In recent years, the economic logic of news organizations worldwide has been under siege by the Internet, which makes every component part of the news separately and instantly available to anyone with a broadband connection—and virtually for free! As a result, news organizations are fast losing readers and advertisers and are now having serious trouble paying for their high-value original reporting on public affairs.
IMAGE CREDIT: JOYCE HESSELBERTH FOR THE CHRONICLE REVIEWIn an article for the November 15, 2009 issue of
The Chronicle Review, “Journalism Schools Can Push Coverage Beyond Breaking News,” Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, urges journalism schools to seriously explore the possibility of becoming significant producers of original news reporting to make up for the loss of the reporting that economically devastated news organizations can no longer afford. Lemann explains: “Journalism schools not only can replace the original reporting capability that news organizations have lost, but also can raise the level of sophistication in the practice of journalism. Why? Because so many of them are located in research universities that are our society’s leading collections of top-level expertise across all realms of knowledge.”
Read Nicholas Lemann’s article in The Chronicle Review now!
