Superb piece. This is a fascinating story that just keeps getting better. Great job.
Jesse Luna
· 1 year ago
Great article Mark. Beside's Alana's original piece, this is the only other related story that makes any sense. The PBS Ombudsman must have been under some serious pressure to say all that non-speak.
Trying to stop blogging in a classroom is like trying to stop an avalanche. It's best to turn around and ski it.
@jesseluna
Andy Sternberg
· 1 year ago
Great insight and reporting into the frustrating state of journalism education. In many cases, I've seen programs that 5 or 10 years ago preached what was called "convergence" spiral into close-mindedness, if only to maintain a structured and consistent curriculum. I'll never regret going to J-School but it certainly reinforced the fact that subscribing to old school rules will only hold you back.
There's no time to be surprised anymore. It's STILL not too late to jump in, surely many people concluded the Earth must be round and observed the patterns of the stars for YEARS before it was ever taught/accepted in the schools.
Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
· 1 year ago
If Journalism programs have survived the relative stone ages of the last 10 years, then you're definitely right, it isn't too late for them to get up to speed, but I can't imagine that being the case for too many more years.
To be honest, I learned everything that's been useful to me about journalism from my high school program. Most of the stuff they taught in college was just a re-hash of that, plus remedial computer literacy.
Alana is one of the nicest people you are ever likely to meet. I'm glad that she stood up for what she thought. I agree, educational systems are 'out of touch', and I thought this was a great article!
Teresa
· 1 year ago
I've been following Alana's story — as a current student in a lackluster Communication program, I'm behind her all the way for not only giving an honest critique of her journalism program but sticking by her agenda in the face of criticism. I agree with you that higher institution learning within the media realm in particular is falling short in terms of teaching us what we need to know. Especially with so much available at our fingertips, young people breaking into the industry now can secure our own learning experiences and build our way to success without the hand-holding of our universities. @resawu
John Blackwell
· 1 year ago
Hey just before I comment (because I can't find my way around any more after this crappy website design change..........."GRRRR IF IT AINT BROKE DONT FIX IT DUDE!"), I would just like to ask if anyone else thinks the Mashable changes are terrible? Careful Pedro.........this is not the kind of minor outfit you can delegate. You will not - I repeat, NOT better your achievement here, rather you'll f*** it all up! And it looks like its started already - Be warned by a mete;)
COMMENT: Isn't this really just another example of how 'detached from the real world' all of us on here are? Why do you think Calacanis flies Economy class or kisses up for upgrades? BECAUSE NO ONE IS MAKING ANY MONEY EXCEPT IN THE REAL WORLD OF FACE TO FACE AND PHONECALLS! That's why no one is Savvy! It's called 'The Wisdom of Crowds'.
Nathan
· 1 year ago
I don't see how this is a story about old and new media. To me, this is a story about a student violating the trust of her professors and classmates. I'm biased here, being a professor myself who teaches a lot of small seminar-style classes, but I am royally sick of hearing people spouting these stereotypes about how professors just aren't hip enough to teach today's students. Personally, if I were teaching a seminar and a student put up a post that humiliated me, personally, by name, on a widely-read blog without discussing it with me first, they would not be allowed back in my classroom. That's simply a violation of trust, and a classroom requires trust in order to function. Old vs. new media has nothing to do with it.
And -- a secondary point -- with regard to the ombudsman contacting Alana before publishing comments on the situation -- why would he? That's not the ombudsman's job. The ombudsman's job is to respond to complaints from the public. The issue is what Alana published, not whatever she might have to say about it now. Anyone who criticizes Shift Media for neglecting to have their ombudsman contact Alana for comment before responding, is simply mistaken about the function of an ombuds desk.
Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
· 1 year ago
I'd like to address your Ombudsman point first, because your lack of understanding of the position is suprising for someone who claims to understand what the word means.
Webster sez and ombudsman: is one that investigates reported complaints (as from students or consumers), reports findings, and helps to achieve equitable settlements.
Sorta hard to achieve equity when you're only addressing one side of an equation, yes? In essence, the position is one of arbitration, not placation. Frankly, it would have been the easiest call of all to make, considering that everyone at MediaShift had easy access to Alana.
Your antiquated idea of what what should and should not be blogged about says a lot about the system. It isn't about trust and message control. It's about conversation. Do you likewise tell your students not to talk to other students not of the class about their experiences? If you do, do you at all expect them to abide that command?
What you want isn't reality.
Jeremy
· 1 year ago
It's amazing, as you say, that NYU's course is this out of touch with long-term evolutions in journalism. The decline of traditional papers is oft-cited and widespread; the NY Times recently combined their Sports and Business sections to save on printing costs, IIRC -- and given their class' reliance on said paper, it would be tough to miss the signs of decline.
I hope I'm not taken as being pedantic in saying this, because it's actually a fairly important point regarding the press in general (and one that's very often misconstrued): it's by no means outside of the instructor's purview to set blogging about her class as off-limits. Hard to enforce, if Alana chooses to be anonymous, but not outside of her "jurisdiction." Nor would that limit have anything whatsoever to do with First Amendment rights, and I very much hope that students in journalism understand that. The First Amendment applies to government censorship; and, in fact, that's the common meaning of the term in our society today -- not a limit imposed through service usage or a contract (like an NDA).
Such secrecy obviously flies in the face of the journalistic openness that the class should be instilling, but it is the instructor/school's RIGHT to limit exposure through blogging/twittering/etc., on penalty of expulsion from the class. It's just a contract for services; if Alana violates the terms, she can be kicked out. Likewise, if NYU violates THEIR terms -- teaching a worthwhile class in journalism (as it sounds like they've done) -- Alana can stop paying them.
Melanie
· 1 year ago
I think this is great - it always brings an issue more to the forefront of the media when the powers that be attempt to suppress it. Shouldn't a professor of Journalism know that? How many people would have even heard of this story if NYU in general and the professor specifically had not tried to cover it up?
Paul Stamatiou
· 1 year ago
"In short, institutions for higher learning will simply become obsolete."
No. That's what they call a generalization with a limited set of data (NYU).
Come to Georgia Tech and I'll show you a different side of things. I've written a 33 page paper on Twitter for a compsci class, a paper on YouTube for a new media culture class and the list goes on. Our police department even has a Twitter account.
Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
· 1 year ago
It's also based on not only my personal experiences, Paul, but a lot of other folks that I've heard. I don't doubt your experiences (as I've read your blog a long time), but you might be the exception to the rule.
Manuel
· 1 year ago
Many years ago, TV change the communication and information modes for the majority of Americans. Most political debates from then on would not have had the impact they had if there was not for TV. Let along, our evening news broadcasters - What ever they have to say is what "we all" considered to be "the Truth" - That was and still is JOURNALISM USA . Alanas communication process may well be the next link for information - after all - we all want to be informed.
Dante
· 1 year ago
Our educational system is so paralyzed. We have teachers who are so confined in academic books. Alana can be the last woman standing in NYU, standing for technology and all its wonder and benefits.
jccalhoun
· 1 year ago
I think this is about NYU rather than higher education in general. I've gotten degrees from a few colleges and although I was accepted at NYU I didn't go because I decided going massively into debt wasn't a good idea/ NYU is a private school at back in 2001 they were charging $12400 a semester. NYU is a rich school for rich kids and like a lot of "elite" places they are elitists and have little reason to be interested in anything that threatens tradition.
Seamus
· 1 year ago
I started a forum thread on mediabistro.com on this topic late last week. The replies are pretty uniform: mostly against Alana. But that is to be expected given the majority of our audience is from more traditional print media backgrounds.
However, the most recent entry from a young media pro who is new to the workforce is truly revealing, and I venture to guess inspiring to supporters of Alana Taylor: http://www.mediabistro.com/bbs/cache/t40993_1.asp. His handle is tynansanger.
Upon further investigation, I found out he was the first poster to our community on Get Satisfaction last week, and an attendee of our branding panel tomorrow. Additionally, the issue he posted on Get Satisfaction was relating to two courses, decidedly new media centric (maintaining an online profile, grammar & editing for bloggers) that were canceled due to lack of enrollment. Maybe coincidence, maybe not.
As I read more comments here, on our forum thread, and from the others who have chimed in on this story, it's sobering how glaring the disconnect here is between the "old" and "new" media camps.
Seamus community manager mediabistro.com Twitter: @seamuscondron @mediabistro
All Comments
Trying to stop blogging in a classroom is like trying to stop an avalanche. It's best to turn around and ski it.
@jesseluna
There's no time to be surprised anymore. It's STILL not too late to jump in, surely many people concluded the Earth must be round and observed the patterns of the stars for YEARS before it was ever taught/accepted in the schools.
To be honest, I learned everything that's been useful to me about journalism from my high school program. Most of the stuff they taught in college was just a re-hash of that, plus remedial computer literacy.
Al :)
@resawu
COMMENT: Isn't this really just another example of how 'detached from the real world' all of us on here are? Why do you think Calacanis flies Economy class or kisses up for upgrades? BECAUSE NO ONE IS MAKING ANY MONEY EXCEPT IN THE REAL WORLD OF FACE TO FACE AND PHONECALLS! That's why no one is Savvy! It's called 'The Wisdom of Crowds'.
And -- a secondary point -- with regard to the ombudsman contacting Alana before publishing comments on the situation -- why would he? That's not the ombudsman's job. The ombudsman's job is to respond to complaints from the public. The issue is what Alana published, not whatever she might have to say about it now. Anyone who criticizes Shift Media for neglecting to have their ombudsman contact Alana for comment before responding, is simply mistaken about the function of an ombuds desk.
Webster sez and ombudsman: is one that investigates reported complaints (as from students or consumers), reports findings, and helps to achieve equitable settlements.
Sorta hard to achieve equity when you're only addressing one side of an equation, yes? In essence, the position is one of arbitration, not placation. Frankly, it would have been the easiest call of all to make, considering that everyone at MediaShift had easy access to Alana.
Your antiquated idea of what what should and should not be blogged about says a lot about the system. It isn't about trust and message control. It's about conversation. Do you likewise tell your students not to talk to other students not of the class about their experiences? If you do, do you at all expect them to abide that command?
What you want isn't reality.
I hope I'm not taken as being pedantic in saying this, because it's actually a fairly important point regarding the press in general (and one that's very often misconstrued): it's by no means outside of the instructor's purview to set blogging about her class as off-limits. Hard to enforce, if Alana chooses to be anonymous, but not outside of her "jurisdiction." Nor would that limit have anything whatsoever to do with First Amendment rights, and I very much hope that students in journalism understand that. The First Amendment applies to government censorship; and, in fact, that's the common meaning of the term in our society today -- not a limit imposed through service usage or a contract (like an NDA).
Such secrecy obviously flies in the face of the journalistic openness that the class should be instilling, but it is the instructor/school's RIGHT to limit exposure through blogging/twittering/etc., on penalty of expulsion from the class. It's just a contract for services; if Alana violates the terms, she can be kicked out. Likewise, if NYU violates THEIR terms -- teaching a worthwhile class in journalism (as it sounds like they've done) -- Alana can stop paying them.
No. That's what they call a generalization with a limited set of data (NYU).
Come to Georgia Tech and I'll show you a different side of things. I've written a 33 page paper on Twitter for a compsci class, a paper on YouTube for a new media culture class and the list goes on. Our police department even has a Twitter account.
However, the most recent entry from a young media pro who is new to the workforce is truly revealing, and I venture to guess inspiring to supporters of Alana Taylor: http://www.mediabistro.com/bbs/cache/t40993_1.asp. His handle is tynansanger.
Upon further investigation, I found out he was the first poster to our community on Get Satisfaction last week, and an attendee of our branding panel tomorrow. Additionally, the issue he posted on Get Satisfaction was relating to two courses, decidedly new media centric (maintaining an online profile, grammar & editing for bloggers) that were canceled due to lack of enrollment. Maybe coincidence, maybe not.
As I read more comments here, on our forum thread, and from the others who have chimed in on this story, it's sobering how glaring the disconnect here is between the "old" and "new" media camps.
Seamus
community manager
mediabistro.com
Twitter:
@seamuscondron
@mediabistro