These are the days

It's been more than a week since I returned from the Convergence for College Educators conference at the Poynter Institute for journalism studies. I left feeling positively giddy about where journalism is going. The Web allows us to tell stories in so many ways. And people are doing some simply amazing things.

I had resisted the need to bring convergence into my classes since I came to UNC in 2000. I thought teaching students the basics – what makes news, how to report and write, ethics – was enough. But it’s not. Being a “print” journalist is no longer an option. Journalists can’t do just one thing anymore. They have to be at least a little familiar with how to tell stories using five media channels: text, still photos, video, audio and graphics. But who am I to teach convergence? I’ve never written a story for TV or radio. I’ve never written a story for anything but a newspaper. I still consider myself a print journalist at heart. But what is print journalism? Isn’t writing an important aspect of Web journalism? Don’t online stories have to be concise, clear and grammatically correct? Shouldn’t online stories be newsworthy? Don’t they have to be factual? Ethical? Free of libel? Well, then, I guess I am NOT stuck in the 20th century.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m still a fan of newspapers. I can’t be the only person who reads a paper version of The New York Times every day. I mean, you can’t do the crossword puzzle online. Oh, yeah, I guess you can. … Well, it’s just not the same.

So here I go. Teaching convergence. I’m reminded of all the stories the older reporters and editors used to tell when I worked at the Connecticut (nee Bridgeport) Post about the days when the clacking of manual typewriters filled the newsroom. ... When copy boys roamed and editors swore like sailors. When cigarettes dangled over the edge of the copy desk. … Those must have been the days. … So now I tell my students about the days before pagination, when we had to cut the stories using blue pencils, and grizzled men with razor blades did the cutting. Those were the days.

So here I go. Beginning this journey with a lot of other journalists and educators who started their careers before the Internet took over our newsrooms. I’m blogging. My students are blogging. I’m helping my journalism program figure out how to teach convergence to students. I’m learning something new every day. And come to think of it, that’s one of the reasons I went into journalism in the first place. I’m positively giddy.