Director's Notes: Critics of Journalism

• A View from the Far East: Japanese journalist Kayo Matsushita offered his views of journalism education in the United States by emphasizing "there is a firmly rooted notion of journalism as the basis of democracy. Matsushita's thoughtful commentary, which appeared in the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's second largest newspaper, uprooted "digital," entrepreneurship" and "collaboration" as the buzzwords of 21st Century American journalism education.
• Among schools cited in the piece are Arizona State University, the University of California/Berkeley, Northwestern University, American University, Boston University, Columbia University and Florida International University.
• These schools, the report said, are "working to develop, through real-world training, the leaders of a diversifying media industry...while raising a new type of journalists, are even managing to create new jobs. The American journalism schools are only just beginning to take on an unprecedented and exciting role in the future of the media."

• Church-State Trap: Media economist Robert G. Picard says efforts to professionalize journalism began early in the 20th Century as a response to the hyper commercialization of newspapers and the anything goes approach to news." But in his recent Shoptalk column in Editor and Publisher, Picard said editorial staffers must not embrace the business side, or perish. "If journalists continue to deny responsibility for the operation and survival of their news enterprises, it will be impossible to create sustainable news organizations for the future."

• Quote of the Week: "In America, the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs for ever and ever." -Oscar Wilde