[NU Sports] Medill
johnadeg at comcast.net
johnadeg at comcast.net
Wed Sep 12 18:37:03 CDT 2007
People, especially those in the news/TV business ignore the fact that their employers are there to make money. It doesn't help either that there is little to chose from among the networks and major newspapers and magazines. The all mouth the liberal/democrat party line. Maybe that is the reason too that local newspapers seem to be doing reasonably well. They cover local news and pick up syndicated columnists to fill in their editorial pages. But, primarily their focus is local news.
I don't know how many liberal arts courses or Medilll students are require to take, but I'm too often appalled by the ignorance of their subject matter that newspaper and magazine writers show too frequently.
John DeGroat
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Neil Kaplan <neilkaplan at yahoo.com>
> The other unstoppable force is the fundamental restructuring of the advertising
> market which is changing the world of journalism - especially print.
>
> The reality is that the news operations of virtually every newspaper in america
> have been subsidized by classified advertising (among other forms of
> advertising). When I was Alan's business side compadre at the LA Times - gross
> profit margins from classified were $210M/year. The entire net profits of the
> paper that year (1999) were around 165M. You can imagine what has happened to
> revenues (and margins) since then. Like it or not, the majority of journalistic
> enterprises in this country are now faced with economic realities that will get
> worse - with no chance of getting better.
>
> There will always be a market for the best of the best, a la our colleague Alan,
> however, the longer term implications of this and the impact that the press will
> continue to have in our country is a great debate and one that I'm glad is being
> discussed at Medill (I'm a Kellogg grad myself). Also, there are no people who
> protest more than journalists who are laid off -such that public perception may
> be worse than reality. To Roy's point, we see bloggers and amateurs with far
> more depth on subjects we care about (see SJT and lake the posts). I'm not sure
> that we are any worse off from having more choice. If you are a mediocre
> journalist, you are definitely worse off.
>
> NK
>
> _________________________________________
> NEIL KAPLAN
> neilkaplan at yahoo.com
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Jeff Beamsley <jeff.beamsley at hilgraeve.com>
> To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 6:25:03 AM
> Subject: RE: [NU Sports] Medill
>
> Alan,
>
> Thanks for the thoughtful post.
>
> The role that news media in general and newspapers in particular are playing
> in the marketplace is clearly changing. So the role of those who write for
> those news sources is going to have to change too.
>
> The unstoppable force is the ease with which any individual can post their
> own content on the web. So just being able to write is no longer sufficient
> to label someone a journalist.
>
> Those who do have a formal education in journalism, however, understand the
> ethical responsibilities associated with reporting the news. That's where I
> think there is opportunity. Those who just have a point of view can usually
> find sources on the net to support that point of view. Those who are
> interested in information free of personal bias are eventually going to tire
> of trying to sort that out on their own. They will gravitate to sources that
> they can trust. Those sources will rely on journalists who not only can
> write, but also understand their role in society. So though newspapers may
> not survive as entities who distribute content on paper, there will be a role
> for trusted organizations who will help their subscribers make sense of the
> world (I'm working hard here to not use any Fox News tag lines).
>
> Hopefully Medill will continue to produce talented writers who have both
> vision and integrity.
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
> Behalf Of Abrahamson, Alan (NBC Universal)
> Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 2:19 AM
> To: CHerron604 at aol.com; nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Subject: [NU Sports] Medill
>
>
> I will try to provide at least one perspective to the questions raised by
> Mr. Herron. Mr. Nolan: I seek your approval for this post, which is not
> related to football or sports.
> From where I sit, the dean is a visionary. Visionaries, by definition, are
> not unanimous approval-getters. Nor are they seeking such approval.
> Disagreement and even dissent are vital pieces of the dialogue.
> In that regard, the dean is exercising significant leadership. He has what
> experts in leadership study call the "double vision thing." He can see where
> we are now and where he believes the school ought to be x years down the
> line, and he is trying amid the clamor and dissent to secure buy-in -- from a
> variety of constituencies -- to implement change.
> The dean is seeking to implement that change because the journalism
> landscape is undergoing a fundamental evolution. Technological and
> demographic change are formidable currents but hardly the only factors
> reshaping businesses in which Medill grads are expected not only to compete
> for jobs but, as their careers progress, assume leading roles.
> It's unclear whether the steps the dean is taking are the "right" ones.
> No one can tell the future.
> But I admire his self-confidence and his willingness to take action.
> I would also suggest he is ahead, maybe way ahead, of the power curve.
> This -- in concert with the confidence he projects -- may well be another
> reason the changes he is proposing are generating push-back, sometimes
> considerable.
> Dean Lavine was out in Los Angeles last month and gave a talk to the Medill
> Club of Southern California, which I attended.
> There is ample material on the Medill website explaining the direction,
> intent and details of the revised curriculum, and I would urge any and all
> interested to give it a long and thoughtful read. You can also read there
> about intriguing proposals aimed at taking the Medill and Northwestern brands
> overseas -- to places such as Qatar, for instance.
> I did not hear at the Medill event that day in the Mulholland hills, nor
> have I heard at any point in the process, the dean say anything that would
> suggest even the slightest retreat from the basics of good journalism -- the
> essence of a Medill education, with its emphasis on fairness and accuracy.
> However, he did make plain that Medill must find ways to enable students to
> learn how to tell a story -- on whatever platform -- that will engage
> readers, listeners and watchers.
> By platform, he said, he means newspapers, radio, TV, the web, cellular
> phones, video games. That's right -- phones, games, whatever.
> I used "readers, listeners and watchers" deliberately. Here is the word that
> seems to really alarm his critics: consumers.
> Even though we are all consumers of news, of sports, of whatever.
> Traditionally, of course, there is a "wall" between the business and
> editorial sides of news operations. A major concern appears to be whether
> Lavine is suggesting the "wall" ought to be breached or weakened.
> I do not believe he is so suggesting.
> What he is trying to get at, I believe, is the exact thing all of us in the
> business are trying to figure out. Which is: how to produce content that will
> compel people to pay for it, on one or multiple platforms -- without
> pandering, without condescending, without violating the basics of journalism.
> It's hardly a disaster, or even new, to acknowledge that newspapers (and by
> extension other platforms) must make money to survive. I learned that in
> theory and then most emphatically in practice when I was at Medill, in the
> late 1970s -- when, during March of my sophomore year, one of the last of the
> afternoon newspapers, the Chicago Daily News, went out of business. The world
> had changed around it and the paper couldn't respond.
> Any/all thoughts, observations welcome. After all, we've got three more days
> 'til the Duke tilt.
> Alan - Medill '80
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
> On Behalf Of CHerron604 at aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 9:07 PM
> To: sjtruog at yahoo.com; nwu-sports at tssi.com
> Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Campus programming ...
>
> Stephen's post reminded me of the most recent issue of Chicago Magazine. I
> don't generally read this magazine, not usually caring which gala ball was
> attended by who, or which trendy club is opening up this month. But a
> friend passed it along to me based on the cover headline 'The Battle at NU's
> Journalism School' (just below a monkey perched on a woman's shoulder).
>
> Basically, the author, Dirk Johnson, described how new Medill head John
> Lavine was blowing up the Medill curriculum, replacing it with concentrations
> in 'new media' and marketing. It sounded like students, faculty and alums
> were not happy about this.
>
> Anybody know anything about these developments ? The story was kind of
> short, and left me with quite a few questions. Should we be worried about
> Medill ? Do we risk losing our very high Journalism School ranking ? Could
> we lose our dominant position in sports media ?
>
> Chuck Herron Tech (NOT McCormick) '85
>
>
>
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