Online Journalism Archive

The most common way journalism schools have adapted to a changing industry (at least based on my small survey of about 20 top programs) is the insertion into the curriculum of a course called, most often, “multimedia storytelling.” This course description, from Northwestern, is typical: Introduction to using multimedia skills to create effective web-based journalism.

Many journalism schools are reconsidering their curricula, trying to adapt to industry changes. Much of the discussion has focused on technology and entrepreneurial skills. Over the next several posts, I will propose and defend an alternative approach. To start, here’s how I would set up the core of an undergraduate journalism program designed to be

In this video, Jen Eyer makes the case for anonymous comments. I have been a fan of her work with comment moderation for several years; she made MLive’s comment area into what I hoped cleveland.com would be when it grew up. MLive isn’t perfect. But perfection isn’t possible — not even if you “require” real

In the last few days, the tide seems have turned in America’s newspaper newsrooms. The San Francisco Chronicle’s managing editor, Audrey Cooper, talked in detail about the paper’s plans to revamp its focus: “You look around this newsroom and it looks like it did in that photo in 1958,” she said. “The only thing that

I’ve learned that one thing, at least, hasn’t changed in the nearly 40 years since I started journalism school: the reluctance of young students to interview strangers. Some of my colleagues at Kent State, where I’m now teaching a Media Writing class, were talking about assigning interviews in a basic reporting class. Students almost invariably