What “They” Want From “Us”

Abstract

As new delivery methods for traditional journalism emerge, the lack of a clear direction from the industry creates curriculum problems for educators. Through a national survey, researchers asked newspaper and television news personnel which skills they think are most important for job applicants to have. Results show that news organizations still want the same skills they’ve always sought with two additions: (a) an awareness among reporters, photographers, producers, and copy editors of what multimedia elements might add to their stories and (b) a select few students who want to become online producers who can maximize the multimedia elements. The results indicate that educators might want to hold off abandoning the teaching of traditional, medium-specific skills for the time being, while incorporating more multimedia education into their curricula.