question, “What is Journalism?”. Our efforts to answer that latter question is probably more important to our success in educating future journalists than is all the digital equipment that we plan to install. If our academic programs will not ask these questions, who will? In defining our boundaries and establishing our disciplinary integrity, we become the banner bearer for the next generation of critically informed journalists. Not all programs are willing to do this, mainly due to time constraints. I’d like to quickly interject a concept I try, as a leader, to keep in mind called Pareto’s Principle, sometimes called the 80/20 rule or the principle of the vital few. Basically, it states that 80% of the value or effects within a group of items lies within just 20% of the cases or means within the items. For example, 80% of the dirt on your floor is on only 20% of the carpet, because you tend to walk the same patterns. 80% of the food you order in a restaurant comes from only 20% of the items on the menu, because you keep ordering the things you like. 80% of the laundry you wash is on only 20% of your clothes, because you regularly wear your favorite things. Thus, it’s okay to spend 80% of your time in mass communication meetings discussing only 20% of media topics – as long as you are discussing the important 20%... like civic participatory media. As you discuss, remember one of the indictments of Dues and Brown in Boxing Plato’s Shadow – that we lack the theoretical coherence found in other humanities and social sciences. While Lasswell’s 1948 formula of Who? Says what? In which channel? To whom? With what effect? - remains a great building block on which to problematize our definitions, we need to do more. I’m not suggesting that we all agree on a central or universal theoretical model. That would be impossible. But we must have the discussions. For example, I personally have been pleased with the Media Choice Model, or MCM, first proposed by Thorson and Duffy in 2006. It expands upon the largely accepted Uses & Gratifications model to look at predictive factors why individuals may select certain media. They start by looking at four basic communication needs. Not surprisingly, the first three are connectivity (our need to relate to others), information (our need for knowledge) and, with shades of Neil Postmann, our need for entertainment. To this they add shopping and consuming needs. What would a media theory be today that couldn’t account for amazon.com, Overstock, craigslist, woot, newegg, and ebay? Time doesn’t permit me to elaborate on MCM more, other than one observation that leads me to my next point. MCM authors have gone beyond looking at traditional news and entertainment media venues with their theory, and have adapted it to other genres such as science and health. Similarly, as we assert our disciplinary integrity, we must also seek to cultivate interdisciplinary connections. This isn’t the same messy overlap that Dues and Brown were talking about. This is purposeful and strategic cross-connections. As I’ve mentioned, our school is comprised of both a Journalism & Mass Communications program and a Communication Studies program. Our faculty find great value in collaborative efforts. For example, our Interpersonal Communication teacher also teaches journalism’s Television Criticism class. Our media law professor and our courtroom communication teacher regularly collaborate on research projects. Gary has traveled with communication faculty to South America to help photograph and document studies in family resiliency. I teach a graduate level course in popular culture where students deconstruct media messages in film, television, and music using dramatistic, feminist, Marxist, and other rhetorical perspectives. Whether it be connections with History, English, Political Science, Business, or Education, to name just a few – seek out interdisciplinary opportunities.
9