What should journalists read about journalism? Should we be influenced by musings about the relationship between blogging and journalism, or by some timeless advice from George Orwell? With the media changing so rapidly, striking a balance between focussing on core journalism skills and new media imperatives can certainly be a challenge. And of course, there are no easy answers.
But sometimes an inspiring piece of writing, a great radio program, or an episode of Media Watch or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart can crystallise much that’s important about what journalism should be – and what it shouldn’t be too.
At La Trobe University, students enrolled in our Master of Global Communications degree have been given the brief to identify articles (or programs) about journalism that they believe would be of value to other journalists. And so, from this evening just after five, we will begin unfurling our list of the 100 articles every journalist should read – a project that we hope will prove to be an engaging and a useful resource.
But we’re not going to be doing this on our own. In keeping with the spirit of the era of participation, this list is going to be generated in part as a conversation, and not simply delivered as some immutable verdict. So please feel free to join in by nominating and writing your own commentary about any articles that you believe should be essential reading for journalists.
A few ground rules. We’re focussing on articles – in whatever format – that you can link to. Each of your commentary pieces should be no more than 200 words long. And please tell us who you are and provide a preferred link if you feel so inclined. Submissions should be sent to contact@upstart.net.au , and you may want to consult our Notes for Contributors page before you get started.
If you want to follow the discussion on Twitter, we’ll be using the #100articles hashtag at www.twitter.com/upstartmagazine.
