October 5, 2009 – 5:29 pm
It happened twice again last week and I decided somebody has to yell the truth louder. Two more people over 50 decried how little students know. The usual “we’re on the road to perdition” lectures followed with the whole smugness and superiority package.
Translated, what the baby boomers are really saying is that students “don’t know [...]
September 29, 2009 – 6:04 pm
My old friend Phil Meyer called it right when he commented in this article about ESPN.com entering Chicago. Phil called it another “nail in newspapers’ coffin.” ESPN’s spokesman, Paul Melvin took a much politer tack. “As a company, we are fans of newspapers, and not believers they are going away. They face challenges that will [...]
September 24, 2009 – 3:29 pm
Perhaps the wisest thing I read this summer was this fine articulation of an idea I’ve been talking about for months. Rick Edmonds, the media business guru for Poynter Online wrote this: “Put another way, a transition to robust digital options and aggressive experimentation are still good strategies for newspaper organizations. But I might tap [...]
September 3, 2009 – 1:28 pm
Wednesday I came out of a News21 presentation of work done by Cronkite School journalists that made me ready to shout from the rooftops. This is sensational work done by great students with expert professional direction and funded by two incredibly far-sighted funders. Even more important for readers of this blog there are bright, clear [...]
August 24, 2009 – 1:37 pm
Classes at Arizona State’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism began today and so it is time to publish my syllabus for my Business and Future of Journalism class.
There are some notable changes. I am using online readings exclusively except for the four popular books I require. A quarter of the class will read one of [...]
I was born in Michigan. I delivered and read the Saginaw News as a kid. I worked with the Grand Rapids Press when I was the student Sports Information Director at Aquinas College. Competing with Deborah Howell and Walker Lundy in the Twin Cities was a pistol in the 90’s, but I was prepared for [...]
February 19, 2009 – 11:36 am
In my 21st Century Journalism class for graduate students here at the Walter Cronkite School I have been setting up the future by studying the past. One of the key readings was this great piece Geneva Overholser wrote in 2004 called “Profit Pressures Over Time.” After we studied the cries of people like Geneva and [...]
November 7, 2008 – 12:46 pm
I apologize for my absence. Every semester about this time I am shocked at how overwhelmed I get with grading. I hope I eventually figure out how to spread that burden throughout the semester. I am going to spring back into action by commenting on several fascinating items I’ve seen on Jim Romenesko’s blog in [...]
October 6, 2008 – 1:49 pm
In one of the most dramatic announcements in the recent decline of newspapers, The East Valley Tribune in Mesa Az. announced Monday that in January the publication will transform from a daily publication into a four-day-a-week free print newspaper and a seven-day online newspaper. Publisher Julie Moreno made the announcement about 11:30 a.m. (PST). Moreno [...]
September 25, 2008 – 10:57 am
This summer I moderated a panel on Ethics and Business pressures at the AEJMC conference in Chicago. Geneva Overholser the new Director of the School of Journalism at University of Southern California, Peter Bhatia the Executive Editor of the Portland Oregonian and Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee school of Journalism at Iowa State University [...]
