I’m breaking the Rule of Three this week to offer up what I think is an interesting trend — and to ask you about it, my loyal and hardworking readers. (So, so hardworking … is it May yet?)
Over the last few weeks I’ve had interesting conversations with a couple of different folks. One was with a former newspaperman who’s helping lead discussions about what a new journalism school at Texas A&M might look like.
And in another conversation, I spent a delightful hour in the California sun sitting on a balcony at Loyola Marymount University, talking to the journalism program director, Kate Pickert, about what it was like to start up a department.
Without giving away any of the details of our conversations, I’ll simply ask this: Suppose you’re handed the proverbial keys and a blank check for a new journalism school of your own design. What would you do? What classes would you offer? What spaces would you build?
Or put more pointedly: What would you change about the state of journalism education, and what would you double down on? (Sorry, I’m writing from Las Vegas, and I think state law requires me to phrase it that way.)
I can’t wait to hear from you on this. Tell me so I can round up your responses in a future newsletter.
Thank you for being a friend
Since the pandemic, there’s been an uptick in the number of college journalists who have reached out to Poynter for help managing the stress that comes with the territory. Google “how to handle stress” and the top results include eating better, turning off the news, sleeping eight hours, getting regular exercise, and avoiding alcohol and caffeine. Who knows any college journalists who are going to follow that advice? Me neither.
That’s why I’ve become really fascinated by the concept of peer support and peer counseling, especially since professional collegiate counseling services are stretched incredibly thin. Point being, we know that college newsrooms are the de facto support networks for many student journalists. Training our young journalists to help each other handle stress, burnout and trauma sure seems like a worthwhile use of our time. Anybody out there doing it?
Who’s running the paper at VMI?
