most of them gladly back here in the US. And some of them never made it past secondary school.
What I'm trying to say -- in what I realize is a somewhat wordy effort -- is that while some theoretical knowledge can be useful -- I would much rather learn my profession from someone who is IN that profession. If someone has a gift for teaching and cares enough about the future of our profession (and our world) to work with students - that person should be welcomed -- not pushed away because he/she hasn't an advanced degree.
I fully admit that the most influential professor of my time at the university was a Ph.D. But it wasn't his theoretical knowledge that drew me in. Murray cared. About the profession - yes. But most of all about his students -- about helping us find ourselves as people -- as well as communicators. He didn't need his Ph.D for that.
At some point down the road I may want to do some adjunct teaching. I have a long and varied career and a lot of knowledge which could help students. But letters like yours push me further and further away from even trying. Why even make the effort -- if someone is going to say - snidely -- sorry -- that advanced degree you didn't get 30 years ago is much more important than the decades-worth of knowledge every journalist of a certain age has absorbed.
I realize you have a Ph.D -- which you no doubt need to be even an interim Dean. So I'm probably wasting my words here. But that has never stopped me when I get really angry. And as a graduate of “our” school -- I'm really angry.
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