Thanks a million, Steve. In spite of its light tone, this piece was one of the harder ones I've written lately, because I faced two seemingly opposing realities: 1) Journalists have to declare conflicts of interest like "godmother to his daughter" but 2) Nobody likes a name-dropper. Much appreciate your understanding of the challenge!
Jan, not sure I’m due such laudits, other than my three British expressions of enthusiastic support/congratulations. But thanks. On your two points:
1) without respect to vocational standards, is it like “once a journalist, always a journalist” – from first byline to grave? No accommodation for “former”? (And does the same standard apply to editors and photographers? Just thinking … by definition, a photo amounts to a kind of visual ‘drop’ - or not?)
2) pushing back on “Nobody likes a name-dropper” … I’d say there is variability as where your draw the line as to whether the name has been “dropped” or simply stated as the character in the story or report. (I’m saying this out of self-defense as I haven’t done much on my own to brag about, but I’ve been in positions by luck or routine in which I can say I know people who know people whose names might be dropped; so my potential ‘droppings’ come across as second-order diluted brags. :)
1) It seems to depend to some extent on the journalists and how active they are. I don't use "former" because I do here all the same things I did at newspapers and magazines and observe the same standard standards: e.g., declaring conflicts of interest. But others might use "former" or "retired" if they've gone in a new direction. @KentAnderson (another ex-newspaper person) might see it differently for valid reasons.
2) Agree: There's a difference between dropping a name to show off or because you have a solid journalistic or other reason to do it. The line, as you suggest, can be hard to define. It's a tough call sometimes.
This may well be a path best left untrod but I’m going to try it anyway. I taught as an adjunct for four years in a named J-school in the southwest. Okay, it was TCU in Fort Worth. The Schieffer School of Journalism. I was asked to teach a course in general semantics as an elective because the department chair had taken a course in grad school and thought it was worthwhile. And I cost next to nothing and they needed an elective hole filled after a prof left two weeks before the start of the fall semester.
The classes varied from a low of 15 to a high of 28, I think. Consistently, about 20-25% were journalism majors, the rest Ad/PR for the simple reason that organizationally, Ad/PR was under the journalism department. I’ll just say that over time, I developed quite the cynical attitude about this mixing of journalism with Ad/PR. At one point (between 2005-2009) I did a search for 20-30 major J-schools across the country and I forget the actual numbers but more than half, easily, co-mingled the two majors in one department. Maybe it’s different now.
Do you have any thoughts or concerns about this from your experience?
Oh, boy. That’s a tough one. I’ve never taught semantics, just journalism or writing in general.
But trying to combine journalism and Ad/PR goals in a course sounds dicey, because the aims of the two are so different. Either way, today you’d be dealing with those separate disciplines while dealing with other shifting realities, such as having to police AI use.
A good person to follow if you’re interested in the challenges of teaching journalism today is @Beth Shelburne. Beth a former news anchor at the largest TV station in Alabama who now teaches journalism (specifically, podcasting) at UAB, the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Aided by grants, she’s also been writing for a great independent news site, Alabama Reflector, with an editor who was a recent Pulitzer finalist.
Hi Jan! I don’t have a lot of personal experience to add here because my podcast teaching at UAB is offered through the English Dept as a creative writing elective.
I checked, and it appears University of Alabama and Auburn University, the two big J schools in Alabama, do not combine Ad/PR and Journalism. So at least we’re doing that right!
What an eloquent tribute to our independence holiday as well as to your friend and his achievements. Thank you!
Brilliant, well-played indeed!
Thanks a million, Steve. In spite of its light tone, this piece was one of the harder ones I've written lately, because I faced two seemingly opposing realities: 1) Journalists have to declare conflicts of interest like "godmother to his daughter" but 2) Nobody likes a name-dropper. Much appreciate your understanding of the challenge!
Jan, not sure I’m due such laudits, other than my three British expressions of enthusiastic support/congratulations. But thanks. On your two points:
1) without respect to vocational standards, is it like “once a journalist, always a journalist” – from first byline to grave? No accommodation for “former”? (And does the same standard apply to editors and photographers? Just thinking … by definition, a photo amounts to a kind of visual ‘drop’ - or not?)
2) pushing back on “Nobody likes a name-dropper” … I’d say there is variability as where your draw the line as to whether the name has been “dropped” or simply stated as the character in the story or report. (I’m saying this out of self-defense as I haven’t done much on my own to brag about, but I’ve been in positions by luck or routine in which I can say I know people who know people whose names might be dropped; so my potential ‘droppings’ come across as second-order diluted brags. :)
1) It seems to depend to some extent on the journalists and how active they are. I don't use "former" because I do here all the same things I did at newspapers and magazines and observe the same standard standards: e.g., declaring conflicts of interest. But others might use "former" or "retired" if they've gone in a new direction. @KentAnderson (another ex-newspaper person) might see it differently for valid reasons.
2) Agree: There's a difference between dropping a name to show off or because you have a solid journalistic or other reason to do it. The line, as you suggest, can be hard to define. It's a tough call sometimes.
This may well be a path best left untrod but I’m going to try it anyway. I taught as an adjunct for four years in a named J-school in the southwest. Okay, it was TCU in Fort Worth. The Schieffer School of Journalism. I was asked to teach a course in general semantics as an elective because the department chair had taken a course in grad school and thought it was worthwhile. And I cost next to nothing and they needed an elective hole filled after a prof left two weeks before the start of the fall semester.
The classes varied from a low of 15 to a high of 28, I think. Consistently, about 20-25% were journalism majors, the rest Ad/PR for the simple reason that organizationally, Ad/PR was under the journalism department. I’ll just say that over time, I developed quite the cynical attitude about this mixing of journalism with Ad/PR. At one point (between 2005-2009) I did a search for 20-30 major J-schools across the country and I forget the actual numbers but more than half, easily, co-mingled the two majors in one department. Maybe it’s different now.
Do you have any thoughts or concerns about this from your experience?
Oh, boy. That’s a tough one. I’ve never taught semantics, just journalism or writing in general.
But trying to combine journalism and Ad/PR goals in a course sounds dicey, because the aims of the two are so different. Either way, today you’d be dealing with those separate disciplines while dealing with other shifting realities, such as having to police AI use.
A good person to follow if you’re interested in the challenges of teaching journalism today is @Beth Shelburne. Beth a former news anchor at the largest TV station in Alabama who now teaches journalism (specifically, podcasting) at UAB, the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Aided by grants, she’s also been writing for a great independent news site, Alabama Reflector, with an editor who was a recent Pulitzer finalist.
Hi Jan! I don’t have a lot of personal experience to add here because my podcast teaching at UAB is offered through the English Dept as a creative writing elective.
I checked, and it appears University of Alabama and Auburn University, the two big J schools in Alabama, do not combine Ad/PR and Journalism. So at least we’re doing that right!