AEJMC Newspaper & Online News Division The academic-professional "chasm"
SkyeDent at aol.com
SkyeDent at aol.com
Sun Jun 24 18:16:34 CDT 2012
Hello,
I was a pure journalist for almost a decade. Then I worked in
entertainment as a TV writer. Then, in 05, I went back to school to obtain my MFA so
that I could teach journalism and screenwriting on the higher education
level.
During both my professional career and my academic career, no one from
AEJMC ever reached out to me. Some of the tenured mass comm professors I met
even belittled me because I had worked professionally in the field of
journalism. I sought out AEJMC on my own.
I'm not sure you should berate professional journalists for not reading
academic publications unless it can be proven that you've reached out to all
of us. I've been to BEA conferences, NATPE conferences, National
Association of Black Journalists conferences. Not a word from AEJMC.
In addition, just because we are talking about the same subject does not
mean that we are talking the same language. Academicians write in a style
that is so unlike the style of professional journalists. I mean, you would
not go to Spain and berate them because they did not speak English.
For example, AEJMC splits professors up into a myriad of categories. In
journalism, we're just all journalists. If you cover politics, you can
still cover crime. And you can go from being a White House correspondent to a
public relations expert with the same skills.
One can dish professional journalists as much as one wants. But, in the
short time in which new media, piracy, and the internet have caused the
death knell of many fine journalism institutions, the cry by students for
journalism education is dwindling also.
We can stand together or we can fall together.
Skye
In a message dated 6/24/2012 7:00:02 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
john.hartman at dacor.net writes:
If it is mission-sensitive, relevant and accessible, journalists and
journalism professors will read it. Ted and Dane's thoughts were both
mission-sensitive and relevant and should be widely read. Most of what journalism
professors write about the profession of journalism is neither
mission-sensitive nor relevant. That has been a constant for the three-plus decades I have
been paying attention. Gerald Stone created Newspaper Research Journal to
provide practical research, but most of his initiative has been lost over
the years. I say keep trying to bridge the gap, but in today's environment
where the once mighty Newhouse organization is going out of the daily
newspaper business and into the tri-weekly advertising distribution business, I
would not hold out much hope of a breakthrough. Nonethess, I and we should
keep trying.
-- John K. Hartman, professor of journalism, Central Michigan University
----- Original Message -----
From: _Dr. Dane S. Claussen_ (mailto:dsclaussen at hotmail.com)
To: _Edward C. Pease_ (mailto:ted.pease at usu.edu) ; _news-list at aejmc.net_
(mailto:news-list at aejmc.net)
Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2012 7:10 PM
Subject: Re: AEJMC Newspaper & Online News Division The
academic-professional "chasm"
Plenty to respond to in Ceppos's essay, both pro and con, but for the
moment I'll say only that readership of J&MC scholarly journals is a two-way
street. Journals could publish more practical research and be more readable
for people who don't have Ph.D.s, but professional journalists aren't
exactly clamoring for professional development, whatever they might claim in
surveys. Only 10% of U.S. journalists bother to belong to SPJ; fewer than
that read AJR or CJR; only 10-15% of U.S. journalists read the paper or
electronic version of The New York Times; obviously a very low percentage read
books of journalism criticism/recommendations by people such as Fuller,
Fallows, Kovach/Rosenstiel, Rosen, etc.; most beat reporters seem only
semi-serious, not really serious, about developing expertise on their beat (with
sports being the exception that proves the rule, and the rule is quite painful
when to comes to, say, business/economics reporting). Good luck in getting
U.S. journalists to read Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
regardless of how fine the writing is, how practical the research is, or how low
the subscription price is.
As for JMC academics not reading scholarly research, there certainly is a
high percentage of them who don't want to and/or don't need to do research
(they already have tenure, or they teach at an institution where research
is not necessary to get tenure, or they are on a non-research tenure track,
or not on tenure track). I've seen professors retire from research
universities, and how that process physically goes can tell you a lot, especially a
visible layer of dust on journals sitting in an open box in the hallway.
Dane S. Claussen, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Editor (3/2006-9/2012), Journalism & Mass Communication Educator,
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC);
and
Head (2011-12), Media Management & Economics Division, AEJMC
____________________________________
From: ted.pease at usu.edu
To: News-list at aejmc.net
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2012 14:32:54 +0000
Subject: AEJMC Newspaper & Online News Division The academic-professional
"chasm"
All: Jerry Ceppos (re)opened this can of worms.
_Opinion: The same old song about journalism’s academic-professional
disconnect_ (http://hardnewscafe.usu.edu/?p=8031)
June 21st, 2012 Posted in _Opinion_ (http://hardnewscafe.usu.edu/?cat=1)
_| Edit_
(https://hardnewscafe.usu.edu/wp-admin/post.php?post=8031&action=edit) | By _Ted Pease_ (mailto:ted.pease at usu.edu)
Jerry Ceppos, the new dean of the Manship School of Mass Communication at
LSU and a former newspaper editor, writes somewhat grimly this week about “
_How Journalism Professionals and Educators Can Close the Chasm_
(http://uiswcmsweb.prod.lsu.edu/manship/MassComm/AbouttheSchool/ReportsandPublications/
item49390.html) .”
His column took me back to my first journalism educators (_AEJMC_
(http://www.aejmc.org/) ) convention—in 1984 at the University of Florida. As a
brand-new assistant professor, newly migrated from the newsroom, that first
encounter with journalism/mass communication education was an epiphany. I
remember distinctly hearing a research panel presentation that included Guido
Stempel and Max McCombs, two of the biggest names in journalism research. I
had never heard of them. “Wow!” I thought. “This is great stuff. I wonder
if anyone in the newsroom knows about this.”
More at _http://hardnewscafe.usu.edu/?p=8031_
(http://hardnewscafe.usu.edu/?p=8031)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Edward C. Pease, Ph.D
Professor & Department Head
Book Review Editor, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Logan, Utah 84322-4605
435-797-3293; 435-797-3973 FAX
• JCOM Website: (http://www.usu.edu/journalism) _http://www.usu.edu/_
(http://www.usu.edu/journalism) _journalism_ (http://www.usu.edu/journalism)
• Hard News Café: _http://hardnewscafe.usu.edu_
(http://hardnewscafe.usu.edu/)
• PeezPix: _http://peezpixphotos.blogspot.com_
(http://tedsword.blogspot.com/)
• Today's WORD on Journalism: _http://tedsword.blogspot.com_
(http://tedsword.blogspot.com/)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you can get the right ones in
the right order, you can nudge the world a little." --Tom Stoppard
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