Magapaper: The New J-School Track?

Back in college, the default pickup line was "what's your major?" Snoozer. But within the journalism school, it was the slightly more interersting "what's your track?" As in, newspaper, magazine or the slightly mysterious new media.

If I'd had any foresight I would have chosen new media over magazine. But, hey, it was 1999 and the glossy covers won me over. New media has obviously become the hot track, so much so that I'm guessing the "new" is no longer part of the name.

But what about the newspaper and magazine tracks? Someone's gotta want them. Here's an idea: Why not merge them into a track called "magapaper." Some of my favorite online news sites today -- take Slate and Salon -- are what I could classify as a part newspaper, part magazine. In other words, they're updated daily or often more with newsy stories. They are also written in a breezy style that magazine readers recognize.

It's worth noting that Salon calls itself an "online arts and culture magazine," and Slate an"online magazine of news, politics and culture." But you find me a Slate or Salon reporter and I'll show you someone who knows how to turn in a story on deadline, newspaper style. My point being that college journalists need to be taught to be hyrid writers -- able to handle long-form magazine pieces and quick-hitting news stories.

What would a magapaper track teach? Well, certainly a mix of what we traditonaly called newspaper and magazine writing -- that is, before the styles basically fused online. You can't teach personal style, but you can teach stylistic writing, and that would be a foundation of the education.

And, of course, there'd be a lecture devoted to dressing for your cable news cameo debut.