Nothing spans the decades - for me, that's a half-century away from my undergraduate years - swifter than anger. That emotion is shared with me (Medill '55) by Loka Ashwood, a Medill senior who completed her degree requirements at the end of Winter Quarter, and all other Medillians who value the integrity that once existed at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.
Ashwood's Daily guest column ("Business Thwarts Journalism in New Medill Plan," March 1) gave me renewed hope for my alma mater, which has been wallowing in hypocrisy.
The indignant voice of a student three months away from receiving a diploma reassured me that one does not have to be a graybeard to recognize stark differences between journalism and the pap that is public relations. The sellout of Medill to those who choose marketing half-truths over reporting facts has long been in the making. We first saw evidence of it when Medill began promoting its offerings in Integrated Marketing Communications.
Ah, communications - a word broad enough to include the marketing of products and the fabrications of public relations in order to mislead. Even in original areas of journalism education, the focus has shifted from skilled reporting of stories to techniques for marketing a story. Ashwood describes it well: "Instead of being encouraged to inform the public, I am told to target a consumer."
The journal "Editor and Publisher," a recognized authority on journalism as a respected profession, acknowledged the demise of journalism education by publishing my commentary about the takeover by public relations hucksters. The piece was titled "On Campus, the Line Between Journalism and Public Relations Gets Blurred."
I've known most Medill deans since Kenneth Olson, from my school days. All earned respect for dedication to the untarnished ideals of journalism. The jury still is out on the current dean, John Lavine, because he is a public relations guru whose background is inconsistent with that of his predecessors. This does not bode well for Medill.
In the late 1990s, early in Ken Bode's term as dean of Medill, I met with him to ask if the school might cleanse itself of its growing public relations identity.
Bode told me that while he recognized my concerns, he believed that maintaining a thriving Integrated Marketing Communications program at Medill was essential for the school's future financial well-being. The actions of Bode's successor, Loren Ghiglione, appeared to mirror Bode's views.
But Medill made a more dramatic shift when it named Lavine, with his public relations persona, dean in January of 2006.
I realize there is a kind of pragmatism behind the shift. Money is tight at a university that gets no state funding, and the public relations business is a growing source of funds. So the soul of journalism education has been sold.
Students and alumni must challenge that sale by urging that public relations and its early ancestor, advertising, be dropped from the curriculum to allow room for only honest journalism education. Failure to discard the marketing focus can only lead to the prostitution of the profession.
Former Dean Ghiglione still has a chance to enact needed ethical changes. When his current year on leave ends, he returns to campus as the Richard Schwarzlose Professor of Media Ethics.
Might Ghiglione's new position be chance for revival? Don't count on it. The illness of Medill likely will have little to do with his pursuits. The assignment is for Ethics in the Media. That's a term broad enough to allow one to be distracted away from what really ails journalism in higher education.
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