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."