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University Daily Kansan
Editors' Day 1985
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Friday, Oct. 18, 1985
Professionals' problem shared by educators
Journalism schools seek to establish credibility
By Del Brinkman School of Journalism
Two years ago, my wife, Evie, and I were invited to join a dinner group made up of persons from Lawrence and Kansas City.
---Del Brinkman Dean of journalism
At the first cocktail party we attended with the group, we met some very interesting people. Some were associated with the University of Kansas, but most were people from various and interesting walks of life.
During the conversations, I met an engineer and his wife from Kansas City. I could tell they were interested in journalism, but he was the dean of journalism at KU.
Del Brinkman
As they explained, they had a daughter who was interested in journalism. She loved writing, was a straight "A" student and was active in cultural activities. I could tell they were a bit anxious about something, and I soon found out why.
They had four older children who were doctors and engineers. Their daughter, Patty, had visited with her high school counselor about her career and college interests.
When she described her interest in majoring in journalism in college, the counselor said, "Oh, Patty, what a waste. You have such a fine mind."
I wish that were an isolated incident. But it isn't.
The credibility of communications and of communications education is very much determined by the quality of performance. And the quality of performance is very much determined by the quality of students, teachers and professionals.'
Therein lies a challenge of the future for journalism and journalism education. I don't use this illustration as justification for a demand for respect or love or money. I use it to illustrate the challenge we face.
We already have come a long way in 75 years of innovation, planning and hard work. Where are we today?
Communication is an integral element of society but not always recognized as such. Communications education is an important part of a university but not always recognized as such.
In fact, I would say that it is rare that mass communications is treated by a university as central to the functioning of society.
There is a great deal said these days about the credibility problem of the media — or of journalists — or of communications generally. Journalism education also has a credibility problem. Many articles have been written and analyses done that say that journalism education programs are "long on students and short on respect."
I am involved in communications work because I see it as being central to the functioning of society. I am involved in communications education because I see it as being central to the improvement of communications. I am involved in the administrative end of communications education because I see that as central to the improvement of communications education.
The credibility of communications and of communications education is very much determined by the quality of performance. And the quality of performance is very much determined by the quality of students, teachers and professionals.
Those are the important elements in the future of communications
education. They have been important for 75 years/and they will continue to be important.
Journalists are concerned about their credibility. Some would even say they are too concerned.
Several important activities have been undertaken recently.
A significant study was released last spring by the American Society of Newspaper Editors on "Newspaper Credibility: Building Reader Trust." Its first topic was press credibility.
The Gannett Foundation has put $15 million into the Gannett Center for Media Studies at Columbia University in New York City to bring from many areas together in a Hutchins Report-approach to the challenge.
likewise concerned about their credibility. Theirs is the double concern of the credibility of higher education generally and the credibility of communications education specifically.
Communications educators are
Writing in the New York Times of June 3,1984, Jonathan Friendly reported:
"I in purely numerical terms, journalism education is a success. This academic year there were 75,000 undergraduate and graduate students in more than 80 programs, ip from 15,000 two decades ago.
"The enrollment totals, however can be misleading. A quarter will drop out of communications work entirely. Of the students committed to journalism, there are substantial differences in needs and ambitions between those interested in broadcasting and those who want careers in print.
"Results of a two-year study released several weeks ago by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication concluded that the state of the journalism education enterprise was 'dismal'. Schools, it said, are short on money, academic respectability and industry support. Moreover, they have no strategic plan for improving their status.
'Part of the problem stems from the longstanding notion that journalism programs prepare students for a trade rather than a profession. Many academicians today agree with the description of 'J Schools' offered by Robert M. Hutchins, president of the University of Chicago, in
1938 — the 'shadiest educational ventures under respectable aupes.' As a result, journalism professors are often rejected by campus colleagues as unscholarly and by newsroom personnel as unprofessional.
"As journalism educators struggle to satisfy both academic and professional communities, their programs suffer."
I don't fully agree with all aspects of Jonathan Friendly's assessment, but he does describe the credibility problem.
Some important activities in journalism education have been developed recently to attack these problems head on.
The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism in Mass Communications has revised its standards and procedures. The Gannett Center has focused on solving some of the main problems of communications education. Studies are being made and remedies sought.
These efforts are substantial. They aren't cosmetic. They aren't "image only" activities. They are aimed at improving the quality of communications and communications education.
Let's hope we don't have to wait 75 years to hear high school conselors regularly tell Patty:
"You are interested in journalism? How wonderful! You have such a fine mind. I'm happy to see that you will put it to such an important use!"
The preceding was an excerpt by a speech given by Brinkman, KU dean of journalism, at Kansas State University on Sept. 26.
College grad speaks on the 'real' world
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Two interstate highways cross here. The town has a fine zoo, dozens of parks, and Jack Frost nips at the pumpkins in September.
This, a city of 94,000 people and the world's largest stock exchange, is the powerhouse of our global economy.
But then, that's why college is different from the real world. All in all, your KU education prepares you well. Take advantage of it.
Not all of what you learn in journalism school is useful. Some of it quickly will be forgotted. And you will find other things that you should have learned but didn't. Things like industry town or to figure out one industry town or to figure out a property tax bill when you've never seen one.
You may think working on the Kansan is below you. The Kansan may seem suitable only for those hardcore print types who smoke cigars and wear green eyeshades. Besides, the editors are inexperienced.
You won't take advantage of it by signing up for easy courses. You won't take advantage of it by skipping history and political science. You won't take advantage of it by ignoring the opportunities to gain experience on campus.
Well, you'll work for inexperienced editors in the real world. You think egos bounce around the Journalism School as you students vie for the best internship? Those same egos are in the real world, bumping uneasily against one another.
Your stories will be cut, your headlines will be changed and the boss doesn't want to hear about your problems. That's the real world.
Doug Cunningham
Sioux Falls, S.D.
Argus-Leader
Your stories will be cut, your headlines will be changed,and the boss doesn't want to hear about your problems.'
—Doug Cunningham
Sioux Falls Argus-Leader
I think that people in college too often look at professional newspapers as a perfect business. One where the news judgment never wanes and where the travel budget expands to cover the stories.
Not in Sioux Falls, and I will bet in a lot of other places. We make a game, and the letters pour in. We neglect it over something. More letters pour in.
It's not perfect out here in this mythical world. But I would never go back. I wouldn't even think about going back.
I can write and report and be paid
Not much, you understand,
but enough.
In Sioux Falls and in the real world, the stories are waiting, waiting for you to go write them.
Cunningham graduated from the University of Kansas in May.
News should focus on towns' citizens
As communities become inundated with more and more complex legislative decisions and technological advancements, it has become necessary for the reporter covering such communities to not only learn the specifics about the items from various officials, but he also must maintain a relationship with those who will be affected by them – the townfolk.
The recent Supreme Court ruling making some state and local governmental entities no longer exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act is an example.
Warren Bridges
Parsons Sun
Simply, he reminded me that while covering small towns, not to overlook the people who make up a majority of the eyes in the eyes of the those who run it.
What happens in Small Town U.S.A. does not simply affect a certain neighborhood, a certain race or a certain type of person.
Subsequently, in searching for
'Many meetings have proven far less fruitful in terms of gathering "the real story" than words spoken at the local cafe, grain elevator or tavern.'
As community officials scramble in an effort to comply with the ruling, it's the city workers — and the rulers — who will be most affected.
Several years ago, long before I began working in Parsons, I met an elderly gentleman while passing through a small town in the Midwest. Upon hearing of my journalistic ambitions, the man offered a bit of advice. What he knew about journalism has remained a question of mine since we met. But whether he knew anything about the profession is irrelevant. For his advice proved to be as useful, or more so, than any textbook or lecture could offer.
reasons why events happen, the reporter assigned to small towns must go beyond the word from officials and listen to those who will never write a letter to the editor, attend a council meeting or write their congressman.
Many meetings have proven far less fruitful in terms of gathering "the real story" than words spoken at the local cafe, grain elevator or tavern.
For those are the people who make up the town. Those are the people with many of the answers. And more times than not, those are the people who have the proper questions.
Bridges is a 1984 KU graduate.
Reporters kept alert on small town beats
Some wise old soul once said that one who publishes willfully appears before the populace with his pants down.
In a small town, people stand ready with a magnifying glass in hand.
But like the presence of a cop on the corner, it keeps you honest. And, in my mind, that is not a bad way to start in the business.
One criticism of the press is its lack of accountability. The press is accountable, but in a town of about 10,000 a reporter sees his sources and readers daily, which gives accountability a face. On larger papers, reporters often tend to be more isolated.
Misspell someone's name in the Tribune, and you can expect a shower of reminders as you cover the morning beat at the Bourbon County Courthouse. Write a good feature about the death of a well-known teacher, and the complimentary notes roll in.
As the only newspaper in the county, people rely on us to set the record straight. If the Tribute does not get the news, the rumor mill will.
Gossip has incredible market penetration.
Despite our attempts to do it all, small newspapers often have frustrating limitations. A small newspaper has lower pay — and 12-hour days,
But during the one- or two-year stint here, reporters may absorb a wide range of invaluable experience including some editing and layout work and a lot of photography.
The powers that be also recognize that this place is a training ground for young reporters. They have granted each reporter the opportunity to cover the courts, education, police and city and county governments. This constant switching of beats is not necessarily in the best interest of the newspaper but may serve the reporter well in years to come.
Amy Balding Fort Scott Tribune
'As the only newspaper in the county, people rely on us to set the record straight.'
---Amy Balding
Fort Scott Tribune
Ultimately, the differences between small dailies and large metropolitan papers fade.
Local residents feel the effects of the failing farm economy, reapraisal, and changing health care as do people throughout and country. These things demand coverage.
Generally the job satisfaction remains high here, as at most places in the field, which is a comfort when the pay rarely makes a parallel climb.
Few things approach the thrill of knowing that the piece on which you worked so hard may elicit a private smile or a second glance.
Those moments are sweet.
Borden
Balding graduated from the University of Konsa in May 1984.
Continued from p. 1
cost money and things that won't compromise our journalistic standards or integrity — to help build our credibility with our readers.
The first and perhaps most important is to practice good journalism. To do all the things good journalism schools, such as this one at KU, teach us to do — to be fair and accurate and complete and, yes, to be compassionate in our reporting.
The ASNE report suggests several, some of which I know work from firsthand experience. I would like to mention just three.
How easy it is, sometimes, to forget to ask: But what about the other side? What does the other side want? But what important that question is. Fairness.
How easy it is, sometimes, to become cynical and callous and to forget how our stories affect those we write about. Compassion.
Second, I think it is extremely important to be accessible. We — in newsrooms large and small — sometimes get so caught up in just getting the paper out every day — or every week — that we forget to attend to those little things that help us
How hard it is, sometimes, to admit we made a mistake. But how necessary, it is to correct our mistakes, each and every one of them, and to set a newsroomwide policy for doing so. Accuracy.
I remember stopping at the grocery store one day after work a few years ago and running into a county commissioner. He started debating with me about an editorial the newspaper had published a week before, asking me a way off base on the issue and that we had truly misinformed the public.
establish true communication with our readers.
I asked him why he hadn't called before, when the editorial was published. He said he tried to call the editorial page editor but was continually put on hold. And when he finally did get a chance to leave a message, his call was never returned.
We need to meet with our readers more often. Invite them to tour the newspaper, to learn how we go about publishing every day. Hold workshops to explain how local clubs and organizations can get their news in the paper. Explain our editorial policy and our policy on letters to the editor. Listen to complaints. Be accessible.
Chris Barber, Overland Park senior, and Diane Borden. Gannett professional in residence at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, meet in the University Daily Kansan newsroom. Barber is a student in Borden's newspaper management class.
Needless to say, we took steps to change our phone-answering policy. Accessibility.
Being more sensitive
The third step we can take to deal with this credibility problem is to be more sensitive to the kinds of news
we publish. By that I don't mean to be any less aggressive in pursuing the traditional news — the news of record — or to stop investigating corruption or fulfilling our First Amendment responsibilities.
I simply mean to consider broadening the content of the news package each day to include, for example, stories as well as city hall; to include stories about the abortion issue as well as the Middle East conflict; to include stories about health and science and transportation as well as the budget deficit; to include stories about business and agriculture and technology as well as crime.
And to let those stories of broad concern — those non-traditional, nongeopolitical stories — compete for play on Page 1.
Our readers have diverse interests and concerns, just as we all have diverse interests and concerns. And that diversity needs to be reflected in our newspapers and on the front page. One way to reflect that diversity is to make sure our newsrooms represent a cross section of our readership — old, young, black, white, male, female. How exciting and enriching it can be to work in such a newsroom, and how exciting and enriching a newspaper can result!
Bob Maynard, owner and editor of the Tribune in Oakland, Calif., and a
journalist I greatly admire, said this as part of his newspaper's mission statement:
"A newspaper's role, someone once said, is 'to afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted.' If that means standing up for the little people, it means finding out our role. If it means finding out that persons in positions of responsibility
"We must always bear in mind that we are the custodians of a powerful
are using those roles for corrup-
tion enrichment of themselves or their
cronies, we should pursue the matter
with vigor, bearing always in mind
that important balance: No one is all
bad; no one is all good.
"Our journalistic mandate is to be accurate, fair and complete.
medium. And we must never forget our obligation to treat that power with humility and humanity."
NOTE. The preceding was an excerpt from a speech by Borden, Gannett professional in residence at the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, for Editors' Day.