Anders Gyllenhaal, Executive Editor of The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, made the keynote presentation at the Pew Center for Civic Journalism luncheon on August 10 at The Association for Education in Journalism and Media Communications’ annual convention in Phoenix, Arizona. His topic: “What’s Coming. Will We Be Ready for It? Equipping Journalists for the New Communications Era.” Excerpts from his remarks follow.
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“Training Tomorrow’s Journalists in a Global Medium”
– Jerome Aumente…Another question I started to wonder about is whether the role technology plays in newspapers doesn’t give journalism schools a new opportunity that hasn’t existed before. In the same way that medical schools, science departments and business schools lead their industries with applied research, there’s more need than ever before for true research and development in journalism. How do we take these concepts and make them work in the newsroom? How do we turn some of these commercial technologies into journalistic tools? Almost every university research project that comes through my newsroom is on more theoretical topics, like measuring credibility or studying the history of diversity. What newsrooms are thirsting for right now are solutions for how to deal with this whole e-mail question, or a better approach to public records, or how about an online weather package that will help newspapers compete with TV? With so much need for training, why aren’t more journalism schools providing continuing education in technology for newspaper staff?…