Shane Richmond writes a blog for the Telegraph UK. He has some of the bluntest words for journalists this side of “Jeff Jarvis”:http://www.buzzmachine.com and “Paul Conley”:http://paulconley.blogspot.com/ on the need to embrace the Internet: #

bq. So why was my initial comment, that newspapers ‘must get used to being seeders, not leaders’, worth making at all? For many in the mainstream media, this new approach runs counter to their understanding of journalism. Here’s why we need to get over that. #

bq. Some journalists simply don’t understand the internet. Worse, many don’t care about the internet at all; they are print people through and through. It requires patience and training to win these people over. And those who can’t, or won’t, be won over? Well, their job is to get out of the way. #

bq. What it comes down to is this: if you’re a journalist who plans to retire within the next five years you might just, and I repeat, just, get away with ignoring the internet. *Any journalist who plans on having a career beyond that point needs to start understanding new media. And the sooner, the better.* #

bq. But I’m not concerned with that group for now. It’s worth knowing that they exist but training and time will take care of them. #

Who is Shane Richmond? #

bq. Shane has been News Editor of Telegraph.co.uk since December 2005. Having first joined the Telegraph in 1998, he left for a brief stint as Editor of an internet start-up before returning in 2001. He writes about media, technology and blogging. #

You can ignore Richmond’s words, but you do so at your peril. For college media, the question is: are you training journalists who are understanding new media? Or are you continuing to train “print people” or “TV people” or “radio people”? #

Sure, you might help that young reporter get their first job at a small-town weekly or smallish daily, but what about when they want to move up a few notches on the news food chain? What do they do when the hiring editor asks: “What kind of multimedia experience do you have?” #

College media is the _perfect place_ to get this kind of training. You have the time and the tools to give these students _forward-thinking_ training. Now is the time to do so. #

(Richmond’s blog found via “Jarvis”:http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/06/24/if-you-cant-beat-em/) #

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