Posts filed under “today’s thoughts”
Today’s Thought: Institutional memory holds newspapers back
In the face of a rapidly changing landscape institutional memory is a roadblock to success. I’m not convinced that newspapers don’t have the talented and dedicated employees to make products that matter. I’m rather convinced, in fact, that many newspapers are loaded with talent, waiting to be unleashed. The problem, however, is an institutional memory [...]
Today’s thought: We can’t succeed unless we try
Failure can happen whether we try or not. Success only happens when we try. Failure, however, is not the enemy. Complacency is.
Today’s thought: Journalism has shifted
“The traditional path of a journalism career has clearly shifted. In the past, a journalism student would learn about being a newspaper reporter, then take a job at a small-town paper, eventually moving up to a medium and then larger paper. Now, the reporter might launch a blog, an audio podcast or video reports as [...]
Today’s thought: Tenure for journalism professors?
Does the tenure system make sense for journalism professors? Tenure serves a vital purpose for many disciplines and professors, especially since a lot of ideas and research are controversial — at least at the time (Remember when the Earth was flat?). Tenure serves to protect the academic honesty of educational institutions and their faculty. With [...]
Today’s thought: Never stop learning
Education doesn’t just stop when a person is handed a diploma. In fact, colleges and universities are not trade schools. They are not in the business of just giving people skills to do a job (like say work for a newspaper) — they are in the business of giving students skills for life. A good [...]
Today’s thought: Newspapers need readers
Many journalists are loathe to care about what readers/users want to read and consume, but if you don’t have readers you don’t have a newspaper. Far too many journalists have a journalistic arrogance, as Sam Zell put it. This arrogance journalists them to believe that only they know what is and what isn’t news. These [...]
Today’s thought: Don’t drink your own Kool-Aid
It’s great to want to be the best at whatever you do. It’s terrible to think you are the best. Once a person or company believes they have reached the apex of their life or career, they’ll stop innovating. They’ll stop trying to be the best. There is nowhere further to go, but the best [...]
Today’s thought: Do j-schools have the right professors?
For every Mindy McAdams there are 100 professors who don’t have a clue about the Web. Even if journalism schools radically redesigned their curricula, would most of them be able to deliver a quality education with existing faculty? Yes, tenured professors should be constantly doing research in their field and becoming better teachers, but once [...]
Today’s thought: Are journalism schools honest?
Have journalism schools, and more specifically journalism professors, been honest with students about the state of journalism and the pay/benefits of the profession? Many readers tell me they were never apprised of the realities of journalism by their professors. Isn’t it an obligation that professors be honest about the state of journalism? Or are many [...]
Today’s thought: Journalism major worth it?
If you could do it all over again would you major in journalism? A journalism degree is not needed to be a journalist, and many journalism programs aren’t teaching the skills that journalists need to be competitive today, especially computer and Web skills. Most online journalists learned their Web skills on their own. Would a [...]