Two years ago, 66 year-old John Lavine was named Medill’s dean, where he vowed to "blow-up" the curriculum. He has done that. Many students and professors aren't happy about it, as Johnson reports.
"You lied to me," one student barked at Lavine. "I came here to learn to be a writer. But you’re having us do all this video stuff. I didn’t come here for that." Lavine has them doing audio reporting as well.
Lavine once owned a chain of newspapers, and unlike most J-school heads, he doesn’t come from the editorial side of the business.
The students $40,000 a year to have the chance to end up a success like Medill alums as Brent Musberger (once a Chicago sports columnist), Georgie Anne Geyer, Ira Berkow of the New York Times, or former Chicago Tribune editor Howard Tyner.
Surely the students understand newspaper business is struggling to stop the bleeding of declining circulation. I hope to God they do.
Lavine knows, and told Johnson, "Young people don’t understand that if a paper doesn't sell, it dies."
And if a newspaper goes the way of the Washington Star, the Chicago Daily News, or the Cincinnati Post, the editors, photographers, and of course reporters have to look for a job. And they'll probably do it on primarily on Monster. com, not in the Sunday jobs section of the Chicago Tribune.
Joseph Pulitzer, the early 20th century newspaper publisher laid down the law that other journalism schools have followed.
Business instruction of any sort should not, would not, and must not form any part of the work of the college of journalism.
Fine. But that was in 1904, before radio, television, and of course, the internet and blogs.
Dean Lavine wants his students to understand their readers, that is, their paying customers. And if newspapers are going to stop the bleeding, that’s a good way to start.
This unnamed Medill professor doesn’t get it.
Marketing can dangerously close to pandering.
Well, call it "pandering" if you want. I call it adapting to the 21st century and giving people what they want.
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