Harnessing the digital elephant (in the room)

I consider myself an old-school journalist.

I'm only 24 and finishing my last year of an undergrad degree, but imagining myself as the immortal, stoic journo always gave me chills. I'm thinking Woodward and Bernstein, or maybe the nameless reporter who shrugs accolade and lives by the SPJ Code of Ethics.

However, it's hard to be old school when the rules of how we get info to the public changes exponentially. Even this blog (the word "blog" is so relatively new that it earns a squiggly red line in my edition of Word) represents convergence in media. It makes news outlets seem more "hip." I never wanted to be hip.

The spread of media convergence has come about much in the form of an inverted pyramid: The trend of integrating the Internet and broadcast mediums alongside traditional newsprint began in the professional world. And from the looks of it, convergence spread from the companies who could budget for an information technology staff to the universities who quickly realized the trend was becoming reality.

Colleges are catching up, though. Dedicated J-schools seem to have adjusted nicely but programs like mine, with a small faculty in three subfields of mass communication, must look outside the department for help. At my student newspaper, the only staff are students in the mass comm program, but the paper might benefit from a digital arts student designing graphics, an IT professional maintaining an interactive Web site and a healthy cooperation with the TV and radio production departments. At the very least, they should be held on retainer to train the full-time newsroom staffers.

There is no better way to say it: Convergence is the future. J-students who learn it are bankable. Those who don't will be left behind.

Dale Denwalt II
Northeastern State University
Editor in Chief, The Northeastern