Journalism school’s centennial forums examine future

COLUMBIA - The MU School of Journalism's Centennial is a celebration of the past, but its focus was the future at workshops on Thursday. Educating future journalists, determining how newspapers will function in a digital age and figuring out how to bring readers back to papers were all addressed at the forums, which ran from 9 a.m. to late in the afternoon.

Educating the Next Generation of Journalists

Training in all news media is essential for a well-rounded journalist, but convergence is just the beginning. New technology will be necessary. This was the conclusion reached in a forum on Educating the Next Generation of Journalists on Thursday morning at the Fred W. Smith Forum in the Reynolds Journalism Institute.

Jean-Francois Fogel, a Parisian journalist; Maria Teresa La Porte Fernandez-Alfaro, dean of the University of Navarra School of Communication in Pamplona, Spain; and Dean Mills, dean of the Missouri School of Journalism, facilitated this discussion with MU Chancellor Brady Deaton moderating. "How do you provide the perfect widget?" Fogel asked while discussing the news medium of the future. "Is it necessary to be a geek to be a journalist in the future? I don't know, but it is not a bad quality."

Then and Now: Learning and Doing Journalism as an African American in Mid-Missouri

As the 75-minute panel wore on, a hard truth began to emerge: African-American students at the MU School of Journalism faced discrimination 30 years ago, and they still face challenges today.

Five African-American graduates of the MU School of Journalism met Thursday morning to discuss those challenges and to offer advice to current students struggling with their own challenges.

Several of the panelists said the first challenge was adjusting to a predominately white campus.

"Was it a bite in the butt?" asked Corrice Collins, former stations operations manager for WBBM-TV in Chicago. "Of course it was."

Collins said people at MU often told him that he wasn't right for the journalism school.

"One professor here told me I didn't belong," Collins said. "It still hurts."

But within a year, Collins said, he had a "posse" that supported him not only during school but throughout life.

Students today should be able to use what they learn at the journalism school to thrive in their professions, said Gail Baker, dean of the College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

"What I learned I have been able to transfer to every environment," Baker said. "You learn how not just to cope but to really flourish in (a predominately white) environment."

Embracing Change: Ensuring the Future of Magazine Journalism

The future of the magazine world is not between the pages of glossy covers.

Discussion leaders at forum agreed the future of magazines lies in multimedia. The panel included Jack Bamberger, senior vice president of Meredith Corporation; John Byrne, executive editor and editor-in-chief of Businessweek.com; Charlene Finck, vice president and editor of Farm Journal Magazine; Lamar Graham, executive editor of Parade Magazine; and Geraldine Sealey, articles editor for Glamour Magazine.

Students and alumni packed into Tucker Forum, standing along the back wall and sitting on the floor to hear the good, the bad and the ugly of today's magazine world.

"In general, we were dumb and lazy and didn't believe the online world would change us," Byrne said. "We sort of cling to the hopeful plug that print advertising will come back, or that online will save print, or that subscriptions will ultimately pay for content."

Byrne said none of these things are true. Instead, he believes the key to success is to take full advantage of what the web has to offer.

"The web is not another medium," Byrne said. "It is a utility. If there were the Renaissance, the web would be Florence."

Entertainment Journalism: Its Rise and Future

Jann Carl, a correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, led a panel discussion centered on the question, "What is entertainment journalism?"

She told the story of her personal journey through the field and how time after time, her education from the J-School prepared her for what she had to face.

Kitty Bean Yancey, travel reporter for USA Today, discussed her take on journalism's power.

"As a journalist, you have the power to affect reputations," Yancey said.

Although she's an active writer in entertainment journalism, she had one piece of advice for all journalism students, and that was to know everything. All members of the panel emphasized the value of the ability to know how to create journalism from every angle - writing, reporting, and producing multimedia for the web.

Other panelists included Kimberly Nordyke, reporter at The Hollywood Reporter; Lindsay Powers, staff writer and editor at Us Weekly; and Leah Sanders, producer of E! Entertainment.

"If I can be the light in peoples' lives ... that's what I take away from it all," Sanders said while describing the personal dimension of her career. "Learn as much as you can here. Hang on to that, and be proud."

The Long View for Newspapers in the Digital Age

Declaring themselves mostly "bullish" on the near future of newspapers, executives from seven daily newspapers talked about the urgent need for a new business model at Thursday afternoon's panel, "The Long View for Newspapers in the Digital Age."

"Our model is built around a way people don't live anymore," said Pam Maples, a 1979 graduate of the journalism school who is now the managing editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Part of the key to bringing back readers - and advertising revenue - might lie in identifying "communities of interest" and serving them through niche products online and in print. Lewis Diuguid, editorial page columnist with the Kansas City Star and a 1977 graduate of the journalism school, cited the example of the Star's "Ink," a weekly publication geared toward young adults. With a focus on what's going on around town and lots of commentary, the publication has been a success, Diuguid said.

Ken Paulson, who graduated from the journalism school in 1975 and is now the editor of USA TODAY, said newspapers have some time left to catch their business sides up with the changes in their news products.

"What we're going to see is a steady decline in circulation over a two-decade period," he said. "We're not going to disappear tomorrow."

Missourian reporters Kelsey Allen, Sarah Flagg, Stefanie Kienstra, Cassidy Shearrer, Emily Van Zandt and Emily Younker contributed to this report.