Journalism Schools Start to Evolve

Interesting story in the Chronicle of Higher Education about the curriculum overhaul now underway at Medill, the journalism school at Northwestern University and one of the top programs in the country.

From the Chronicle:

At a time when newspaper readership is steadily declining and many readers are bouncing from blogs to Internet video to get their news, the new approach will send student reporters out into the field with video iPods and digital camcorders, as well as spiral notebooks. The most controversial change, though, is the increased emphasis on marketing. This fall, lessons in audience behavior and motivation will be taught alongside drills in crafting leads and meeting deadlines. Students will be encouraged to connect with readers by writing out of storefront newsrooms in diverse Chicago neighborhoods.

"It's not enough to train reporters to write for the evening broadcast news show or for the features section of a daily newspaper," says [Medill dean John] Lavine. "Our job is to create journalists who can win and hold the attention of media consumers faced with limited time and abundant media choices."

Journalism schools don't train all working journalists, but they train a lot, especially those who go on to newsroom management positions. So far, I've heard little else about how j-schools are truly changing their curricula to better train students for the social media revolution, but clearly, over time they will have to evolve or die. So for one of the leading programs to start dealing with the social media revolution is a positive step toward helping the industry as a whole evolve.