Delivery methods change, but truth does not

One of my homework assignments for last week: Your student reporters want to start using blogs to go with their stories. In a 300-word position statement, explain why this is or is not a good idea. Use arguments from this your required reading. (25 points)

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    Before computers, I used pound out stories on old fashioned typewriters. Each time I made a mistake, I'd rip out the paper, crumple it up and start over. It wasn't a good machine for a perfectionist. It took me hours to write a single story. This was in the early and mid-1980s, when I was an Army journalist.

    By the late 1980s, while a PJ major at Kent State, desktop computers replaced the typewriter. They were bulky, slow and prone to crash, but writing stories on computers was much faster and easier than peck, peck, pecking away on loud typewriter keys. You could actually edit copy without throwing away packs of paper, and save files to floppy disks. I practically lived at the Daily Kent Stater (the student newspaper) because I used the computers for my other homework.

    Then the portable Smith Corona and Brother word processors were invented. This allowed me to write in the comfort of my own home. And now? I have a MacBook Pro and an iPad.

    I've witnessed much change in technology during my 30 years in the journalism business, most of it improving the workflow for print journalists, editors, page designers and photojournalists.

    Yet, I don't think these changes in delivery methods are as monumental as the current social media tools available today, like Twitter, Facebook,WordPress and Blogger, which allow average citizens to publish their opinions in seconds.
   Like stated in Elements of Journalism, "Machines do not change human nature." (Page 184)

    So yes, I strongly encourage journalism students to blog and tweet their stories and photos, guided by editors and instructors who teach that "you cannot supplant the search for fact and content that traditional journalism of verification provides."  (Elements, Page 184)
   Learning to blog responsibly will separate students from countless citizen bloggers who have no formal education in journalism ethics and law. 

    The following are a few valuable lessons I believe students get out of learning social media tools: 

• It allows them to write more often and concisely;

• It forces students to verify on tighter deadlines;

• They learn blogging/social media ethics; 

• They learn a little about web design;  

• Blogging adds another dimension (multimedia) to their storytelling;

• It prepares them for journalism jobs in the 21^st Century.  

   I was taught how to blog in one of my grad classes: Teaching Multimedia.  I am paying it forward. (see owenspj.blogspot.com.)

   That's the power of education.