Issue date: 11/13/07 Section: Campus

The process of transforming the curriculum at the Medill School of Journalism to keep up with the times is a work in progress, Dean John Lavine told about 70 students, faculty and others at a forum Monday night.

"We've got a ways to go," he said. "It's a process, folks."

Lavine's emphasis on the role of technology and marketing in Medill's curricula has sparked debate since Lavine became dean in 2006, most recently when officials announced they would form a committee to explore changing the school's name. The Undergraduate Medill Student Advisory Council arranged Monday's meeting in Fisk Hall to address students' concerns.

Most of the conversation centered around Medill's new curriculum, implemented in stages in the past year, which emphasizes using video, audio and other multimedia forms of storytelling.

"In its simplest form, all those things are is a better way to tell a story," Lavine said.

Lavine also clarified that while a committee will "explore" changing the school's name, the word "Medill" will stay.

"The name Medill will not change," he said. "We have no right to change that."

Lavine stressed the importance of knowing and engaging audiences, leading Medill senior Laura Waters to ask whether "engaging the audience" meant altering content or changing how news is presented.

"It never means pandering," Lavine responded. "It's first of all understanding who the audience really is."

Lavine said hard data suggests that attractive presentation makes people spend more time with articles. Because there are more news sources today, there is more competition, and journalists need to know and appeal to their audiences, Lavine said.

"You have to have an audience," he said, "or the story doesn't exist."

Some students at the forum said they were concerned that they were learning about technology before they learned about writing and reporting. Others said they did not have enough access to classes that teach multimedia.

Continued...

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