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A Town Hall with Pizazz
Posted February 14, 2010 at 18:06 in blog
Seven panelists. Dozens of students. Delicious subs. Questions, musings and advice on the future of journalism.
All of these things came together to create a town hall forum at the end of January. The theme of the forum was Integrating New Tools with Traditional Journalism, and students got the chance to ask questions about their future careers.
The UF Society of Professional Journalists, The Fine Print and Campus Progress co-hosted the event. Lydia (co-editor of The Fine Print), Travis (Fine Print’s web guru) and I (president of UF SPJ) met up a bunch of times before the event to discuss what we wanted it to be. What did we want to create?
We knew we wanted JOU students to have a voice and to not be afraid to ask tough questions. We knew we wanted them to get advice from those who have amazing experience in the industry.
Photo by SPJ historian Meg Wagner
The journalism college was extremely supportive of this endeavor. At the forum itself, students and faculty got the chance to contemplate where the industry is heading. Students received a bunch of advice on how to better prepare for post-graduation.
“People are going to have to make their own path, much more than they ever did,” said panelist and multimedia professor Mindy McAdams.
She commented that “sugar-daddy” corporations aren’t hiring much anymore, so students have to take it upon themselves to freelance and get their work noticed.
Boaz Dvir, JOU college director of communications, said even though the industry is going through hard times, it doesn’t all have to do with new media or the Internet.
“I believe that the loss of credibility, not for the Internet, but for us…has contributed to some degree, maybe even to a big degree, to the challenges we are facing today,” Dvir said.
Reporting professor Mike Foley said even though the industry is exploding with new media, the value is always going to be on storytelling.
“I would urge you to learn how to tell stories,” Foley said. “Be interesting, and you’ll always have a job.”
The panelists:
Mindy McAdams (multimedia professor)
David Carlson (executive director – Center for Media Innovation and Research)
Julie Dodd (professor of Writing for Mass Communication)
Ron Dupont (editor and publisher of The North Florida Herald)
Boaz Dvir (JOU college director of communications)
Mike Foley (reporting professor)
John Wright (dean of the JOU college)
You can find the complete town hall webcast on the UF College of Journalism and Communications Web site.
More town hall forums to come! We anticipate having two more this semester. One will focus on a panelist of recent graduates, and another on citizen journalism.