The Downie/Schudson Report, Translated for Students

The chatter this week in journalism circles was about the release of "The Reconstruction of American Journalism," a report from Len Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson. It's 17 must-read (web) pages that cover press history, the fragile state of the news media and what should be done to sustain original reporting.

Understandably, commentators seized on the report's recommendations. A quick summary of the key ideas: a) The IRS or Congress should allow independent news organizations that focus on public affairs reporting to assume nonprofit status; b)Philanthropists should continue to pony up; c) Public media should shift more resources to local news reporting; d) A national local news fund should be created.

Instead of writing a response to the report, I thought I'd highlight some of the key points raised before the recommendations section and translate what it all means for students looking to enter this brave new media world. (Bold sentences are original wording from the report).

Here goes:

Fewer journalists are reporting less news in fewer pages, and the hegemony that near-monopoly metropolitan newspapers enjoyed during the last third of the twentieth century, even as their primary audience eroded, is ending.

Translation: Those traditional reporting internships that j-school placement offices loved to point students toward are drying up. Keep your job-search options open. Don’t be shattered if newspapers won't bring you in; there are plenty of smaller news operations that will have you.

Newspapers and television news are not going to vanish in the foreseeable future.

But don’t be shocked if you do get that coveted old-media internship or first job, either.

The Internet’s easily accessible free information and low-cost advertising have loosened the hold of large, near-monopoly news organizations on audiences and advertisers.

Do you really have to always post your roommate search on Craigslist? How about giving your ol' daily paper a try.

Something is gained when reporting, analysis, and investigation are pursued collaboratively by stable organizations that can facilitate regular reporting by experienced journalists, support them with money, logistics, and legal services, and present their work to a large public.

Don't dismiss your student newspaper. It's long provided the training that has propelled professional journalists to good careers.

Digital technology—joined by innovation and entrepreneurial energy—is opening new possibilities for reporting.

When you get your first news job, get ready for your older colleagues to press you on your knowledge of everything related to social media. Don't wince at the phrase 'Digital Native.'

The fast-increasing number of blog-like hyperlocal neighborhood news sites across the country depend even more heavily for their news reporting on freelancers and citizen contributors that is edited by professional journalists.

Get to know your college town and you can be a content-producing machine.

I saved one of the report's key recommendations for last. It has the most relevance to students right now:

"Universities, both public and private, should become ongoing sources of local, state, specialized subject, and accountability news reporting as part of their educational missions. They should operate their own news organizations, host platforms for other nonprofit news and investigative reporting organizations, provide faculty positions for active individual journalists, and be laboratories for digital innovation in the gathering and sharing of news and information."

In other words, welcome to your first journalism job. Just don't expect to be paid.

Or maybe...

"The most proficient student journalists should advance after graduation to paid residencies and internships, joining fully experienced journalists on year-round staffs of university-based, independently edited local news services, Web sites, and investigative reporting projects."

Questioning the Doc

There's no denying the growing influence that documentary films have on the national debave over issues like the Iraq War and health care. As works of art, they can be powerful. As visual think pieces, they can be effective. But scrutinized reports they are often not...at least before their release.

Here we're talking about the traditional journalistic practice of second-party editors looking at content and context, not to mention occasionally raising questions about how information was received or video obtained.

Media-savvy viewers go into documentaries knowing that the filmmakers may not be striving to produce a balanced work. But shouldn't there be an expectation that documentarians are following a code of conduct?

Much like traditional journalists, documentary makers face myriad ethical concerns, many of which are outlined in a new report from American University's Center for Social Media.

While "old media" types typically adhere to a common set of principles that apply to the craft (don't accept gifts from sources; don't alter a quote or leave out passages that change the context), folks in the documentary world operate without broad standards in ethics practices, according to the report, "Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work."

The authors interviewed dozens of doc filmmakers, many of whom said the same thing: Commercial pressures and time limitations often force them to consider cutting corners.

Along those lines, the report raises several interesting ethical questions that might look familiar to people at traditional news organizations: Do subjects have a right to review and request changes to a film? Can a director stage an event to further the narrive, particularly if the point wouldn't be made as clearly otherwise? (It happens, as the report notes).

There's a lot of good stuff in the study -- too much to chronicle in this space. But it's a good read, and an even better starting point for a conversation in j-schools about what's lost and gained when work is produced that isn't subjected to traditional news editing.

A Golden Era of Student Writing?

Among the biggest fears of writing instructors these days is that students will slip an "lol" or "u" or emoticon into their writing. In other words, they will momentarily forget their audience -- teacher, not Facebook friend.

In my experience, however, this doesn't happen. I've yet to read a paper as a journalism instructor that looks more like an extended text message than an article. Students can separate personal writing from professional assignments.

There are plenty of things to like about today's young writers. Technology hasn't ruined their ability to craft strong prose -- and in some cases platforms like Twitter and Facebook have helped teach them the importance of brevity.

Clive Thompson argues in a recent Wired piece that the age of illiteracy is not at hand. He notes that young people write far more than any generation before them. "That's because so much socializing takes place online, and it almost always involves text," he says.

Thompson quotes a Stanford University writing and rhetoric instructor who points out that students nowadays are adept at "assessing their audience and adapting their tone and technique to best get their point across." They know when to be pithy and know when to write in a sober tone.

Thompson ends his column by saying that "What today's young people know is that knowing who you're writing for and why you're writing might be the most critical factor of all." This is a key lesson in media literacy, and Thompson's assessment of the young scribes is dead on.