A mini introduction to “How to Create ‘Debates’ ” is found (without offending..) in the opinions differences between two NP contributors on  the theme ‘Is Global Warming’ man-made or a hoax’, (12/16/2007)…(see here)

Photos source.                                    ‘Global Warming’

Similar difference in opinions rages on the ‘citizen journalism’ versus conventional journalism debate, on a terrain  more slippery than ever. From David Hazinsky’s article “Unfettered ‘citizen journalism’ too risky” , (12/13/07, ajc.com > Opinion), I quote a few key phrases: “…It ranges from the CNN YouTube debates to political blogs to cellphone video of that sniper who opened fire at an Omaha Mall. These are all examples of so called ‘citizen journalism,’ the hot new extension of the news business where the audience becomes the reporter”…”.Advocates argue that the acts of collecting and distributing makes these people ‘journalists’.This is like saying someone who carries a scalpel is a ‘citizen surgeon’ or someone who can read a law book is a ‘citizen lawyer’.”… “Education, skill and standards are really what make people into trusted  professionals. Information without journalistic standards is called gossip.”..”So without any real standards, anyone has a right to declare himself or herself a journalist.”... see the full article.

Two days latter (12/14/07 ajc.com > Opinion)  Leonard Witt published an answer in his article “Citizen journalists: They don’t need to be regulated“.I quote some key phrases: ” He [David Hazinsky]  doesn’t think the formerly passive news media audience members are very trustworthy. He [David Hazinsky] adds:’Journalism schools such as mine at the University of Georgia should add courses to certify citizen journalists in proper ethics and procedure , much as volunteer teachers, paramedics and sheriff’s auxiliaries are trained and certified’. “.. Here, Leonard Witt, wrote: “You can be a great journalist without formal training.” and mentions, I quote… former Washington Post reporter Betty Medsger who surveyed relatively new journalists, those with less than 11 years’ experience. She found that 27 percent had never studied journalism.”… see full article.

I found the original statistic in Betty Medsger’s essay “Getting Journalism Education Out of the Way” ( Zone for Debate, 2002). I quote:
“59 percent of print journalists who won Pulitzer Prizes never studied journalism;
75 percent of broadcast journalists who won DuPont Awards never studied journalism;
58 percent of journalists awarded Nieman Fellowships never studied journalism, and;
51 percent of journalists awarded Knight Fellowships at Stanford University never studied journalism.” …
…  “What would journalism professors think of this?…   Upon hearing the findings, many journalists and journalism educators simply dismissed them, thinking: these people are probably graduates of elite east coast schools who profited from nepotism or other connections to get hired by elite east coast news organizations.That explanation, which I considered myself when I first saw the data, is wrong. The journalists in each group — the award and fellowship winners, as well as the 27 percent of new journalists — were a very diverse group. They were graduates of colleges and universities from throughout the nation: public and private, small and large, a few elite, mostly non-elite. Some were graduates of universities that grant respected journalism degrees. They weren’t employed by elite eastern news organizations, they were employed everywhere, at a wide range of types and sizes among newsrooms throughout the country. The only obvious thing they had in common was the fact that they had not studied journalism.  What did these people know that others do not know? Perhaps a lot. More than half of them majored in either literature or history. The rest majored in a wide sampling of liberal arts and science disciplines.”… the full article is here.

So, this little piece of statistic will not put an end to the debate on ‘Citizen Journalism’ between David Hazinsky and Leonard Witt,  but it restore a better weighing of its inner components. After all, professional journalist with prestigious prices never studied journalism.

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As an historical footnote: journalist without studies in journalism.

Walter Lipman.. I quote “…at age 17, entered Harvard University where he studied under George Santayana, William James, and Graham Wallas. He concentrated on philosophy and languages (he spoke both German and French) and graduated after only three years of study.”..see here.

Bob  Woodward (The Watergate affair) I quote  “enrolled in Yale University with an NROTC scholarship, and studied history and English literature.”….”He applied to several law schools, but also applied for a job as a reporter for The Washington Post. Harry Rosenfeld, the paper’s metropolitan editor, hired him on a two-week trial basis, a tryout that failed because of his complete lack of experience as a journalist. Still interested in becoming a reporter, he got a job with the Montgomery Sentinel. A year after his on-the-job training at the Sentinel, he left that paper and joined The Washington Post in August 1971.” see here.

And finally, from my own trade as a visual artist, the painter Johannes Vermeer “Essentially self-taught as a painter, readily absorbed the lessons of his predecessors and peers. In his town of Delft, Vermeer’s known to have shared artistic ideas with painter Pieter de Hooch during the 1650s.”….see here.

Photo source.

ryan nadel at 16:10 on December 17th, 2007

good stuff: korzac, you’ve added some great context and insight to this debate, which i suspect will rage on for years to come. In the meantime though, Citizen Reporters the world over are making their mark.

korzac at 03:21 on December 18th, 2007

Ryan, thanks for comment and the flag   BTW, I am not very happy with the names ‘Citizen Journalism, Citizen Reporters etc… perhaps, because in French Citizen=Citoyen, wich reminds me of the words “Aux armes citoyens..”  taken from ‘La Marseillaise’…

Kaitlin at 16:38 on December 17th, 2007

good stuff:korzac, thank you for posting this. Great, thorough work that helpfully illuminates the debate at hand. Fantastic stuff.

korzac at 03:37 on December 18th, 2007

I was surprised by the number of prize winners who never studied journalism

Kaitlin, thanks for the comment and the flag.

Rob Peters at 18:24 on December 17th, 2007

good stuff: korzac, nice work.  This is very thorough and does a good job of weighing both sides of the debate.  Many thanks.

korzac

Rob, thanks for the comment and the flag.

pilhofer at 09:34 on December 18th, 2007

You are surprised at the number of journalists who didn’t study journalism? You shouldn’t be. Not in the U.S., anyway…

I can say based on 20-plus years in the business, at news organizations large and small, that the vast *majority* of my colleagues studied something other than journalism in college. I was a history major, specializing in quantitative methods. One of the best editors I ever worked for never graduated college. Same with the publisher of my first paper — never got his degree.Why is this? Lots of reasons I won’t get into here. But the biggest, I think, is that journalism is one of those very few professions in which talent, hard word, instincts and persistence matter a whole lot more than academic credentials. You can have a degree from the best j-school in the country, and have not the first clue how to turn a phrase or cover a beat. Trust me. I’ve seen it.

The j-school degree might get you a job interview, or might get you a slightly longer look by an editor. But nothing gets you hired like a killer packet of clips.

This is why I hope you all in the citizen journalism community just sort of settle down and relax, and stop worrying so much about the handful of blowhard academics and (yes) journalists who are so threatened by this wonderful, grass-roots movement. When you all hit your stride, I predict that many if not most of the “pros” will welcome the competition and even collaboration… Not all, but most. The ones who get it.

Why? Because at the end of the day, good journalism is good journalism regardless of the source.

korzac at 17:56 on December 18th, 2007

Pilhofer,  my degrees in math and economics, and my being for many years a kibbutz manager did not predict that I will do any sort of journalism.Today as a visual artist I  put visual elements together to obtain something creating a visual meaning I like, and in some way I do the same thing with words and phrases. Not all do agree that I, the non-journalist, know what to do with those words and phrases. This is a well know fact in art where new artforms are interpreted by academic and conventional painters as an injure to the ‘True Art’. So paraphrasing on that, Where is the land of True Journalism? And I quote your comment ..”..at the end of the day, good journalism is good journalism regardless of the source.”.