Journalism Is Itself a Religion - Page 3

In January, 2003, I spoke on a panel at Columbia. This was a time when the place was in tumult over President Lee Bollinger's sequence of dramatic (and highly unusual) moves-- suspending the search for a new Journalism Dean. Bollinger, in one of his first public battles as president, then engaged in written argument with the School and its faculty over what an education in journalism should be today. That was big news in the City, and a national story for a few days.

He then called together an All-Star advisory team, (largely the right coast elite of the profession) to meet with him at the Century Club in Manhattan, where they discussed what a journalism education should be today. Finally he named New Yorker writer Nick Lemann as Dean, which was one of the smartest things any president could have done. (I wrote about Bollinger's moves here, and edited a special website about the issue here.)

At a mid-point in these events, the alumni group at Columbia sponsored a public forum on journalism schooling and its future. The real topic was Bollinger's actions and what they meant. A good crowd came that evening because the alumni were concerned. Almost everyone had something to say on whether Bollinger was asking the right questions, or meddling with a great program, or worse.

I had taken a position on these events in the Chronicle of Higher Education--pro-Bollinger, but also read Bollinger, please--so I was asked to join the panel that night; and I learned something there. At the close of a long evening of debate, I wanted to tell the group--the graduates--how much I admired the Columbia J-School, the history of which I had studied.

I said they had passed through not only a great professional training ground in journalism, but a "great school of theology." It's like a divinity degree, I said. Smart people entering the profession learn the religion of journalism, and acquire their faith in a free press, among many other practical lessons.

Only rarely does a public speaker know that the audience as a whole "got" something. This was one of those times. At the words "school of theology," I saw a very large number of alumni smile or nod. They could see how this fit their experience. In J-school, they learned what it means to be virtuous, even righteous, although their education no doubt stopped short of recommending any "crusade" in journalism. (Crusades are against the religion, you see.)

Article Author: Jay Rosen

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