The future of journalism?

The Chicago Tribune had an article that made me think a little bit about the future of journalism. Working in the online department of The Daily Illini has taught me that almost everybody has their opinion on what medium will emerge as the dominant force in journalism - either print, broadcast or online - yet very few people take into consideration what this means for the actual journalist beyond possible unemployment.

So what if young journalists are made into machines themselves, metaphorically speaking of course.

South Elgin High School has created BEACON, or the Broadcast Education and Communication Networks Academy. This academy takes students at the ripe age of 13 or 14 and funnels them into having a career in either "broadcast and entertainment industries, cable, online media, video and audio production and electronic communications."

Interesting. And I thought working on my high school's newspaper was enough.

On one hand I can see the benefit of such an academy. Those who graduate from there will most likely be able to land some sort of internship outside of high school, making them the envy of their college peers and easily employable after their college careers.

However, what happened to high school? I didn't even like high school but I feel like pressuring the American teenager into starting an intense, highly concentrated study of journalism at such a young age would turn them into journalism machines. Sure they'll know how to tell a story in both print, broadcast and online formats, but will they be able to tell the stories of their peers who attend a normal high school?

Perhaps part of me is still an idealist when it comes to journalism, but isn't part of our job to connect people to the emotions and experiences of others? If a 14 -year-old journalism student spends all day editing video to be posted online rather than joining another co-curricular activity or sport, how are they supposed to tell the story of the local basketball hero who tore his ACL with any type of emotion? Unless of course they teach classes in how to relate to your peers and tell their stories in an emotional manner.

There's just something a little too strange about putting somebody who has barely hit puberty into a high school that programs them for a career they'll have in about 8 years. Heaven forbid they change their minds about their majors.

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