New ASU journalism school raises concerns about spending priorities
September 2nd, 2008, 4:15 pm · 1 Comment · posted by Le Templar
ASU’S NEW WALTER CRONKITE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION (Tribune photo)
With a rapid decline of newspaper revenues and circulation, and broadcast media struggling as well, a lot of people predicting we are nearing the end of professional journalism as we know it today. But don’t tell that to the 1,200 students from Arizona State University who are attending journalism classes at a brand-new $71 million building in downtown Phoenix.
I participated last week in a tour of the new home for the Walter Cronkite Sschool of Journalism and Mass Communication that was sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists. So I saw first-hand many of the issues that Tribune writer Ryan Gabrielson reported in his story today. In particular, I listened to school Dean Chris Callahan’s firm conviction that ASU journalism needed a new structure to prepare students for careers in a brave new world.
Previously, the journalism school had been spread out across a number of buildings on the main Tempe campus, and instruction took a silo approach. Students learned to be print journalists, or they learned to be TV anchors, or they learned to be photographers, or they learned to public relations experts. But rarely did they study a variety of forms and media platforms.
The new school brings everything together to emphasize digital-based curriculum that basically is supposed to prepare students to keep adapting as technology continues to change how information is gathered and is shared among people. Students can expect to be writers and videographers and sound producers and Web designers — all at the same time. Callahan also is forthright about his goal of transforming the Cronkite school into the best journalism program in the country. That means spending money on the space and equipment that will attract top faculty and students.
But I have to wonder about ASU’s timing for this venture, considering that state leaders have been told to expect the university will become a top research hub that will generate new jobs related to technology and bioscience growth sectors of the global economy. That’s supposed to be the justification for borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars for a variety of new buildings when state tax revenues are on a shaky footing. Can the state really afford to divert some of those resources to also compete with well-established institutions in the world of journalism?
Perhaps Callahan and ASU president Michael Crow have a stronger faith in the future role of journalists than I do. Or maybe I just don’t see glass-and-concrete marvels and gee-whiz gadgetry replacing proper instruction in fundamentals of good journalism — Seek the truth as independent observers and do your best to report it accurately.
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Journalism graduates do not just write stories for traditional newspapers (and their web counterparts) or the evening Television news. They research and write for trade publications, internal company communication media, government bodies and a vast array of other outlets. Often they apply their learned skill sets to help others formulate and document concepts and visions that secure the funding for research grants (like the ones ASU seeks) and to publicize and praise the results of the research so that others may learn of and apply it. In this day where many youth cannot spell, cannot speak in full sentences with words that match their dictionary definition, cannot write a coherent paragraph, and think the whole word communicates in text message speak (C U L8R), I applaud a school that wants to stay on the leading edge of honing communication skills and fully see the merit of that expenditure (i.e., investment). To me the timing could not be more appropriate.