Feb. 15, 2007

Letter to the editor:
Integrate the mass media program

I read Erin Siebel’s opinion-page piece (“Radio, TV, but no newspaper?”, Feb. 1) with some interest.

As a former Marcolian senior editor (boy, does that sound lofty), I know the reason the paper operates so differently is that it’s chartered as an independent organization, and content control resides with students. I don’t agree with it, though. It makes continuity nearly impossible, as every new editor wants to leave a mark, and as the paper’s talent ebbs and flows, so does the paper’s quality. (I remember leaving it on a fairly high note in 1994....)

In a time when newspapers are undergoing great change, and newsrooms are becoming converged information centers, it doesn’t make sense from an educational standpoint (or from a practical one) for a print newsroom to stand separately from broadcast and Internet newsgathering. The future belongs to those journalists versatile enough to do more than one job, over more than one platform.

The beauty of Marietta’s journalism experience is that you can cross platforms, and you have the opportunity to develop clips and a portfolio that students at large journalism schools have to go outside the school to get. (Clips = news jobs. No clips = “you want fries with that?”) From what I can see, what’s missing in MC’s picture is a media reorganization that makes sense for the 21st century, and the obligation of journalism majors to contribute to the College’s media properties.

Newspapers must stop seeing themselves as newspapers, and instead as newsgathering organizations that just happen to print a newspaper, as well as provide an Internet news site and other services. Marietta College is fortunate in that it has a newspaper, a television station, a Web site and two radio stations, and with guidance, all those operations could converge into a journalism education powerhouse. And as for the print “product”? The storytelling has to change to keep it viable. Think of longer-form journalism, maybe magazine style. And, oh, yeah, the other thing about migrating more content online? Deadlines become immediate. News is consumed as fast as it’s generated in the new age.

The Marcolian’s charter needs a serious look. There has to be a way for the paper to maintain editorial independence from the College and still be able to incorporate itself into the mass media curriculum. I could easily see graphic design students working on the newspaper and on Marcolian.com. I could see news writing students reporting for the paper, then turning around to adapt those stories for WCMO-TV’s newscasts. Photographers could carry still AND video cameras, and upload video to the Web site and provide it for the evening news. See where I’m going with this?

And since I mentioned Marcolian.com, it seems to me that the converged Web site should tie in WCMO and WMRT, as well, since it’s a consolidated environment.

It doesn’t make sense to have all those walls in the McKinney building anymore. One converged newsroom IS the answer, with editors assigning stories across platforms, and with anchors, reporters, photographers, artists and designers able to work across platforms, too. This is the future. Marietta College can be on the cutting edge, if it so chooses. It may take some serious changes to The Marcolian’s charter, but frankly, changes have been long overdue.

The students who will want to fight a turf war over the charter aren’t really interested in long-term success, just the ability to have control (mind you, editorial independence is still possible in convergence). The faculty and staff who don’t see the future coming and don’t gird themselves to change are avoiding reality. And they’re not doing communications students any favors.

I challenge the college, the newspaper’s governing board and the College’s communications faculty to look at the future, and meld The Marcolian into the curriculum, but also to converge the curriculum and the media operations in a way that makes sense in the new (and still developing) media paradigm. And in that vein, I offer my support... and challenge my fellow MC alums who are working media to do the same.

Douglas E. Jessmer, Class of 1994