The Smart J-Major is Looking to the Web

Anthony Moor has a new piece at OJR in which he argues that the earnest young journalism major of today is looking more toward careers on the Web than in either newspaper or television.

"One major newspaper chain was just frog-marched to the auction block by grimfaced money managers. The others have watched their stock price slide for two solid years like a metro daily tossed onto a pitched roof," he says. And things aren't much better at the big TV news organizations. "Network television doesn't even have all its anchor chairs filled -- forget about a clear mission. The cable outlets have hired talk-show screamers and now follow car chases and kidnap mysteries 'live.' Much of local TV long ago gave up the ghost."

So as we move toward implementing convergence next year at Simpson, you're all going to find that more will be demanding of you -- more skills, more critical-thinking and more monitoring of the skills that you'll need to succeed.