Comments on: R.I.P. Page views; Cool blog topics or newspaper beat ideas; 10 most popular newspaper fonts; Yahoo TV listings redesigned to be flashy, end up being slow and useless

By: Mindy McAdams

Mindy McAdams — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 21:58:46 +0000

Yo, Will, I was taken aback by that broad brush with which you slung mud at Columbia. But I will repeat here something I have said many times: I’ve worked with many graduates of their journalism grad school program over the years, and some were fantastic, and some were awful. I mean as writers, as reporters, as editors. More awful ones than I would have expected, but many fantastic ones too. So you just don’t know. The degree listed on the resume? Means nothing. Always call their references. And I would say the same for everyone, regardless of which j-school they say they attended. Pick up that phone!

By: Angela

Angela — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:03:18 +0000

I thought that YouTube “I’m blogging” video was pretty hilarious too! My boyfriend and I have a running inside joke about blogging, and he forwarded it to me.

It was funny all by itself, but in the context of this inside joke it was extra hilarious.

By: Will Sullivan

Will Sullivan — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 15:24:41 +0000

Two of them were in online/multimedia and two reporters. Like I said, this just totally anecdotal… I may have just meet *the* four flunkies they produced this generation. It just seemed strange that a school with such a reputation produced these four bums.

Just to clarify, I am not out to bash the Ivy League. The two Harvard folks I have worked with have been astoundingly cool. And humble! … Which is totally opposite of what I expected. The Brown, Penn and Cornell folks I have known have all been cool.

And to be fair, I have also met a handful of disgraces from Medill … and a lot of people from the University of Toledo that were not stellar. I know a lot of fools from Florida, Ohio State, Ohio University and a bunch of other journalism factory schools.

I guess the bottom line is I am increasingly unimpressed with the university names on resumes or folks that benefit from networking with alumni. I know a guy who does not have any degree (except a GED), who is more of a hard worker and more innovative than any college grad I have met (unfortunately, he does not work in online news anymore). I know a guy from Temple who is awesome but 10 years ago, back in his college days was allegedly kind of a pothead.

I guess what I am trying to say is your college does not make who you are. What you do afterwards makes who you are. But the sad thing is, in journalism, as in many industries, that school name can definitely increase your call backs regardless of the work you have done.

By: Patrick B

Patrick B — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 15:13:53 +0000

This is totally anecdotal evidence, but of the four Columbia J-School grads Iâ€™ve known/worked with, all of them have been totally over-rated, lazy bums.

Those are some strong words about the Columbia J-School grads! I’ve only known one reporter from that program — she used to be here at The Roanoke Times, but is now at the Virginian Pilot — and she was a very hard worker.

Where the grads that you knew working in online media?