Newsreaders exposed…?
The Sunday Times has a column by Rod Liddle that is bound to stir up trouble even though he’s talking about British TV…(via Romenesko)
This is the nub of the issue: what on earth is there to learn about journalism at postgraduate level? The point and purpose of our lowly, occasionally useful, trade could be scribbled on the back of a postage stamp and would easily be comprehended by a 14-year-old hoodie with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and a carrier bag full of glue. Who has decided that it must be dignified with a doctoral thesis?
Nor is reading the news even what one might call “journalism”. It is an even simpler business called “reading”. All that the BBC demands of its female newsreaders is an ability to read in an impartial way words like “Israel has murdered more Lebanese children again today” from the teleprompter without belching or lisping. It helps if they have the eminently presentable demeanour of a girl guide leader from Esher.
Yep! That about sums it up…
Comment by George — August 7, 2006 @ 4:47 pm
When I was completing my coursework for a degree in Broadcast Journalism, I remember one of my professors being particularly negative about graduate work in Journalism. He said that most news directors, when hiring, look at a graduate degree in Journalism as time a person was in school when they should have been working. Now this was in the mid-1980’s, but it doesn’t sound like much has changed.
Comment by Scott — August 7, 2006 @ 7:01 pm
Now if it can just stay that way for a long time until I finish by B.A. in Journalism and can snag a good job…
Comment by Charles — August 7, 2006 @ 7:45 pm
Is it possible Riddle was talking about MSM journalists? Staying in school longer perhaps may sharpen their writing skills and endow them with more ethical values, which we so badly need nowadays. The problem I see is most schools of journalism have liberal faculties.
Comment by RGL — August 8, 2006 @ 12:35 pm
The test comes during a crisis, when they totally have to ad lib and nothing is working, in the middle of the night, or another time when you have hardly any staff to help you out, none of the feeds are working. Peter Jennings, who died a year ago yesterday, was the best at this. I don’t know of anyone today who could ever match him.
Comment by erljr — August 8, 2006 @ 2:57 pm