News media and college students: A match made in heaven?
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
In what seems to be a growing trend, colleges and universities are pairing with traditional news media to cover underserved communities and populate hyperlocal news sites. The New York Times recently announced that it will partner with The City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism to cover areas of Brooklyn. The UC Berkeley School of Journalism has partnered with several news organizations, including a notable partnership with financier Warren Hellman and public radio station KQED to form a non-profit online news operation. You can read about similar partnerships here, here, here and here.The trend raises the question: are media organizations using college journalism students to fill the gap of traditional reporting and better serve local communities or are students being used as cheap labor?
It is worth noting that college journalism students are often bright and talented young journalists looking to hone their skills in an academic environment. Some students, especially those in graduate programs, often have substantial experience in the newsroom or have worked previously as a full-time journalist. The partnerships can benefit both the students who gain practical experience and news media who can expand the reach of the newsroom.
But are news organizations avoiding paying full or part-time reporters in favor of tapping the skills of students who only require academic credit rather than financial compensation? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
Also on 10,000 Words:
• How to make the most of your journalism internship
• Just what are they teaching future journalists?
• How online college newspapers are using multimedia and social networking
• Journalism Grads: 30 Things You Should Do This Summer
Labels: news on the news
7 Comments
Angela Seits Says:
In the case of using graduate students to provide local news content, some news organizations may be seriously taking advantage of the situation. Many graduate students in the journalism school I attend have at least five years of news room experience at prominent newspapers. They should be compensated with more than academic credit for their contributions.
TheDean Says:
I think it's a bit of both - the media using college journalists to better serve local communities and students being used as cheap labor. Still, how is this any different than how the NCAA uses student-athletes to be a billion-dollar a year entity.
I admit I would like to see more interaction both ways - more scholarships provided by news organizations for journalism students. Will that happen? Not until these entities start making a profit again...which will require new ideas from young journalists.
I admit I would like to see more interaction both ways - more scholarships provided by news organizations for journalism students. Will that happen? Not until these entities start making a profit again...which will require new ideas from young journalists.
Drew Says:
These partnerships are definitely needed, especially when they attempt projects and coverage well outside the scope of current methods and models.
New practicums, like the one between CUNY and The Times, are providing extremely valuable experience running hyper-local projects.
They will help us figure out some important questions. What are the most efficient ways of encouraging and aggregating community contributions? How can we build platforms for sustainable community coverage? What tools and technologies work best?
I agree with Michael that a big challenge is the extent to which students get to know a community, its issues and form relationships there. If the students do not stick around after their class or graduation, we need to find a really good way to facilitate knowledge transfer.
That's why it's especially important to build community networks that can evolve as members leave and join the neighborhood. Residents can know just as much, if not more, about a particular geographic area or local issue. We just need to find methods and the right tools to synthesize that knowledge and turn it into networked knowledge.
On a personal note, some of my most valuable experience as a journalism student at the University of Minnesota came through a class offered in partnership with the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It was unpaid, but led to a lot of (paid) professional opportunities. I wouldn't trade that experience for thousands of dollars.
Drew Geraets
Digital Media Manager
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
New practicums, like the one between CUNY and The Times, are providing extremely valuable experience running hyper-local projects.
They will help us figure out some important questions. What are the most efficient ways of encouraging and aggregating community contributions? How can we build platforms for sustainable community coverage? What tools and technologies work best?
I agree with Michael that a big challenge is the extent to which students get to know a community, its issues and form relationships there. If the students do not stick around after their class or graduation, we need to find a really good way to facilitate knowledge transfer.
That's why it's especially important to build community networks that can evolve as members leave and join the neighborhood. Residents can know just as much, if not more, about a particular geographic area or local issue. We just need to find methods and the right tools to synthesize that knowledge and turn it into networked knowledge.
On a personal note, some of my most valuable experience as a journalism student at the University of Minnesota came through a class offered in partnership with the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It was unpaid, but led to a lot of (paid) professional opportunities. I wouldn't trade that experience for thousands of dollars.
Drew Geraets
Digital Media Manager
CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
Garry G Says:
We have formed a partnership with MLive.com at Oakland University in Michigan. Both sides benefit. I like having our students producing stories, audio, and video for a live Web site. They get feedback from MLive editors and comments from readers. MLive gets a free source for content. Makes sense to me.
Garry Gilbert
Director of Journalism
Oakland University
Rochester, MI 48309
Garry Gilbert
Director of Journalism
Oakland University
Rochester, MI 48309
Nathaniel Says:
In general, I think partnerships between media organizations and universities are good. Students gain experience, surrounded by professionals. Organizations can cover more ground and may hear fresh ideas.
However, I see some downsides:
Are there enough talented students to cover the communities these new ventures aim to spotlight?
The number of quality journalism students can vary from city to city. I imagine New York, San Francisco and Chicago have an overwhelming number of dedicated, talented students. Smaller cities, or those with fewer universities, may not have enough talented students to cover these "underserved" communities and the universities students are naturally directed to cover.
Who teaches the students?
Students should derive something more from these programs than the standard student-professor dynamic. These programs should expose students to journalism professionals outside of the university.
What happens to internships?
What happens to paid internships?
What happens to entry-level work?
These three questions are intertwined. I worry that partnerships will replace paid work for young grads.
If more reporting is done by unpaid, student workers, does this make it harder to recruit students from a lower socioeconomic background?
It's hard enough paying for college, doing homework and working part-time; balancing all that with additional unpaid work may be too much.
Those are some of the initial downsides that come to my mind.
However, I see some downsides:
Are there enough talented students to cover the communities these new ventures aim to spotlight?
The number of quality journalism students can vary from city to city. I imagine New York, San Francisco and Chicago have an overwhelming number of dedicated, talented students. Smaller cities, or those with fewer universities, may not have enough talented students to cover these "underserved" communities and the universities students are naturally directed to cover.
Who teaches the students?
Students should derive something more from these programs than the standard student-professor dynamic. These programs should expose students to journalism professionals outside of the university.
What happens to internships?
What happens to paid internships?
What happens to entry-level work?
These three questions are intertwined. I worry that partnerships will replace paid work for young grads.
If more reporting is done by unpaid, student workers, does this make it harder to recruit students from a lower socioeconomic background?
It's hard enough paying for college, doing homework and working part-time; balancing all that with additional unpaid work may be too much.
Those are some of the initial downsides that come to my mind.
Sarah Says:
On the flipside, I am involved with a project that uses college students to help rural newspapers integrate multimedia into their production. It is something done strictly for academic credit but tremendously helps these small papers develop multimedia stories in ways they could not have done before the partnership.
check out the project at www.wvuncovered.com
check out the project at www.wvuncovered.com
Use a few students mixed with veteran reporters and you'll create a rich learning environment. Overuse them and you'll get shallow reporting.
January 12, 2010 5:41 AM