Last Updated: November 29, 1996
Printer-friendly version
This was a summer of discovery for 25 journalism teachers and the staffs of the newspapers where they worked as fellows of the Institute for Journalism Excellence.
Sixteen of the fellows met in Anaheim, Calif., recently to share war stories and participate in a workshop to assess the program and their experiences.
Impressions from these discussions suggested two things to me: The educators had a strong learning experience. And they are taking from the newsrooms to their classrooms a sophisticated understanding of daily newspapers drawn from carrying out journalistic assignments, observation and lively exchanges of ideas and information with their summertime colleagues.
Each of the fellows had worked in a newsroom at some point, but the Institute enabled them to ìremember where they came from," in the phrase of Creed Black, president and CEO of Knight Foundation, which has generously supported the Institute.
Particularly encouraging, I thought, was that fully half of the group taught at small, non-accredited programs on campuses that one does not typically associate with teaching journalism.
The Institute demonstrated that knowledge gained through experience is unlike knowledge gained through formal study - a common distinction educators themselves have made in wanting students to have internships as part of their journalism education.
The impressions of the teachers were intriguing, challenging, and worth sharing:
- In some newsrooms, the educators initially felt the editors thought they lacked the skills to work as journalists. Once they began to carry out assignments and demonstrated competence these perceptions vanished and the teachers were seen as valuable, if short-time, additions to the staff.
- Many said the summer experience reinforced and validated what they were teaching in their journalism courses.
- The teachers found newspaper people more satisfied in their jobs than they had expected.
- They noted the increasing use of e-mail and other computer-based forms of sending messages around the newsroom diminished human contact and socialization.
- Those who worked at newspapers where team concepts are being tried detected an uneasiness on the staffs about these new approaches. One teacher observed that if everyone is empowered, then no one is in charge.
Assessments from editors indicated that their news staffs came to realize there are many competent teachers of journalism, even if they lack current or extensive experience.
The fellows' workshop was held on the eve of the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Significant attention at the convention was focused on the digital revolution and the newspaper industry's role in it. Educators, including those who participated in the Institute for Journalism Excellence, are seeing evidence that the skills of journalism are key components in the wondrous ways information moves today.
They are recognizing that as the diversity of educational choices in the communications fields expands, the core values of journalism remain, and bring a renewed meaning to content, to the quality and meaning of what goes into the technology.
In planning for the summer of 1997, ASNE and the Knight Foundation hope to give participating newspapers and teachers a clearer understanding of the mission of the Institute, which gives a priority to enlarging teachers' knowledge of modern newspapers rather than simply improving the journalistic skills of the educators.
These and other small refinements will strengthen a program that is bringing
to life what so many of us had in mind in urging more partnerships between newsrooms
and classrooms. 
ASNE President Giles is editor and publisher of The Detroit News. E-mail him at rgiles@detnews.com.
