<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Re: [AEJMC Newspaper Division list] New name for Newspaper Division?</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>I think the first thing to do is to address the question of why we are losing members. I have a feeling it is because of declines in the newspaper industry and particularly a decline in the number of traditional newspaper readers among the young. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that there is a decline in numbers of people joining the division. I would think the most effective way to solve the problem would be to go with News Division, although I can’t imagine that RTV and the magazine division would go along with that. The most realistic solution, I think, is what Clyde and some others have suggested. Keep the name newspaper, but reposition it so it is clear we are not only talking about print newspapers, but as Clyde suggests, issues, technologies and media employed by newspapers today. Tom<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
On 7/18/08 10:13 AM, "Clyde Bentley" <bentleycl@missouri.edu> wrote:<BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'>Is it possible to address our identity concerns in the subtext that usually follows a name on a Web page or stationary? We are in the land of colonated titles, after all:<BR>
<BR>
Newspaper Division <BR>
Addressing the full range of issues, technologies and media employed by 21st Century newspapers<BR>
<BR>
Clyde<BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Courier New"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:16.0px'><BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><B><BR>
– – – <BR>
Clyde Bentley<BR>
</B></SPAN><FONT SIZE="1"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:9.0px'>Missouri School of Journalism<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'> <BR>
</SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'><BR>
Wilson Lowrey7/17/08 3:52 PM<BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Courier New"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:16.0px'>Thanks so much, Susan for raising this issue. I’ve really enjoyed<BR>
reading these thoughtful posts. At this point I’m open to a couple of<BR>
possibilities: <BR>
<BR>
(1) Keeping the present name but supplementing it with outreach efforts<BR>
to help AEJMC members and students better understand the division’s<BR>
inclusiveness. Bill Reader suggested something similar in an earlier<BR>
post. And I agree with him that we shouldn’t so quickly dismiss the<BR>
valuable cultural capital and public legitimacy of newspapers. <BR>
(2) Changing the name to something simple and rooted in the division’s<BR>
conceptual focus – the News Division or the Journalism Division, or some<BR>
such. However, if the Division were to pursue this approach, I think<BR>
we'd need to discuss the plans with RTVJ, Community J and Civic J, etc.<BR>
Probably any name change will lead to bruised toes, but if it’s done in<BR>
an open manner – if we at least invite others to speak their mind, even<BR>
at our meeting -- maybe we could minimize the fallout. And it would only<BR>
be fair.<BR>
<BR>
I don’t think it’s a good idea to incorporate some other technological<BR>
platform into the name – Newspapers and Online News, for example. We’d<BR>
still be tying ourselves to the caprice of changing technologies and<BR>
changing labels for these technologies (and to the latest industry<BR>
interpretation of what the problem is). And we’ll soon be having this<BR>
conversation all over again. I remember working on a Sunday Perspective<BR>
section front in the early ‘90s (seems like yesterday) that focused on<BR>
the then new phenomenon of the Internet. Thinking ourselves ‘with it,’<BR>
we went with an arthed like “Surfing the Internet” – at that time, a<BR>
cutting-edge term. I don’t remember the last time I heard someone<BR>
actually say, “well, I think I’ll go surf the Internet.”<BR>
<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'><BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><BR>
<HR ALIGN=CENTER SIZE="3" WIDTH="95%"></SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Monaco, Courier New"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10.0px'>_______________________________________________<BR>
News-list mailing list<BR>
News-list@aejmc.net<BR>
<a href="http://aejmc.net/mailman/listinfo/news-list_aejmc.net">http://aejmc.net/mailman/listinfo/news-list_aejmc.net</a><BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE><FONT SIZE="2"><FONT FACE="Monaco, Courier New"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:10.0px'><BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>