Harold Hill, meet Medill

Maybe the Medill School of Journalism hasn't demeaned itself by changing its name to the "Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications" (Remember Bob Newhart's Grace L. Ferguson Airline & Storm Door Co.?)

But riddle me this: If this gas cloud known as integrated marketing communications has become as substantial and socially useful an institution as journalism, why can't it find its own goddamn founder? Instead, Medill is desperately repainting the lemonade stand sign to read, "Cranapple Juice Too."

If you ask me, aspiring reporters (or salespeople for that matter) shouldn't pay for four years of higher education to study abstractly a craft that can only be learned on the job. So I'd be fine if Medill disappeared altogether.

In fact, I've always thought that the only honest good that could come of going to j-school is the late-night dope-smoking sessions where the kids think aloud and place their aspirations on a scale from Edward R. Murrow to Hunter S. Thompson.

Now what on earth will even the squarest of these journalism students have in common with some Young Republican marketer at once too soulless to go to college for a high purpose and too stupid to get a degree that could actually pay?

That IMC geek had better have good grass.

Comments

[Robert J Holland, ABC]

You had me until you suggested a j-school education is worthless. My liberal arts degree with a major in mass comm taught me a lot of things I needed before I could learn on the job. It exposed me to a variety of new ideas, it exposed me to disciplines and studies related to, but different from mine (sociology, psychology, history, political science, even urban planning). It taught me how to think. And the mass comm part grounded me in the profession, taught me some of the basic skills and equipped me with the tools I needed to do the job. Not a waste at all.

[David Murray]

Not a total waste, Robert. I'm all for liberal arts education--I don't regret my English major for a moment, and I wouldn't discourage any kid I loved from majoring in art or history or philosophy or political science. Yes, I believe you go to college to learn how to think.

As far as the "basic skills" and "tools" you needed to do employee communications: What, aside from writing, which you would have learned with an English major, were those? And couldn't an employer have trained you in those areas, for free?

[Robert J Holland, ABC]

Well, I'm not sure an employer would WANT to have to train me or anyone in those skills. Would you, as an employer, want to have to train a person you hired to do a job, or would you rather have that person already possess the basic skills and know how to use the tools?

I'm talking about things like how to write a news lead vs. a feature lead, how to report on legislature (yes, I took a class in Legislative Reporting; there's a lot more than meets the eye), how to develop and maintain sources, interviewing techniques, a basic understanding of media graphics (the great Ed Arnold was my professor in that class), a basic understanding of photojournalism, journalism ethics, a basic understanding of media law, those kinds of things.

As for PR, there's an entirely different set of skills and other tools: how to put together a backgrounder, how to develop FAQs, how to develop a strategic communication plan, how to write a press release, how to put together a social media release, media training for answering reporters' questions, and on and on.

If I were an employer, I wouldn't want to take all the time to teach someone how to do those things, even if they already write well (which, these days, doesn't seem likely, either).

[David Murray]

What employers want in their apprentices and what human beings need in their intellectual development are two different things, Robert; often, two VERY different things.

And in the long run, the best journalists and the best PR people are probably those who spent their time in college reading and thinking about things other than how to place a pull-quote on a page layout.

College is not simply a trade school for whatever skills employers are demanding!

(Unless, of course, it is.)

[Laura Hunter]

As the first person in my family to attend college, I definitely approached it as a trade school for a white collar job -- which it absolutely is. I didn't know what I'd be doing with my degree exactly, but very few speechwriters have the opportunity to take an undergrad class from someone like Jerry Tarver and say aha! this is my career. Likewise, many j-school students will realize they don't want to be print reporters and will end up applying their ability to interview strategically, research, write quickly while under pressure, and understand how to persuade an audience, to a wide variety of other careers. David - I think your friend Jane Genova has written quite a bit on this topic, both on how higher ed stifles career creativity and how basic communications knowledge can be well used in other jobs.

[Steve C.]

I wish more communicators had a j-school education. While you're right that there is no substitution for on-the-job training, I'm always shocked by how many communicators don't know the very basics of journalism: How to structure an anecdotal lead; how to write in the inverted pyramid style; how to write a news lead; how to interview sources; how to write transitions; how to report a story; how to add color to a piece.

These are all things I learned in Journalism School that I would NOT have learned if I was an English major.

David, you're a talented enough writer, and a natural reporter and interviewer, so you can overcome any lack of training.

But for every David Murray, there are about 1,000 communicators who could really benefit from some j-school classes in news writing, feature writing, and reporting.

Steve C.

[David Murray]

@Laura: You make a great point, and one that was politely made by my African American father-in-law to be, as I shared my hippy-dippy college theory with his granddaughter, who's attending University of Chicago: "Now remember, David, she comes from a very different background than you ...." Yes, understood. (Though I know this girl, and she could major in underwater basket weaving and make it to the Supreme Court.)

@Steve: Another good point. My brilliance is stipulated, of course. But unlike most of these corporate communicators, I had really good writers/editors/reports above and around me, you included, and I learned how to do it on the job. I'm sure you're right when you say corporate communicators don't know journalism basics. But that's (partly) what you're there for.

Should "higher education" exist to teach people how to write tight press releases?

[Diane]

I'll add that if an employer wants a person with a degree in, say, integrated marketing communications, they'll overlooking someone with a different degree even if they have the requisite experience—and a plus of critical thinking skills. I think this may mean trouble for me.