Martin Stabe - Latest Comments in The conservatism of journalism students

Re: The conservatism of journalism students

Chris Doidge — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:05:20 -0000

I've only just found this post - and the reference to my blog!

Maybe the postgrad journalism courses are a bit technical - they focus on the 'how', rather than the 'why'.

But having graduated, and picked up a job in commercial radio, it seems the conservatism of some journalists isn't confined to universities. The web is seen as a bit of a necessity, rather than a place for possibilities. There's no interest in content, or making it a useful destination for audiences. It's not even considered as a revenue stream by those with the purse-strings.

Re: The conservatism of journalism students

Mark Ansell — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:27:45 -0000

I'm a journalism student at Cardiff Uni and I'm afraid a number of my fellow students do turn up their nose to digital media.

I've blogged on this:
http://markansell.blogspot....

Re: The conservatism of journalism students

abebe gedamu — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 04:22:42 -0000

my nam &Email at the tope of the space no coment but i want to learn in norway journalism for aschoolar ship give me the chance i am from east Africa

Re: The conservatism of journalism students

Martin — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:46:11 -0000

I think Andy is right about the NCTJ being part of the problem (in Britain, at least). It's not necessarily that organisation itself, but the fixation on the holy trinity of shorthand, law and public affairs that it represents. These skills are are necessary (for many journalists) but clearly insufficient (for all journalists).

Another problem is that journalism schools generally don't teach media economics. The conservative student attitude reminds me of those newspaper types who were saying, a few years ago, "but Craigslist doesn't have a Baghdad bureau, so it isn't anything to worry about".

Students need to understand that the structural change in publishing is happening whether they like it or not, and that this is going to have consequences for what kind of jobs are going to be available for them in the future.

Re: The conservatism of journalism students

Bryan Murley — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 16:47:17 -0000

In that statement you have all you need to know about why students arent equiped to work online. All I need to do now is find out who peddles that bulls**t line to them and lock them in a box and perhaps we can all move on.

LOL. That comment made my day, Andy.

Re: The conservatism of journalism students

Andy — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 14:27:51 -0000

Hi Martin.
I think you are right about the defined routes but there are some reasons for that - nctj, restrictive industry etc.

It's interesting you picked up on Chris' blog. I came across it a while back and spat feathers for a while over the attitudes expressed. (so much so I left a comment).

It was less that the students didnt get online, more that they thought print was somehow the safe way to go. As one commentor said:

"That said, if I really wanted to be an online journalist (which I don’t) I’d actually do the newspaper course anyway. Print and web are fairly close disciplines.

Re: The conservatism of journalism students

Bryan Murley — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 11:22:10 -0000

I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago as well here.

Re: The conservatism of journalism students

Adrian Monck — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 05:39:59 -0000

Martin - the labels are pretty anachronistic but I don't think they are responsible for the 'conservatism.' The things that inspire you to undertake a career are usually drawn from your past. Add to that the competitive pressures, and the financial commitment required and you can see why some students might wish to enter an industry that looks like the one they wanted to join when they were growing up.

Part of the process of education is to begin to give people the confidence to move beyond that, but the reality is few people have that confidence until at least a couple of years or so into their working lives.