Brendan R. Watson

Today a colleague asked if I had seen Obama on 60 Minutes on Sunday, and I retorted that if I watched Obama every time he was on T.V. I would do nothing else.

I was only half-joking, but hadn’t really stopped to think about the concept of Obama’s media overexposure until tonight. I hadn’t planned on watching his prime-time press conference. I had studying to do. But I turned on NPR while I was making dinner and I was hooked. I had been very skeptical of Obama’s budget and its effect on the health of the economy down the road. I feel that we’re spending too much money to fix the economy instead of fixing our abuses of the economy (over consumption). But Obama did explain the rationale of his budget and some of its nuanced mechanics in ways I hadn’t heard in other sound-bites, mostly in my sporadic morning consumption of CNN and NPR while I get ready for work in the morning.

Despite having an essay to work on, listening to his speech was very interesting and worthwhile. Maybe it didn’t convince me completely, but I feel this president is actually intellectually honest and gives us legitimate differences of opinion to base our debate on, instead of forcing down our throats a self-serving ideology. But does the substance of the debate get lost in his media exposure, especially on ESPN and “The Tonight Show?” All we all too prepared to tune him out, even when he offers serious substance?

I first dismissed the notion when I heard it discussed on CNN last week, but having nearly missed a great opportunity to hear the important issues of our country discussed in real terms, I realized my own exhaustion with Obama-mania has gotten the best of me. Politico offers a thoughtful discussion/critique of the Obama’s media strategy.

The most valuable journalistic experience I had is leading Student Life, the student newspaper at Washington University. Having complete responsibility for the entire production process taught me more skills and strategies that have come in handy in my career as a multimedia journalist than studying online journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism, or even working in a multimedia newsroom. I also learned a lot about communication, leadership and management.

That said, the structure of many student newspapers hurts the quality of journalism education on those campuses. The fact that most student newspapers are independent from the university means they are not integrated into the curriculum. Its very difficult to have a innovative curriculum. It simply takes too long to propose new courses and have them approved. Thus, innovation must occur through extracurricular activities, including student newspapers, which can be a significant lab for experimenting with new forms of reporting and news delivery.

But there is very little or no coordination between the journalism curriculum and student newspapers — usually the most significant media outlet on a campus — because of their independence from the university. Journalism schools (and their students) are missing out on significant teaching opportunities. These teaching opportunities need to include the type of skills and management experience I mentioned above, preserving the bulk of student leadership. But innovation should also not be completely dependent on the uneven leadership students to provide during their brief tenures. Student media boards provide some leadership, but when busy professionals parachute in for only one, maybe two, meetings a year they provide often less consistent leadership than student editors.

Many student newspapers are starting to grapple with similar problems as those that inflict the profession as a whole. More involvement of journalism programs in college newspapers would help provide longer-term strategies to remain viable as the advertising landscape and reader habits change, as well as to create an innovative lab for experimentation that is absent in most curriculums (and in the students, who surprisingly cling to very conservative approaches). Students need to be prodded to experiment. Journalism programs need an outlet to teach experimentation. Separated, both the quality of the journalism curriculum and the student newspaper suffer.

The Chicago Tribune may declare bankruptcy. The Rocky Mountain News and the Miami Herald are up for sale. The Rocky may be down for the K.O., and the latter may end up being little more than a real estate deal for the paper’s water-front property. The Star-Tribune is going to cut another 25 newsroom jobs; Newsday 5% of its work force, while raising prices for a lesser product. The New York Times is struggling with cash flow problems and is having to borrow against its new headquarters . Are we seeing the beginning of the end? And like the fears over the auto supply chain, what will go down with the newspapers?

Even though I know there are many community weeklies that exist in this manner, I tend to be dismissive of — even laugh at — such jack-of-all-trades job postings (my college newspaper was more sophisticated than this).

“Plan publications, focus and coverage. Cover community events; conduct interviews and take photographs; write and edit stories. Maintain rapport and active exchanges with residents, schools and government. Layout and paginate newspaper. Supervise Sports Editor and Reporter.”

Sadly, though, I can also imagine a time when almost all newspaper jobs are like this, though I hold out hope that the decline of newspapers does not spell the decline of journalism, while knowing that there is going to continue to be a painful transition period.