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 It's not about understanding how to communicate. It's about understanding the medium and how to use it.
-Former Dean Campaign Manager Joe Trippi on the potential of the Internet in political campaigns. Trippi spoke at an SMPA conference on June 4. |
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Journalism
So you want to be a journalist? Working in a hectic newsroom on a breaking disaster story? Wearing out your shoe leather to follow clues to corruption? Or perhaps doing on-camera interviews like Katie Couric or Ted Koppel?
Whatever your passion, journalism's basic skills are the same: researching, interviewing, sifting through information and interpreting it for others to learn from. It's called reporting. It's an honorable craft.
Journalists today are flooded with information. We all are. But journalists are the gatekeepers. The ones who decide what the rest of us hear, read and see. When you pick up the latest issue of Rolling Stone, who's on the cover? Why are you reading about rapper 50 Cent this month and not rocker Avril Levine? Because someone--a journalist--sifted through the deluge of possible lead stories and made choices for you.
With the ever-changing nature of technology, journalism is taking on new forms every day. Newspapers are still around, but they're also online now. So are magazines. And webzines and portals--news sources in their own right. Television and radio have been with us for decades. But they too are evolving. Satellite technology has paved the way for XM Radio with more 24-hour news stations. And reporters covering the war in Iraq transmitted images into your living room almost instantly through satellite phones.
At SMPA you will not only acquire basic research and writing skills, but you will also learn to think critically and analyze the world around you. You will learn from the pros--journalists who have worked for CNN, NBC, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, The Washington Post, and National Public Radio. They are here as your mentors and guides. Take advantage of them. Learn from their life experiences. And make them proud when you graduate into your reporting career.
Journalism Curriculum
Program Director
Journalism Handbook
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