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Class Blog Provides Public Forum to Discuss State of American Press
Jennie Buckner taught her class on Richardson Plaza on a recent beautiful spring day.
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4/13/2006
Contact: Bill Giduz 704/894-2244 or bigiduz@davidson.edu
by John Syme
Davidson students taking a course called “Critical Issues in Mass Media” have posted a “critical mass” of their own: an online site full of commentary on the state of American journalism. It's a blog, for all the world to see -- and participate in -- at http://pressingmatters.davidson.edu/.
The class is taught by Jennie Buckner, former editor of The Charlotte Observer and vice-president for news of Knight-Ridder, Inc., who is serving this semester as Davidson's Batten Professor of Public Policy.
Buckner will share her own thoughts about journalism's challenges in the Batten Lecture on Monday evening, May 1. There is no charge to attend her talk, which is entitled “Saving Journalism, Saving Democracy: How Citizens Can Help Reform Mass Media.” It begins at 7:30 p.m. in Tyler-Tallman Hall of Sloan Music Center. For information, call 704-894-2453.
Buckner's students have worked to become more thoughtful news consumers through a segment of the seminar devoted to “grading the news.” They have examined top stories each week and graded how well newspapers and television handled them according to seven criteria: newsworthiness, context, accessibility, fairness, watchdog/enterprise reporting, explanation, and relevance.
Readers of her class's blog are invited to give their own grades to the news media. They also can respond to student postings that explore such topics as technology's impact, business pressures, changing consumer tastes and journalistic responsibilities. A sampling:
Technology: “I used to be a newspaper and coffee person,” Liz Barry writes in her post, “Now I just log onto my e-mail account… No more clumsy newsprint. The Internet is a smudge-free zone….” Marshall Worsham examines the relationship between print and pixels and readers, looking at the Charlotte Observer and www.charlotte.com.
Content: Sarah Boyce and Lauren Hungarland take a hard look at the chicken-and-egg question of consumer taste (or lack thereof) as a driving force for content. Erik Swanson examines “The Threat of the Bottom Line.”
Format: Rob Heidrick argues: “The time has come for The Daily Show to accept its role as a major media player.” Whatever your news sources, Adam Martin pleads, use them intentionally to gather information actively.
Business Pressures: Ryan Elizabeth Thompson asks: “Can quality newspapers stay afloat given investor pressures?” while Anne M. Pearlstein looks at how cutbacks in international news are leaving “Americans in a Vacuum.”
Gender: In “Mix It Up,” Brittany Crawford uses sportscaster Bonnie Bernstein's departure from CBS to examine gender bias in sports journalism.
Leprechauns: Ward Long offers up a revealing link to a Crighton, Ala., television newscast. Is investigating leprechaun sightings what local news has come to?
Buckner, who is also teaching a journalism ethics class, said she has loved the shift from newsroom to classroom, especially her interaction with students. Students, she says, have taught her a lot, and their questions have forced her to reflect on the lessons of her 35-year career.
“It's been a shift, no doubt about it,” she said. “It forces me to step back and think, 'What have I learned, and how do I share it?'”
Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,700 students. Since its founding by Presbyterians in 1837, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently recognized as one of the leading liberal arts colleges in the nation.
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