Columbia Journalism Professor: Fuck New Media

from the playing-with-toys-indeed dept

Well, well, well. You want to know why some journalists seem to be having so much trouble adapting to a changing marketplace? Perhaps it's because the folks who are teaching them their trade are equally as clueless. We've certainly seen it before, but this latest one is pretty stunning. Jay Rose points us to the news that Columbia journalism professor Ari Goldman, who also is the coordinator for the school's big "Reading & Writing I" class (a core component at what's considered to be the top of the top in journalism schools), told his class on the first day: "Fuck new media" and said that new media training was just "playing with toys."

While his point (as clarified later) is clearly that journalism skills, by themselves, are separate from understanding new media (i.e., you can learn important journalism skills that have nothing to do with new media), it still highlights how poorly he's preparing some of these students (most, we'd hope, know better on their own). To be a successful journalist these days, will require a closer connection to the community -- and that's going to be done via these new media tools. Pretending that the process of doing journalism is entirely the same with or without these tools is wrong. The entire nature of journalism is changing, and those who say "fuck new media" may discover it works the other way around.

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Everyone Is A 'New Media' Journalist These Days

from the it's-not-a-separate-function dept

A few years ago, we pointed out how silly it was for various companies to rush out and hire a "chief digital officer," noting that thinking digitally isn't a separate job function, but something that often needs to be considered across the board in many companies these days. That's certainly true in the journalism world, so it's good to see the new dean of Syracuse's School of Public Communications point out that they won't offer a special "new media" major for undergrads:

"All of our undergraduates need to be conversant with new media. And none of our students, no matter what their major, should be leaving Newhouse without having a basic understanding of the fundamentals of new media and how to tell stories on multiple platforms."

Hopefully, this lack of a specific major doesn't make people think that the school is ignoring new media, but that the school recognizes that new media isn't a silo, but influences things across the board.

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Old Media Always Afraid of New Media... Even Back in 1929

from the history-lesson dept

Petrea Mitchell reminds us that "old media" always ends up reacting poorly to "new media" no matter what we're talking about. As an example she points to this story about theaters (the kind that put on plays) fearing new-fangled radio broadcasters back in 1929:

Once upon a time, complimentary theatre tickets would come with a covering note like this: "Dear Sir, The Management of the ------ Theatre will be much obliged if you will very kindly co-operate with them in safeguarding the enclosed invitation from being used for the purpose of broadcasting a notice of the play from any station of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The invitation is intended to meet the convenience of legitimate journalism, exclusive of broadcasting." Dated 10 October 1929 and quoted in Ego: The Autobiography of James Agate (1935)

That's right. If you were a journalist who was given free tickets, you could report about it the newspaper, but heaven forbid you talk about it on the "radio." Why, that would just be bad.

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Singer At New Media Conference Turns Off Audience Member Cameras

from the new-media,-huh? dept

You would think that someone who had "embraced" new media would understand the value of viral content, but that's not always the case. Derek Coward writes in to let us know of a bizarre incident involving a cover song singer who goes by the name Richard Cheese, who apparently sings "cheesy" loungey versions of hard rock songs. There's a podcast called Coverville that (not surprisingly) focuses on cover versions of songs. For his 500th episode, the host, Brian Ibbott, put together a concert at a new media trade show. He found some musicians who specifically allow their music to be used in podcasts without royalties (i.e., those who recognize the value of free promotion) and had them play a concert -- and Cheese was one of the headliners.

At a new media trade show full of podcasters and bloggers, one thing you should expect is that they'll have cameras, and they'll be taking photos and video. That's what they do. But, apparently this upset Cheese greatly, and he started walking around, grabbing people's cameras and turning them off. He later spit on someone who continued to film his concert, and yelled at the guy to turn his camera off. Considering that this guy's entire act is based on building on the works of others, and he understands the promotional benefits of having his music in podcasts, it does seem rather odd that he would be so upset about some folks videotaping him that he would then take their cameras, turn them off and even spit on people. Compare this to the other musician (who actually does write his own music) we mentioned recently who was taking fan made videos of his performances and stitching them together into a virtual concert.

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