Medill's Changing Emphasis

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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<p>I am a freshman at Medill this year. For as long as I can remember, I have dreamed of being a journalist. I grew up in a tiny town, made good use of my resources, and was lucky enough to get into Northwestern and their acclaimed journalism program.</p>

<p>I am transfering this winter.</p>

<p>I don't come onto College Confidential often, but used it a few times last year during the admissions process. I always appreciated getting input from current students, so here's me giving back.</p>

<p>There is no doubt in my mind that Medill is a world class school. The staff is incredibly accomplished - CNN, NBC, Ebony, Playboy - you name it, they've done it. They have the best job placement of any j-school in the nation. Everyone who is anyone in journalism knows about Medill. They have incredible connections. Every week we get guest speakers from highly respected media institutions. They have killer internships.</p>

<p>But if you are a prospective student, you better get some things straight. First of all, there's no longer any such thing as being a broadcast journalist, a print journalist, a magazine journalist, or any of those niche j-professions. Medill just got a new dean who is completely restructuring the program to prepare students to be journalists of the future. If you've been doing your research, you've already heard that incoming freshmen are required to purchase about $6,000 worth of technology. This is so you can learn how to be a journalist of every sort, who can desgn and write and edit and publish and shoot and air and even pod-cast.</p>

<p>It's been a rough coming-to, but I've finally decided that I'm not willing to compromise my values and beliefs about what journalism should be, for what Medill is proposing students must cater to. Unfortunately, leading media heads agree with Medill's revolutionary direction, saying that journalism is indeed diversifying and fragmenting. If you want to be a journalist in tomorrow's world, Medill is the place to go. They will prep you to tackle to market and stay on top. What you have to be ready for, however, is that this new market is compeltely disposable, constantly changing, and leaves little room for heavy influence and impact. I've been in and out with academic advisors and they basically say the same thing: "You can't expect to go out and save the world with the way media is today."</p>

<p>If you're anywhere near as idealistic as I was, stay away from journalism and go straight to the root of the things you're most concerned about and put your energy there. If you want to be a six figure corporate exec, go to Medill. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with either of these things, but it's definitely something you need to consider before you spend $40,000 to come here.</p>

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<p>Wow...I had no idea it was like this. Thank you SO MUCH for putting this information out there. I'm off to rethink college plans :)</p>

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<p>Interesting perspective, Susa - thanks for sharing it. I'd say its possible that some of the features you don't like may prove to be very attractive and desirable to other students. I suspect that in the big picture, they are on the right track - daily newspapers keep announcing ever-greater subscriber losses, and print journalism seems destined to become a niche market. Even so, that doesn't mean that a new media emphasis is the right choice for everyone.</p>

<p>I think you underscore an important point, Susa, that goes beyond journalism. If a student is interested in a specific field, it's imperative to get behind the general reputatation and name recognition of a program and into the specifics of what they teach and how they do it.</p>

<p>A few years ago, I visited some excellent broadcast journalism schools. They were quite different in the level of their facilities and their emphasis on theoretical vs. hands-on studies. Without visits and in-depth tours, plus talking to students and others familiar with the schools, these differences wouldn't have been apparent.</p>

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<p>A couple of other thoughts:</p>

<p>Susa, if you want to have an impact on the world, or at least your community, don't you think it could be important to be skilled in using a variety of media, or at least knowing how they work so you can take advantage of them?</p>

<p>Also, I think this is an interesting story - do you have any links to articles that discuss the shift in emphasis that you describe? That background might be helpful to others looking at the program.</p>

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<p>Yes, I'm sorry if I came across as very negative. Well, actually, I am very negative. My problem with Medill is a personal conflict. It's true that I probably could "save the world" through journalism if I were willing to be more flexible, but I just don't want to spend my life cutting down stories, adding more graphics, and airing inside elevator and bus TV's (all of these are true examples) so that the new fragmented audience will find them more appealing to read and take interest in.</p>

<p>If you are considering coming to Medill but I've somehow scared the crap out of you, don't be afraid. Just be aware that you need to be more flexible about the field you're going into. We just had a guest speaker today who said, very clearly, that new journalists must be creative, talented, multi-dimensional, and flexible.</p>

<p>If you are like me and your interest lies specifically in print, I've talked to a number of people, including a journalist for the New York Times and Medill staff-members, who admit that freelancers don't necessarily need journalism school if they are talented enough. I'm taking a gamble here in assuming that. I'm also gambling my financial future because freelancing is scary and completely unstable.</p>

<p>I haven't been on the Northwestern home page for ages, but I highly suggest just going to the Medill page and checking things out. If you really want to dig your heels in, contact Steve Duke, who is the professor for 21st Century Media (the first freshman j-class). <a href="http://www.northwestern.edu/medill%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.northwestern.edu/medill&lt;/a> I think.</p>

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<p>Susa is pretty much right. The new program is called "Medill 2020" (as in, preparing you for the future in the year 2020). I know a lot of people who are happier about the changes (to me they sound appealing, but I'm a business student) and a lot who are turned off by it (people who were set on being newspaper/magazine journalists who don't want to hear that print newspapers aren't going to exist in a couple of years). You will all be forced to do broadcast projects, learn about podcasts, integrate business and media with journalism, and various other things of this nature. It's a very varied and interesting program, but it's definitely not "journalism" at its core. I really think that a program like this will truly prepare a "journalist" for the world they will enter post-college, and even if it's not your cup of tea, you will still get such great job placement from Medill that it might be worth it, in the end. It's something to think about, anyway.</p>

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<p>In response to dfleish, it's not that print journalism isn't going to exist in the future. It will, according to everyone at Medill. The point is, you can't go to work for a media company and survive as JUST a print journalist, which is why I don't want to be a formal journalist anymore. Like I said before, you have to learn how to do everything.</p>

<p>Also, something I've figured out this year, is decide who you want to be. The whole time I was growing up, people around me were saying that if I didn't go to college, I was basically going to be a failure. Everyone at Northwestern has that same outlook. But the world is full of opportunities - you just have to dig harder to find them. There's a whole life out there outside of business suits and offices, and it might sound scary and rediculously naive, but it's true.</p>

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<p>^^^ uhhh... maybe you didn't read this: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=253594%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=253594&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>yeah ok if you don't mind making less money.. i guess some people don't... but the jobs are mostly going to suck too.</p>

<p>your medill thing was pretty insightful, but telling people there are other options than college is stretching it, ha</p>

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<p>The average journalist makes $30,000 a year.</p>

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<p>still better than not going to college i think :p</p>

<p>also, here are stats from Medill, in 2002, the average STARTING salary for a medill undergrad upon graduation was $31,000, down from $32,000 the year before
<a href="http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/medill/inside/news/recent_grads_finding_jobs_despite_harsh_employment_climate.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/medill/inside/news/recent_grads_finding_jobs_despite_harsh_employment_climate.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>i'm not saying it's best to major in journalism, or go to medill and do this "integrated" approach or whatever, i don't have an opinion on that. I'm just saying... it's best to go to college, no matter what you want to do, it limits your options severely if you don't, it doesn't make you a sellout or show that you lost sight of your childhood dreams and now all all that exists are "business suits and offices," it just gives you the best chance to have the opportunity to do whatever you want, and that includes NOT doing things that involve business suits and offices</p>

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<p>True, if you ever want to be that person.</p>

<p>Just wanted to add that while "journalism" jobs are fast disappearing, there are hundreds of other alternative opportunities you can pursue if you go to Medill. Not that I'm praising it, I'm just saying. A few days ago, Duke sent out an e-mail describing different job offers, among them being web designers and stuff like that. Like I said, it's all about creativity and flexibility in today's market.</p>

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<p>I have a journalism degree but not from Medill, and I've been working in the newspaper business for a long time.</p>

<p>I think what you're seeing is that the technology express roared out of the station, and the newspaper business didn't even see it coming. Just observe the current mess that newspaper websites are in. What other business totally gives away their product? In truth, of course, we don't totally give away the newspaper each day, but we do little to make people understand that they're reading (in most cases) a stripped-down version of the print edition. </p>

<p>Why do newspapers suddenly feel that they have to be instantaneous, that they have to be "first on the web" with stories? In our rush to be first, we've taken our reporters away from the story, encouraged them not to linger and interview and find out more background on a story, and instead rush to the nearest wifi point and send us a web story. Ridiculous. Instead of prowling around city hall or the local team's batting cage, we've got reporters touching up their hair and shooting video for podcasts in some quiet corner.</p>

<p>If newspapers want to play the internet game, they should all dedicate staff -- lots of staff -- to produce the web product. Leave the reporting and the in-depth, trusted writing to the people who still recognize that a printed newspaper has its place (it also has the ads, which pay the bills, etc.).</p>

<p>I'm wondering what the shelf life of the blog revolution is going to be. Most blogs are embarrassing, beyond being shallow. Yet, it's amazing how much manpower is wasted each day by newspapers urging their reporters to "update those blogs." Zzzzzzzz.</p>

<p>I can understand why Medill is trying to look ahead. But it's trying to be clairvoyant as much as anything, and that's a dangerous approach. Anybody who says they know what newspapers are going to look like in 2020 is fooling people -- at $40K in tuition a year. </p>

<p>Thank you, Susa, for starting this brave and informative message thread.</p>

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<p>^^ i think the point is more that they're just "preparing for anything"</p>

<p>they don't know what journalism FOR SURE is going to be like in 2020, but they're making sure their students are capable and adept at whatever comes, and not pigeonholing them into one particular area of journalism that might become outdated</p>

<p>at $40k a year</p>

<p>to make sure you don't have to return to school in 20 years to learn how to use other mediums</p>

<p>at another $40k a year</p>

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<p>I just wrote a long reply, that I think I lost. Oh well. I will try to re-create it later. The gist was that I got a master's from Medill in 1984, and have worked in journalism ever since, and I found Medill totally invaluable, teaching me things I never would've learned on the job. As for going into journalism - that's a whole different issue, but I'll comment on that as well. Mainly I wanted to say that anyone considering a j. school education should do their homework before deciding one way or the other. And keep an open mind. </p>

<p>Any questions, feel free to contact me at <a href="mailto:popmartyb@aol.com">popmartyb@aol.com</a>.</p>

<p>Thanks,
Marty Berry</p>

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<p>I disagree; Podcasts did not exist five years ago, and who knows what media will exist in the next five. Nonetheless, one thing about this decade has not changed: the most insightful, discerning and important news pieces are still written by journalists who employ traditional methods of gathering and presenting information, even if the paradigm of dissemination has shifted. Will Northwestern's Medill teach us to be journalists, (or googling, video-podcasting, wikipedia-ing bloggers)?</p>

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<p>TheLorax:</p>

<pre><code> I totally agree with you. The point that elsijfdl is missing is that by trying to teach so-called new technologies to its students, Medill may simply, in part, be wasting its resources and the students' money and time.
Newspapers don't have R&D departments. In fact, history has proven that the industry is a poor predictor of its own future. I can remember our own paper dumping millions of dollars on a new computer system around 1985-90 because it thought "that Windows thing" wasn't the way to go.
This current fixation with blogs and podcasts will pass, mostly because there are better "instant" news sites. In the end, the better trained journalists won't be the ones who learned how to use a camcorder and iPod at Medill, but the ones who were taught their craft responsibly, ethically and creatively. Hopefully at Northwestern.
Popmartyb is correct. Anyone entering the profession these days should do so with an open mind. The newspaper business has about as poor a business plan for the internet as any industry on the planet. (Its lifeblood is advertising revenue, yet it virtually gives away its product for free on the internet, which discourages people from ever seeing those ads).
</code></pre>

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<p>Wow, I definitely did not expect this to turn into a discussion. Sorry for not being more active, guys. Well, here's what I can offer:</p>

<p>On the $40,000 education and the risk of your Medill education being useless:</p>

<p>Your Medill education absolutely will not be useless. Even in the first quarter, where you barely do writing, they put a HUGE emphasis on ethical standards, well-researched pieces, and careful quote-usage and phrase arrangement. You just can't go wrong - if this is truly what you want to do.</p>

<p>Plus, Northwestern has an awesome arrangement of classes. I took an incredible course on urban Latino life (LAT_AM 351: El Barrio, if any of you are interested) that has changed my perspective on immigrants - all nationalities - as a whole. There are a million aspects of NU that most have well to be excited about. There are several other reasons I'm transferring alongside with being dissatisfied witht the 21st Century Dedia deal, mainly dealing with the cold hard fact that Northwestern was just a poor match for me.</p>

<p>On podcasts and blogging being useless:</p>

<p>Maybe they will be, eventually. But the main point that Medill is trying to make in introducing these new platforms of journalism is that journalism IS branching out. The main focuses of the intro class are:</p>

<p>1) Laying down the expectations of being a journalist of today and tomorrow
2) Understanding the market that you will be working in</p>

<p>The New Market:</p>

<p>Look at yourselves. How often do you read, digest, and remember everything you read in a newspaper? How often do you watch a full news report without changing the channel at least once? How often do you absorb every form of media you read, see, hear, and are exposed to? Medill is gearing journalists to be ready for the challenge of catering to a desensitized audience, and this means branching out into other forms of exposure besides radio, tv, and the internet. In addition to this, many people already have their niche news organizations - CNN, New York Times, Fox News - that they pay attention to. My roommate, for example, would read nothing but the Times. My parents (who are ultra-conservative) only watch Fox News. However you may scoff at this, at them being blind to biased news, you've gotta understand (as a journalist of the future) that this is YOUR audience that you must reach. Medill is doing everything they can to prepare with the ways and means to do this.</p>

<p>My problem with this came in the fact that I couldn't stand the idea of pouring my heart into an occupation where the majority of the consumers were going to eat up and digest and **** out my work without a second thought about genocide in Darfur or a school shooting or a corrupt, oppressive government other than "Hmph. That's too bad." Today's audience, and the way news for these new platforms must be formatted, cuts everything out of a story except for the very cold, hard facts, which do little to move a human being.</p>

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<p>thank you Susa, your posts have been very helpful/insightful. I've applied to both Medill and UChicago (as contradictory as this may sound to some) and lament the decision between a broad liberal arts curriculum and hyper-focused journalism curriculum. I know I want to write as a career, but that's about it so far.</p>

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<p>You can still get a broad liberal arts curriculum even if you choose to go to Medill. If I am not mistaken, Medill students are required to have 2/3 of their classes taken in other schools. Many Medill students end up with a second major in WCAS.</p>

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<p>I know this may seem out a little out of context, but in Time Magazine's Person of the Year issue it heavily goes into this subject of today’s news outlets changing. That is, if you wanted to read some of the articles yourself.</p>

<p>I can definitely see how print journalism's audience is slowly evaporating (as a sophomore working for my h.s. newspaper haha), and the need to learn different sources of outlets is becoming more imperative; but it doesn't take 40k to learn how to podcast, create a website, etc. I've learned how to maneuver these independently, and so have the majority of my peers. The price seems a little out scary at first, but if you say that with Medill opens the door to more opportunities of great internships, and worthwhile connections then it should be worthwhile. Aren’t one of the essential keys in succeeding in this field is having good connections?</p>