Comments on: University-newspaper partnerships can play role in reinventing journalism http://savethemedia.com/2009/09/16/university-newspaper-partnerships-can-play-role-in-reinventing-journalism/ A veteran journalist blogs about the new media revolution. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:48:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Gina Chen http://savethemedia.com/2009/09/16/university-newspaper-partnerships-can-play-role-in-reinventing-journalism/comment-page-1/#comment-24133 Gina Chen Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:53:38 +0000 http://savethemedia.com/?p=1858#comment-24133 You raise some really good points that we should all keep in mind, but pretty much anything we can do can be abused. That's not, in my mind, a reason not to try it. But the bottom line is, as you say, that newspaper nees to be the voice and mirror of their communities. Can't agree more with that. Thanks for adding to the conversation. -- Gina<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('24133','Gina Chen'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('24133','Gina Chen','You raise some really good points that we should all keep in mind, but pretty much anything we can do can be abused. That\'s not, in my mind, a reason not to try it.\r\n\r\nBut the bottom line is, as you say, that newspaper nees to be the voice and mirror of their communities. Can\'t agree more with that.\r\n\r\nThanks for adding to the conversation.\r\n\r\n-- Gina'); return false;">Quote</a></div> You raise some really good points that we should all keep in mind, but pretty much anything we can do can be abused. That’s not, in my mind, a reason not to try it.

But the bottom line is, as you say, that newspaper nees to be the voice and mirror of their communities. Can’t agree more with that.

Thanks for adding to the conversation.

– Gina

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]]> By: Tony Bryant http://savethemedia.com/2009/09/16/university-newspaper-partnerships-can-play-role-in-reinventing-journalism/comment-page-1/#comment-24122 Tony Bryant Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:55:26 +0000 http://savethemedia.com/?p=1858#comment-24122 There is a strong risk that relationships between Universities and Newspapers can descend into one of a highly incestuous nature. Typically, here in Oz and I guess elsehwere as well, the paper runs on work-experience under-grads who work for nothing, while the Uni can assure its students that they will get a work-experince placement on a real live paper. All sounds sweet and rosey - for the Uni and the paper at least. What can then happen is much less conducive to Journalism in general and job-security in particular. Once they leave Uni, graduates can have trouble getting a real, paying job because the paper doesn't have to pay for staff anyway; they've got all these free work-experience people from the Uni. The paper runs on peanuts wages, and the quality of its Journalism suffers, as fewer writers have the experience that only comes with years of work in the big wide world - not for a few weeks taken out of a Uni term. Readers suffer as well, because the whole flavour of the paper changes thanks to the entire staff coming from a Uni background and looking through post-grad coloured glasses at everything. There is really no substitute for training journalists on a working paper, in the area where they live and get them to report on matters they understand from their own local experiences. Papers should be the voice and the mirror on the communities they are supoosed to serve; at the moment, it ain't happening folks.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('24122','Tony Bryant'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('24122','Tony Bryant','There is a strong risk that relationships between Universities and Newspapers can descend into one of a highly incestuous nature.\r\nTypically, here in Oz and I guess elsehwere as well, the paper runs on work-experience under-grads who work for nothing, while the Uni can assure its students that they will get a work-experince placement on a real live paper. \r\nAll sounds sweet and rosey - for the Uni and the paper at least.\r\nWhat can then happen is much less conducive to Journalism in general and job-security in particular.\r\nOnce they leave Uni, graduates can have trouble getting a real, paying job because the paper doesn\'t have to pay for staff anyway; they\'ve got all these free work-experience people from the Uni.\r\nThe paper runs on peanuts wages, and the quality of its Journalism suffers, as fewer writers have the experience that only comes with years of work in the big wide world - not for a few weeks taken out of a Uni term.\r\nReaders suffer as well, because the whole flavour of the paper changes thanks to the entire staff coming from a Uni background and looking through post-grad coloured glasses at everything.\r\nThere is really no substitute for training journalists on a working paper, in the area where they live and get them to report on matters they understand from their own local experiences.\r\nPapers should be the voice and the mirror on the communities they are supoosed to serve; at the moment, it ain\'t happening folks.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> There is a strong risk that relationships between Universities and Newspapers can descend into one of a highly incestuous nature.
Typically, here in Oz and I guess elsehwere as well, the paper runs on work-experience under-grads who work for nothing, while the Uni can assure its students that they will get a work-experince placement on a real live paper.
All sounds sweet and rosey – for the Uni and the paper at least.
What can then happen is much less conducive to Journalism in general and job-security in particular.
Once they leave Uni, graduates can have trouble getting a real, paying job because the paper doesn’t have to pay for staff anyway; they’ve got all these free work-experience people from the Uni.
The paper runs on peanuts wages, and the quality of its Journalism suffers, as fewer writers have the experience that only comes with years of work in the big wide world – not for a few weeks taken out of a Uni term.
Readers suffer as well, because the whole flavour of the paper changes thanks to the entire staff coming from a Uni background and looking through post-grad coloured glasses at everything.
There is really no substitute for training journalists on a working paper, in the area where they live and get them to report on matters they understand from their own local experiences.
Papers should be the voice and the mirror on the communities they are supoosed to serve; at the moment, it ain’t happening folks.
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