One of the most frequent discussions among my fellowship of disaffected print journalists these days (besides the maximum bodily tolerance for whiskey and the availability of internships in ether the Laserdisc or American auto industries) is just what in the hell people in journalism schools could possibly be telling kids these days. I found out the answer this week, sort of.
UMD's j school building
Journalism schools traditionally are very print-oriented, and the University of Maryland’s (which I attended) was no exception. This print-centric approach, in my mind at the time, was a great thing. I am biased toward the importance of print media over other forms anyway, and it allowed us to share intimate classroom space with some of the DC area’s greatest living journalists: David Broder, Haynes Johnson, Gene Roberts, David Lightman (not Mathew Broderick from War Games) and others. Broder brought Dana Milbank and Mike Leavitt (and his daughter) into class unannounced on separate occasions. Continue reading
Inverted Soapbox 