Will Future Journalists be Prepared for Media Reality?

Mindy McAdams doesn’t think that all journalism schools are preparing their students for the realities of online. Commenting on some of the future-journalists themselves:

“They are attached to a dream of becoming someone from the past — maybe photojournalist Eddie Adams, maybe gonzo writer Hunter S. Thompson — a journalist who only took pictures or who only wrote”

Her advice for students, educators, and journalists

  • Get off of MySpace and Facebook and start making Web sites from scratch.
  • Quit wallowing in the verbiage of Slate and Salon and start searching the blogs. Get an RSS reader and learn to use it.
  • Stop watching YouTube and start making videos of your own (and then post them on YouTube).
  • Take the earbuds out and buy a microphone.
  • Stop mixing music and start mixing interviews and natural sound.
  • Start figuring out why this Web site is easier to use than this one.

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