Tim Franklin resigns as Editor of Baltimore Sun

That dude was actually modeled after John Carroll, former LA Times and Sun editor. Franklin and David Simon never crossed paths in time to piss one another off.

 

Great move by Franklin (read: great escape hatch), and great move by Indiana U.

I'll stop to give lip service here to the "Never major in JOURNALISM!!!!!!!!!" crowd.

OK . . .

I know when I attended Journalism school, the professors who impressed me most were the ones who had a bushelful of war stories. They were the ones with connections, the ones who focused more on teaching students things that would help them in the field.

Franklin will be excellent. Indiana apparently is becoming the latest school to attempt to establish something sports-related.

http://journalism.indiana.edu/news/tim-franklin-to-join-faculty/

 

I think Journalism is a great major, like Philosophy, because it teaches you how to think critically. We need more of that in this world. That said, I really wonder why we need a sports journalism school. Journalism is journalism in my book. Why not start a school combining the earth sciences and engineering?

 

Look, I know college is about expanding your horizons and challenging yourself intellectually.

But journalism these days is about as useful a real-life major as philosophy. You can minor in one or both, learn plenty of critical thinking skills and still find a major that will keep you employed beyond your 30th birthday.

Signed,
Journalism major
Philosophy minor

 

Talked to a buddy of mine a few days ago who actually made a decent go of it as a rock/pop artist, with a couple of CDs behind him and at least one song that became a global hit when it got covered by a better known artist.

He focuses on producing now and small local gigs now and, one day a week, he teaches music and music-industry stuff at a college nearby.

"It's all about selling the dream," he said. "I know that maybe one in 1,000 of these kids will make it, or even actually make a living at it. But they have the dream and the time and ambition to pursue it, so I'm there to help that along."

I thought, I could say the same thing WFW about journalism programs now. Not sure it's a responsible position, teaching journalism, when you've been on the front lines and know what it holds in terms of career arcs. But you sure can "sell the dream."

 

Big difference though...those who want to pursue music as a career know, from a pretty young age, how random and how much of a long shot it is. Nobody's expecting to graduate from that course or college and get an independent recording contract with the hope that, if you do everything right and progress up the ladder, you'll one day get your shot for Sony. No matter how good you are, it's all luck.

Maybe some of us saw sportswriting as a dream job, but it was one that was within reach with the right amount of talent and a little bit of good fortune. Go to college, serve an internship and begin plugging away in rookie ball. Climb the ladder and Write The Game The Right Way (that's for Starman!) and you could write your ticket.

Not anymore. That your analogy makes so much sense is exactly why I could not teach journalism as anything more than a high school elective (as in, here's how to read what used to be the paper).

 

My question is, who is the replacement?

It sounds like he was designing pages at the Washington Post not too long ago .......

Any reporting background? News editing?

Sure, maybe I'm thinking Old School, but still ........

 

His name is J. Montgomery Burns or something ...

 

Nothing wrong with teaching. There will always be news and the news business. The formats may change, but the 5Ws and the H will still be essential to covering the news.

 

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgg-cellent

 

John Carroll --> Bill Marimow --> Tim Franklin --> Monty Cook

What a falling off was there.

And I still can't understand why David Simon chose to make two of the best newsmen I've encountered into the personification of newspapers' decline. I wonder how Cook's stewardship of the paper will compare to Carroll and Marimow's.