Graduate schools and media rooms have been debating the role of journalism and journalists since the beginning of the discipline. More recently, the convergence of different outlets for news (print, broadcast, multi-media) has entered the mix. Now, Anoka-Ramsey Community College English Faculty member, Richard Broderick is training community college students to enter the new world of interactive news media by offering the first-of-its-kind online journalism course in the spring 2008 semester-Reporting, writing, and editing for online publications.
This class will put Anoka-Ramsey at the cutting edge of what is being taught in regard to online media, says Broderick. News coverage is changing. People need to become citizen reporters instead of media consumers. And, obviously, the Internet is becoming the preferred outlet.
News reporting, as well as news outlets, are shifting in a world of corporate consolidation, coverage as presenting opposing points of view instead of objectivity and facts, collaboration between professional journalist and the general public and contrasts and comparisons between print and digital publication-often a combination of both.
"Having skilled and well-educated journalists in vibrant independent newsrooms has never been more important than it is today, in the digital era, says Robert W. McChesney, author of several books on media and politics, Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois, host of the weekly, radio talk show, Media Matters and cofounder of the media reform organization, Free Press. It is imperative that our colleges and universities assume a leadership role to see that this occurs."
As part of Brodericks course, students will be introduced to the new technologies that are making it possible for citizens to become more active and powerful participants in the news production process as well as how to deal with citizen journalist. Broderick defines a citizen journalist as someone who:
is engaged in the creation of media content
relates his or her own story from his or her particular place in the community
offers a critical perspective both of their own contributions and those of all media
Just look at blogging. It is real-time reportage and commentary from a writers personal point of view. Often the blog reporting is fragmentary and tends to be more subjective. This does not enforce the journalistic tenet of objectivity, but it does not negate the reporters responsibility to accuracy and fairness.
Along with immersion in the understanding of the citizen journalist, students in Brodericks course will be engaged in the entire news process from story ideation through final editing, receiving hands-on experience in online reporting, writing, blogging and editing for online publications. Finally, their edited work will be posted on the Twin Cities Daily Planet (www.tcdailyplanet.net).
Professor Broderick teaches his students how to apply what they learn in the classroom to real life, says Crystal Holzer, a second-year Anoka-Ramsey student who plans a future in journalism and writing. I am taking his new online class because of the importance of online media in the emerging mass communications market. I hope to learn the process of converting traditional news stories into an online format, how to blog and how to acquire video to supplement online news.
The course is more than half-full already, so interested people should visit the colleges Web site at www.AnokaRamsey.edu to register. For more information about the class or the future of news coverage, contact Broderick at rich.broderick@anokaramsey.edu.
More about the Instructor
Richard Broderick has published of three books, and more than 150 poems, stories and essays published in literary journals. He is the co-founder and section editor of the Twin Cities Daily Planet and currently an adjunct Journalism and English faculty member at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids, Minn. Brodericks books include: Keys to the Interior, anthology, (Great River Review, 2003); Woman Lake, poetry, (New Rivers Press, 2000); and Night Sale, fiction, (New Rivers Press, 1982).
Broderick has been recognized with numerous distinguished awards and recognitions including:
A Minnesota Book Award
Minnesota Voices Competition (Fiction, 1982; Poetry, 1998)
Pushcart Prize (nomination)
Minnesota State Arts Board Literary Fellowship
Minnesota Magazine Publishers Association (Gold Award, magazine features)
Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists (First Place for magazine columns and feature articles; Second Place for profiles)
About The Planet and the Twin Cities Media Alliance
The Twin Cities Daily Planet is a project of the Twin Cities Media Alliance conceived as an experiment in participatory journalism and developed to provide a community newswire and showcase the best work of the local press, independent journalists and engaged citizens using new technologies make it possible for each to become more active and powerful participants in the news production process.
The Twin Cities Media Alliance is a nonprofit organization joining media professionals and engaged citizens to improve the quality, accountability and diversity of the local media. The McKnight Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation, Headwaters Foundation for Justice, Otto Bremer Foundation, Still Ain't Satisfied Foundation, J-Lab - the Institute for Interactive Journalism at the University of Maryland and members fund the organization.
ABOUT ANOKA-RAMSEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Anoka-Ramsey Community College, with campuses in Cambridge and Coon Rapids, has been a leading provider of higher education and training in East Central Minnesota since 1978 and the north suburban area of Minneapolis/St. Paul since 1965. Annually, the college serves more than 9,800 learners of all ages as they pursue associate degrees that transfer as the first two years of a bachelor's degree, or certificate programs that lead immediately to rewarding careers. ARCC is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. In fiscal year 2006, the Continuing Education and Customized Training division generated more than 6400 registrations in both credit and non-credit courses. Anoka-Ramsey Community College is a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, which includes 32 institutions on 53 campuses.
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