Comments on: ICM Interview: Howard Owens http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/ a group discussion about the future of student media Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:25:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Make Them Accountable / Media http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/#comment-1993 Make Them Accountable / Media Mon, 22 Jan 2007 12:37:20 +0000 http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/#comment-1993 [...] Owens: J-students should just assume their future is online Journalism schools should design their curriculum and publication efforts accordingly [and] “be even more dismissive of print than mainstream pubs are right now,” says Howard Owens, Gatehouse Media’s director of digital publishing. “I think these are exciting times, a chance to be at the vanguard of creating journalism for a new era, and in a far more competitive environment than most journalists have known over the past 30 to 50 years.” [...] […] Owens: J-students should just assume their future is online Journalism schools should design their curriculum and publication efforts accordingly [and] “be even more dismissive of print than mainstream pubs are right now,” says Howard Owens, Gatehouse Media’s director of digital publishing. “I think these are exciting times, a chance to be at the vanguard of creating journalism for a new era, and in a far more competitive environment than most journalists have known over the past 30 to 50 years.” […]

]]> By: howardowens.com: media blog » Blog Archive » A college journalist with a new blog http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/#comment-1977 howardowens.com: media blog » Blog Archive » A college journalist with a new blog Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:25:48 +0000 http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/#comment-1977 [...] I said journalism students should blog. Mia, a second-year journalism major at Kingston University, has taken up the challenge. Previously I had heard of blogs in passing but dismissed them as trivial online diaries most commonly used by teenagers discussing their angst. This is obviously not the case. Those on the highest ranks of the journalistic ladder are blogging. Senior broadcast journalist at the BBC, Robin Hammon, says “I think that everyone who works in industry, journalism or academia needs to blog to stay relevant and informed these days.” Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...] […] I said journalism students should blog. Mia, a second-year journalism major at Kingston University, has taken up the challenge. Previously I had heard of blogs in passing but dismissed them as trivial online diaries most commonly used by teenagers discussing their angst. This is obviously not the case. Those on the highest ranks of the journalistic ladder are blogging. Senior broadcast journalist at the BBC, Robin Hammon, says “I think that everyone who works in industry, journalism or academia needs to blog to stay relevant and informed these days.” Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]

]]> By: Reginald Thomas http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/#comment-1921 Reginald Thomas Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:51:47 +0000 http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/#comment-1921 Howard, I agree that some in traditional journalism are not practicing the values that so many of us hold dear. However, that is also true of some in new media. I believe it was a new media outlet that first reported the outgoing Clinton Administration trashed computers and offices before Bush took over. And, as I remember it, those allegations were bogus. That is why I say students and teachers cannot lose site of the information gathering process. Whether you work in new or old media, you still need to know how to report, how to get it right and how to write. Yes, the Internet provides immediacy, but sometimes thoughtfulness is needed. The ability to update a Web story should not preclude people from trying to do a better job of determining the difference between "what they know is right" and "what they think they know is right." Fear of getting it wrong is not a terrible thing. It can be motivating. There have been too many instances where the immediacy of the Internet has resulted in bad information being spread around the world in a manner of seconds. I think that's an argument for more self-restraint and better training. Also, that a culture has developed around blogs and the Internet doesn't change that they are tools used to distribute information. Lest we forget, the Internet and the software used on it change so much that blogs may be obsolete in a year or two and some other distribution method will be even more popular. Howard, I agree that some in traditional journalism are not practicing the values that so many of us hold dear. However, that is also true of some in new media. I believe it was a new media outlet that first reported the outgoing Clinton Administration trashed computers and offices before Bush took over. And, as I remember it, those allegations were bogus.

That is why I say students and teachers cannot lose site of the information gathering process. Whether you work in new or old media, you still need to know how to report, how to get it right and how to write. Yes, the Internet provides immediacy, but sometimes thoughtfulness is needed. The ability to update a Web story should not preclude people from trying to do a better job of determining the difference between “what they know is right” and “what they think they know is right.” Fear of getting it wrong is not a terrible thing. It can be motivating.

There have been too many instances where the immediacy of the Internet has resulted in bad information being spread around the world in a manner of seconds. I think that’s an argument for more self-restraint and better training.

Also, that a culture has developed around blogs and the Internet doesn’t change that they are tools used to distribute information. Lest we forget, the Internet and the software used on it change so much that blogs may be obsolete in a year or two and some other distribution method will be even more popular.

]]> By: Wordblog » Blog Archive » Journalism training must face up to rapid change http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/#comment-1897 Wordblog » Blog Archive » Journalism training must face up to rapid change Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:51:30 +0000 http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/#comment-1897 [...] In a separate interview with Innovation in College Media, Owens gave this advice to J-schools: One of my big concerns about j-school professors today is that many of them don’t get the web. You blog, but how many others do? How many have done anything to participate in the participant culture, even so much as be a regular on a message board or mailing list? [...] […] In a separate interview with Innovation in College Media, Owens gave this advice to J-schools: One of my big concerns about j-school professors today is that many of them don’t get the web. You blog, but how many others do? How many have done anything to participate in the participant culture, even so much as be a regular on a message board or mailing list? […]

]]> By: Christina Drain http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/#comment-1883 Christina Drain Wed, 17 Jan 2007 00:11:36 +0000 http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/01/15/icm-interview-howard-owens/#comment-1883 I like to tell people who are hesitant to produce a multimedia story or collect audio or video, that it's just another form of storytelling we now have available because of advances in the Internet. I can't tell you how many times when I was a working journalist, I thought, "I wish people could hear the passion in this person's voice" or the frustration or whatever emotion. And blogging, discussion boards, story comments, etc. can all be valuable tools in storytelling too, with the reader filling in missing information or a different perspective on the topic. I think we get too caught up in the technology and mechanics of how it's done and lose sight of the tremendous value the web can be to our readers. Newspapers, I think, are not going away. But lifestyles have changed and the media has to adapt to survive. Yes, we're going to have to learn and teach new skills, and there's no handy textbook at this point. But change isn't just inevitable, it's already here. I like to tell people who are hesitant to produce a multimedia story or collect audio or video, that it’s just another form of storytelling we now have available because of advances in the Internet. I can’t tell you how many times when I was a working journalist, I thought, “I wish people could hear the passion in this person’s voice” or the frustration or whatever emotion.

And blogging, discussion boards, story comments, etc. can all be valuable tools in storytelling too, with the reader filling in missing information or a different perspective on the topic.

I think we get too caught up in the technology and mechanics of how it’s done and lose sight of the tremendous value the web can be to our readers. Newspapers, I think, are not going away. But lifestyles have changed and the media has to adapt to survive.

Yes, we’re going to have to learn and teach new skills, and there’s no handy textbook at this point. But change isn’t just inevitable, it’s already here.

]]>