Oct 12, 2008 - 04:05:22 CDT
Sometimes, it seems best to blow something up and start over. That process, sad for some, is nearly complete here with the demolition of a beloved old bridge and the rebuilding of a new one to span the Missouri River and connect Bismarck and Mandan. With all due respect, the new bridge is better; the only advantage held by the old one is memories.But there is another demolition project in Grand Forks as the underpinnings of a bridge to the past have been packed with dynamite, soon to be ignited in a big bang reality. By most accounts, the explosion will be a result of the Fighting Sues and Sams of the School of Communication at the University of North Dakota.
I say go ahead and blow it up and once the toxic cloud disperses let's see what can be rebuilt.
That statement will likely offend some of the school's communication graduates; after all, it was once highly respected. But I suspect North Dakota journalists, regardless of alma mater, will agree that today's version of the School of Communication has veered far off course. What we have here, the boss said, is a failure to communicate.
Journalism is a form of communication. But communication is not always aligned with journalism. That and pitting the practical yin versus theoretical yang has been a problem at UND.
Too many schools of communication have grown too theoretical in approach, focused on external funding, research and Ph.D. programs. It comes from arrogance, a lack of legislative support (money) and at least until lately our government's love for giving universities big bucks for research on topics such as the sex life of a mollusk snail.
Another problem is administrators allowing cast systems to divide and conquer once collegial professors, instructors and adjuncts. The academy barriers have become degree of degrees and insider scholars playing politics to keep real-life-experience outsiders in their uneducated place in the food chain.
It's too bad that kind of pedagogy has snatched curriculum control as the best education for journalism students is one that provides a balanced approach of hands-on training and critical thinking.
Communication programs clearly don't study snails, even if escargot might be a favorite appetizer of some deans and directors. But in playing the research game, they have loaded up with professors who have to justify their existence and achieve tenure in an integrated communication curriculum including areas such as interpersonal and intercultural relationships, mentoring, semiotic and critical theories, and medical and health communication.
They study, research and teach about gender, the history and philosophy of technology, curriculum change, research methodology, organizational communication, media globalization and translation, national identity, media policy and the changing complexion of rhetorical theory.
Those are the dominant backgrounds of the faculty and instructors in the UND School of Communication.
That is all fine and good. I am not suggesting there isn't a place for mass communication studies. But those theoretical topics, and associated agendas, won't produce graduates qualified for jobs in newsrooms; nor do those young folks probably seek those kinds of public service opportunities they more likely aspire to populate graduate schools and become the next generation of university professors.
The majority of the journalists at the Tribune probably don't care much about the UND demise. I believe our only UND graduates are sports reporter Steve Thomas, online editor Jason Lueder and copy editor Joe Froelich, who graduated the last year (1991) that UND had accreditation for its journalism program. The majority of our news staff comes from schools like Dickinson State, Minot State, University of Mary, Minnesota State-Moorhead, Jamestown and University of Nebraska.
A United States vice president once decried: "What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar." At the time, cigars were about 10 cents. Tobacco isn't what it once was, an accepted pleasure, so I won't make any close comparisons to that suggestion. But my closing statement is based on what would benefit North Dakota citizens:
What North Dakota needs is a good journalism school (not another trendy change-with-the-tide communication school). It should be a place where real journalism, public relations and advertising is taught, in large degrees by practitioners familiar with the basic skills of reporting, writing, editing, design, marketing, effective message preparation and ethics. It should also be a place that is a national leader by teaching and encouraging converged experimentation with the emerging platforms of dissemination. And finally, it should be a place that includes a theory component where journalistic messages and formats can be critically reviewed so students can stretch imaginations and visions for tomorrow's journalism.
Let's call it the Eric Sevareid School of Journalism? Or maybe the Era Bell Thompson School of Journalism, Edward K. Thompson School of Journalism or Mark Kellogg School of Journalism.
(You can reach Editor John Irby at 250-8266 or john.irby and go to http://www.bismarcktribune.com/blog/?w=thepaper&e_id=2671/ to read his blog.) @bismarcktribune.com
Mike NItz wrote on Oct 14, 2008 2:08 PM:
Mr. Irby should read the mission statment from his most recent place of employment. communication.wsu.edu/overview/overview.htm
for those of you interested.
WSU combined fundamental communication domains where interpersonal and mediated worlds converged. as a former faculty member of SCOMM, that is what UND was trying to emulate.
Exposing students to all these domains. Maybe we werent as good as WSU, not many are, but the point is UND had a good communication school that taught journalism, pr, and communication well.
We had 2 Fulbright Scholars, Outstanding UND Dept Service Award, PRSSA award winning student groups and had a unique joint PhD program with NDSU that UND administrators killed.
We had great alumni from Senator Dorgans office to MN Twins front office.
We do our students a great disservice in the 21st Century if we only focus on the journalism domain. "
PaulWahl wrote on Oct 14, 2008 7:38 AM:
That said, where is it written that journalists have to have degrees in journalism? I have discovered over the decades of my career that intelligence and the desire to be a writer are often more important than your alma mater. Some years back, a young French major applied for a newsroom position. He was a 4.0 student and spoke three other languages in addition to French. I spent a couple days showing him the rudiemntaries and within a week, he was out-reporting and out-writing my newsroom veterans, most of whom were j-grads. Similarly, when I was working in small communities around North Dakota at the beginning of my career, I often brought in talented and highly motivated moms and housewives who became terrific journalists. One of those received a basketfull of awards in the last North Dakota Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest.
A journalism degree no more makes your a journalist than standing in a garage makes you a car.
Paul Wahl
Managing Editor
ACN Newspapers, Minneapolis, Minn. "
Tom Kotynski wrote on Oct 13, 2008 5:56 PM:
I was a journalism student at UND in the mid-60s where practical, hands-on reporting, editing, magazine article writing were taught. Those courses served me well during a 36 year career. It is painful to read the courses listed now.
However, the new "J" school must teach aspiring journalists a multi-platform approach where they are ready to video, podcast, blog, wiki, etc., if they are to be prepared for what's next in media.
I must say that I'm not surprised that the author of "Kill the Editor," would write "Blow up the 'J' School."
Best wishes,
Tom Kotynski
retired associate editor, Great Falls Tribune "
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