The SLO state of journalism
I spent the day on the Cal Poly SLO campus yesterday, as I had been asked to participate in their annual Journalism Week -- a conference for faculty, students, alums and media industry folks. It was a great day, filled with positives and negatives.
Let's start with the bad news:
It appears the journalism department was largely spared the budget axe. Or, more accurately, won't be shut down. Maybe that's something for the good news list, but the state of the CSU system is dire and not likely to improve anytime soon thanks to the economy and California's budget shortfall. The department will feel strain under budget cuts.
There wasn't much involvement in yesterday's programs. I wasn't around for Wednesday's seminars and panel discussions -- I heard that some events were well-attended. I had about 20 people come to my presentation, the "keynote" speech of the event. Before my talk, I went to a Q&A with Ray Suarez where only about 10 people were there to listen and pay attention. I know he presided over a breakfast discussion earlier in the day which was very well attended. So, glad he had an audience - he deserves one.
After my presentation, I found general passion for the department and Mustang Daily to be low. The website has been developed and is literally run by one person. She does an amazing job (more on that in the good news list).
In the morning, students were invited to bring resumes, clips and internship/job questions to various professionals. I won't name names, but I did overhear some advice given by someone that went something like this (I'm paraphrasing): Sending me an electronic portfolio is useless. I don't want to see your resume on a webpage or in an email. I need it in hardcopy format. WOW! This is a micro example of the disconnect that has the industry reeling right now. People should absolutely be encouraged to keep electronic files, webpages, online resumes, clip files, etc. Students should be encouraged to work on "electronic" projects, whether it's a simple webpage, blog, resume, whatever. And employers should NOT be discouraging students and future employees from doing so. This was incredibly frustrating to hear.
Now for some good news:
My presentation went well. I was fretting about it for weeks, and spent a lot of time putting it together over the past seven days. I thought the speech was going to be in the Chumash Auditorium, which is a big place (I've seen concerts there), and I was expecting up to 100 people. Wrong! It ended up being held in a science classroom to about 20 people over lunch. The whole thing was casual, interactive, and very productive. I felt like I was teaching a class, not just talking at students. It was great fun.
The department is, hopefully, on its way back to success. It has a new chair who's focused on getting re-accredited (it was first accredited while I was in school, then accreditation was yanked a few years ago). His head is in the right place, balancing core reporting, writing, and ethics skills with a forward-looking view on where the industry is headed. In short, he gets it.
They're focusing on multimedia and electronic journalism. A new major has been created in the college of liberal arts that melds engineering disciplines and lib-arts courses. The goal is, obviously, to create more marketable students in the information age.
The few students who came to my presentation had obviously been attending others... the ones who were organizing everything... the ones who cared... they're all very passionate and the journalism department should be thankful for them. Lauren Rabaino who runs the Mustang Daily website is doing incredible work that no doubt will lead her to a good career (sorry to call you out, Lauren, but you deserve it). She's a sophomore, and way ahead of the game. I thought I'd meet a dozen Laurens, but they didn't seem to exist. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it's amazing to me that more students aren't taking advantage of the opportunity to chart their own paths. (Maybe this should go in the bad news column.)
But hey, to each their own. Students are busy, I get it. Back in my day (here comes the old fogey speech), we had a big staff of passionate student journalists. Sure, some students went through the motions to get course credit, but we churned out a solid, award-winning newspaper. We didn't have a website but we worked, slept, ate and lived at the paper's offices. The effort showed in what we did, and everyone from our staff today is in a good place with their careers.
I think the future is bright for Poly journalism, but the students and staff have their work cut out for them. I guess that goes for me too, and the industry as a whole.
Let's start with the bad news:
It appears the journalism department was largely spared the budget axe. Or, more accurately, won't be shut down. Maybe that's something for the good news list, but the state of the CSU system is dire and not likely to improve anytime soon thanks to the economy and California's budget shortfall. The department will feel strain under budget cuts.
There wasn't much involvement in yesterday's programs. I wasn't around for Wednesday's seminars and panel discussions -- I heard that some events were well-attended. I had about 20 people come to my presentation, the "keynote" speech of the event. Before my talk, I went to a Q&A with Ray Suarez where only about 10 people were there to listen and pay attention. I know he presided over a breakfast discussion earlier in the day which was very well attended. So, glad he had an audience - he deserves one.
After my presentation, I found general passion for the department and Mustang Daily to be low. The website has been developed and is literally run by one person. She does an amazing job (more on that in the good news list).
In the morning, students were invited to bring resumes, clips and internship/job questions to various professionals. I won't name names, but I did overhear some advice given by someone that went something like this (I'm paraphrasing): Sending me an electronic portfolio is useless. I don't want to see your resume on a webpage or in an email. I need it in hardcopy format. WOW! This is a micro example of the disconnect that has the industry reeling right now. People should absolutely be encouraged to keep electronic files, webpages, online resumes, clip files, etc. Students should be encouraged to work on "electronic" projects, whether it's a simple webpage, blog, resume, whatever. And employers should NOT be discouraging students and future employees from doing so. This was incredibly frustrating to hear.
Now for some good news:
My presentation went well. I was fretting about it for weeks, and spent a lot of time putting it together over the past seven days. I thought the speech was going to be in the Chumash Auditorium, which is a big place (I've seen concerts there), and I was expecting up to 100 people. Wrong! It ended up being held in a science classroom to about 20 people over lunch. The whole thing was casual, interactive, and very productive. I felt like I was teaching a class, not just talking at students. It was great fun.
The department is, hopefully, on its way back to success. It has a new chair who's focused on getting re-accredited (it was first accredited while I was in school, then accreditation was yanked a few years ago). His head is in the right place, balancing core reporting, writing, and ethics skills with a forward-looking view on where the industry is headed. In short, he gets it.
They're focusing on multimedia and electronic journalism. A new major has been created in the college of liberal arts that melds engineering disciplines and lib-arts courses. The goal is, obviously, to create more marketable students in the information age.
The few students who came to my presentation had obviously been attending others... the ones who were organizing everything... the ones who cared... they're all very passionate and the journalism department should be thankful for them. Lauren Rabaino who runs the Mustang Daily website is doing incredible work that no doubt will lead her to a good career (sorry to call you out, Lauren, but you deserve it). She's a sophomore, and way ahead of the game. I thought I'd meet a dozen Laurens, but they didn't seem to exist. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it's amazing to me that more students aren't taking advantage of the opportunity to chart their own paths. (Maybe this should go in the bad news column.)
But hey, to each their own. Students are busy, I get it. Back in my day (here comes the old fogey speech), we had a big staff of passionate student journalists. Sure, some students went through the motions to get course credit, but we churned out a solid, award-winning newspaper. We didn't have a website but we worked, slept, ate and lived at the paper's offices. The effort showed in what we did, and everyone from our staff today is in a good place with their careers.
I think the future is bright for Poly journalism, but the students and staff have their work cut out for them. I guess that goes for me too, and the industry as a whole.
Comments
Did you go to Cal Poly?
Posted by: Heather Hickerson | November 14, 2008 11:51 AM
I'd also like to say, I'm sorry your son was sick. I hope he's doing better now.
Also, I can identify with your warm, fuzzies over Obama. I was un-embarrassingly patriotic the day after the election. Funny how that happens, you know? I have tremendous respect for him and his family. I was forming all sorts of ideas about how he embodies what every woman hopes a husband would be - brilliant, involved, caring about people, active in the community, eternally optimistic, romantic (date night? come on!), great father, physically active and just generally worthy of respect. Hmm... I might just write a post about that somewhere.
Posted by: Heather Hickerson | November 14, 2008 12:00 PM
Thanks for the shoutout, Steve. The real kudos goes to you for a well-presented keynote and everything you've accomplished since you left Cal Poly.
Again, I'm apologizing on behalf of our department for the low turnout. I was just as surprised as you that you weren't in Chumash, but I did enjoy the comfortable classroom-like environment you mentioned.
As for the lack of "Laurens" at Cal Poly, I hope it will change. I'm trying to create more of them, but I'm quickly learning that passion isn't something you can teach.
But next year... Web team... it's going to be awesome...
Posted by: Lauren | November 14, 2008 10:17 PM