JSchools, Media Criticism Online
Most journalists barely have time to do their jobs, much less try to bone up on their skills by going back to school.
But going online is a great way to study our craft, read insightful commentary and criticism of our profession ... and maybe even learn a thing or two.
Or, if you're not a professional journalist yet but foolishly thinking about getting into the trade, the web is the place to start to check out the schools.
J-SCHOOL ONLINE
You can get a sense of the quality of the j-schools by the newspapers their students produce.
NovaNewsNet at the University of King's College (www.ukings.ns.ca/nnn/nnn.html) covers the region and the world with an impressive web site. Journalism work at the University of Regina can be viewed at www.uregina.ca/~journal/sn.html and Montreal's The Concordian at www.Cafe.ca/concordian
Sometimes, journalism teachers put their course guidelines online. Mary McGuire, co-author of one of the best books on journalism and the Internet (see Media magazine ______ ), along with a colleague of hers put their their Internet and CAR course at www.carleton.ca/~jweston/410/.
And Ryerson's Dean Tudor has prepared a bibliography of Computer Assisted Reporting stories at www.ryerson.ca/~dtudor/cartexts.htm and his course outline at www.ryerson.ca/~dtudor/jrn112.htm.
If you have your heart set on schools south of the border, you can get a list of American j-schools at http://sscf.ucsb.edu/~hanterm/j-schools.htm.
JOURNALISM PUBLICATIONS
You don't have to go back to school to keep up with the latest ideas and trends in the profession. Read the journalism magazines online.
The Ryerson Review of Journalism, Canada's premier magazine of media criticism is available on the web at www.ryerson.ca/rrj, with highlights of the current issue and back issues.
For a more academic - but often thought-provoking - look at the media, check out the Canadian Journal of Communication (http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/calj/cjc)
The venerable Columbia Journalism Review (www.cjr.org/) offers an excellent selection of some of the most critical writing on our craft.
Perhaps the best American journalism magazine web site is offered by the American Journalism Review (at www.ajr.org) , with a popular feature listing a poll for the 10 best web newspapers and more than 7,000 useful links. The October issue had an article ... about journalism education online.
Very often, a special study is put online. A case in point is a look at Canadian law and the Internet (at http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/it03117e.html). Commissioned in the summer of 1996 by the federal government, this study looks at everything from copyright and trade-marks to child pornography and hate literature
And the Poynter Institute has made available an intriguing report from its recent conference on Ethics Online ( at www.cio.com/WebMaster/060197_reporter.html)
JOURNALISM PRIZES AND TIPS
A great way to learn how to improve your skills is to learn from the winners.
The British Columbia Newspaper Awards (www.helix.net/bcnf/) offers you a selection of the best of the west.
And if it worked for someone who won one of the Pulitzer Prizes, maybe it will work for you. Check out the best of American print journalism at (www.pulitzer.org )
The web is also a good place to find a varied selection of journalism tips.
One of the best sources for investigative and computer assisted reporting is at the American Investigative Reporters and Editors( at www.ire.org). The IRE offers handouts from its conventions -- these make excellent teaching and learning tools (at www.ire.org/resources/center/handsearch.html). Or, from a 1997 meeting, you can get advice on "Backgrounding Individuals and Companies" at www.access.digex.net/~schlein.
For the latest in Canadian CAR hints, check out Nexus, the bulletin of the CAJ's own CAR caucus. (www.eagle.ca/caj/nexusfall.html).
MEDIA CRITICISM
It's a part of our profession that, in my mind, is too often ignored: The need to be constantly aware of what our critics and media-watchers are saying.
Media Watch is a group dedicated to keeping us on our toes. As they put it, "the emphasis is on critiquing the accuracy and exposing the biases of the mainstream media." Watch them watch us at http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~mernst/media/#media-criticism.
Newswatch, formerly called Project Censored Canada (http://edwina.cprost.sfu.ca/newswatch/) points out the stories we ignored, thanks to the eagle eyes of Simon Fraser's School of Communications.
One of my favourite sources of media criticism is Counterspin (www.webactive.com/webactive/content/cspin.html) , a weekly radio program in RealAudio from the folks at FAIR, a left-of-centre media watch group. FAIR also has its own web site at www.igc.org/fair. Counterspin deals mainly with the American media, but is often insightful with general lessons for us all.
Our colleagues south of the border are also going through a period of reflection (begun before the Lady Diana debacle) about the whys and wherefores of journalism, led by the Committee of Concerned Journalists. You can check out the call to arms issued by some journalism thinkers at www.journalism.org
For a taste of the harsh words from the dean of media critics, Noam Chomsky, look at his archives at www.worldmedia.com/archive.
And, of course, if you want to add your two cents worth (two bytes worth?), you can always join in the chat about ethics and standards in the CAJ's own mailing list. Instructions for subscribing are on my home page.
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