Wiring Journalism for the Future

Byline: Shelley Widhalm, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Journalism programs of the new millennium, including the one at the University of Maryland at College Park, are increasingly incorporating the Internet in their curricula.

Melissa McGrath, a senior at UMCP, uses the Internet to do some of the initial work for her classroom assignments.

Miss McGrath, 21, conducts her primary research and identifies potential sources online before making her first phone call. In some of her classes, she is learning which Web sites are useful and credible and how reporting and writing articles is different for print versus online publications.

"I don't think the Internet replaces good old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting, but it has become a facet of journalism and a facet of reporting," says Miss McGrath, who is double-majoring in journalism and government and politics and has a goal of becoming a political reporter.

As such, journalism programs include Web research and writing for the Web in their teaching of journalism skills.

"A lot of courses do incorporate …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Wiring Journalism for the Future. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Washington Times (Washington, DC). Publication date: December 6, 2004. Page number: B04. © 2009 The Washington Times LLC. COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group.

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