We face a rapidly changing mediascape that shifts faster than the 24-hour news cycle, often outpacing academic study, the ability to understand journalism, and the ability to teach it. Much of the scholarship, and hallway conversations, of the past has focused on either the failures of journalism itself— most notably with regard to the influence of corporate media—or the "gee whizzery" of new technologies and the wild, wild west that is the blogosphere. I do not dispute the deleterious effects of the former, or the possibilities inherent in the latter two. But while we have been consumed by hand- wringing on one hand and starry-eyed wonder on the other, I suggest we also need to focus on the fundamental issues that will propel journalism—practice, education and scholarship—into an affirmative future to best serve not only our students or the organizations that will employ them but most importantly, the public interest.
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