Contrary to popular belief, the end of print journalism might not be all that imminent. A recent partnership between Boston University's College of Communication (COM) and The Boston Globe has let a new class of college journalists know that they should not give up hope just yet.
The partnership provides Boston University (BU) undergraduates with the opportunity to receive hands−on journalism experience: Students in BU's Advanced News Writing and Reporting classes will regularly contribute articles to the "Your Town" section of the Globe's Boston.com.
"Your Town" is an online resource that provides local news about the towns, cities and sections of the Greater Boston area, including Somerville. The Globe is currently expanding the news service to cover neighborhoods within Boston as well, such as Back Bay and Roxbury. The BU students will be responsible for reporting on these newly incorporated "Your Town" regions of Boston.
COM offers two Advanced News Writing and Reporting classes for which enrolled students write an average of one or two stories per week. The students also provide the photographs and multimedia materials that accompany their articles, Fred Bayles, associate professor of journalism at BU and director of the partnership, said.
The program is starting slowly, but Bayles has high hopes for its future.
"We hope to expand to sports writers, for example, and others will have the opportunity to contribute as well," Bayles told the Daily.
This partnership with the Globe is not the first program BU has created to provide its students with practical experience in the journalism field. Through its Washington Journalism Program, the university allows undergraduate and graduate students to spend a semester in the nation's capital, working as correspondents for news outlets. COM seniors and graduate students can also participate in BU's State House Program — the largest news operation at the Massachusetts State House — by providing articles, radio clips and video footage for more than 15 Massachusetts news organizations.
The partnership between the two organizations is mutually beneficial, Bayles explained.
"It provides jobs for our students and it provides the kind of news coverage that papers weren't previously able to provide," Bayles said.
Bayles, who directs the State House Program, explained that the partnership is extremely useful for aspiring journalists because it combines academics with practical experience. Students receive their assignments from a real editor at the Globe and get academic feedback on their work from a professor, too.
Another benefit of the program is the door it opens into the world of professional journalism, Bayles said. Upon graduation, many participants in the university's other journalism programs have gone on to work for news organizations. Bayles expects that the same will be true for students who participate in this program.
The type of coverage that BU students provide for the Globe differs from the assignments they might otherwise receive in that the young journalists are reporting exclusively on local news. This community−based, or "hyperlocal," journalism is a new trend among news sources, according to Bayles.
"This is really where journalism is going," he said. "It is providing a local angle that readers wouldn't have otherwise."
Bayles believes this new trend is what will keep the news industry alive. While many are worried about the future of journalism, he sees the additional local coverage in the Globe and other news organizations as indicators that the industry will be just fine.
Neil Miller, an English lecturer at Tufts who teaches journalism, thinks that a similar partnership at Tufts would benefit aspiring writers' reporting skills greatly.
"It would be terrific if we could do something like that here," he said.
Students like senior Ryan Oliveira, editor−in−chief of The Zamboni, Tufts' humor magazine, agreed. "It is valuable for students to get practical experience in the field," he said.
Experience is the key ingredient to improving students' journalism skills, according to Miller. If students go off campus to cover feature articles, he said, their content improves.
"Their articles are better, they feel like real journalists and they enjoy the process more," Miller said.
While impressed by the program implemented at BU, both Miller and Oliveira doubt that a similar partnership could be established at Tufts. Unlike BU, which boasts a department of journalism within the COM along with graduate programs in a variety of journalistic disciplines, Tufts has no journalism major or department.
While there are certain programs Tufts faculty encourage students to take part in, for the most part, aspiring journalists on the Hill have to seek professional writing opportunities elsewhere.
The prospect of finding such opportunities is not as bleak as those predicting the demise of news media portray it to be, according to Bayles.
"There are more opportunities for young journalists today than when I entered the business 30 years ago," Bayles said.
