Monday, March 9, 2015

Yet Another Step

The Grady College journalism department will take another step towards its new and improved curriculum later this month when the University Council takes a final vote (Council full agenda here, the link to the very brief proposal here). Understand that the combined journalism-broadcast news curriculum is not listed. All those new classes have already been approve (sorta, kinda). The Council vote is the icing on the cake (more, or less). I've written at length about the new curriculum and, to be honest, I'm tired of the topic. The actual classes won't begin until Spring 2016. If you're already a student, don't panic. You won't be affected by this.

And then there's the change in names from Department of Telecommunications to the Department of Entertainment and Media Studies. EMS. Which, for former cop reporters like me, means something else entirely. That department, minus the broadcast news folks, will focus on -- well -- entertainment. And documentaries. And other stuff. As their explanation argues, entertainment is the "growth engine for all media." Yeah. Sad. But very very true, because people really don't want to be informed. They want to amuse themselves to death. But as a focus for a department, very smart.

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