The Dominion. MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 1909. THE UNIVERSITY AND JOURNALISTS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 581, 9 August 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 1909. THE UNIVERSITY AND JOURNALISTS.

- The Canterbury College Board of Governors has decided to extend the scope of the College by establishing a course in journalism next year. The University Senate, moreover, is to be asked to extend its statuses to provide suitable recognition of the course. It is proposed to make special provision for intending journalists in the subjects ordinarily taught at the College, and to supplement these by lectures .from men actually engaged, in journalistic work. The course would be a three-years one, the third year being devoted to instruction and practice in the technical elements of the profession. The idea is a good one, and one which may bo confidently supported by those who, liko ourselves, look with disfavour upon ■ the conversion of the University Colleges into glorified technical schools. We' note that the proposal has found favour . with at least one member of' the Senate, Sib. Maurice O'RojiKE. Whether ■ the ultimate result of the new idea will be' a very large improvement -in the character of NewZealand journalism is a question which is open to argument. Daily journalism is either nows or comment, and in New Zealand, as in all other countries,' the news is more important, and occupies many times morp .space than the comment or criticism. There are very few University men actively engaged in jour.nalism in this country, and the newspapers are none the worse of the fact. The reason is not very far to seek: the qualities essential to success in'journalism are not supplied by the' schools or colleges', and cannot be supplied by lectures alone. A man may become an accomplished lawyer or even a capable physician without ever stirring out of. his study, but journalism cannot be taught in lectures arid text-books any more than boxing. "All the book-learning in the v/orkl will not by itself enable a man to write what the public wilT read. It may give him tools and material, but it will not teach him how to use them. The most learned philosopher may .be incapable of writing a single article printing in a daily newspaper.

, To succeed as a journalist, a mau must be born with the journalistic instinct. He must know what the public is likely to find interesting; he must know what news is worth printing j he must know how to present his news or his views in a way. that will get them read by "his public. The best that a College course.in journalism can teach is ' the habit of rapid thought, for the journalist must .after all depend upon his own observation and his own thinking for the knowledge that.is necessary if he is to do his work properly. Newspapers consist only in very small part of leading articles. And leading - articles ■ must not be treatises or essays. The most effective leading article, .it might almost be said, is the , one which is most seriously different from ,tho sort of writing that finds most encouragement in .University Colleges. One- of the Christchurch papers aums up very well fcho qualities without, which a man.cannot succeed in the. news; paper world. He must.be able "to recognises 'news' when ho sees it in the streets, to sum up the essential-facts of. a situation in a flash, to write out a 'story' in simple, direct language, using as few words as possible, to know where to turn for information, to bo able to handle books of reference with facility, to absorb the essqnep of a magazine article at a glance, to find a fierce story in a tamelooking man, and to be wide awake at all hours.." A man may learn to do these things by attending a course of lectures, but only' if he is the right kind of man. For they obviously require in the student certain , qualities to ' begin with. Why, then, it may be asked, do we look with favour upon a project that .appears to aim at doing something which cannot bo done ? Simply because a school of journalism may discover, oven if it cannot create, journalists; it may rescue for the profession; young men who would otherwise waste their special'gifts by drifting into other occupations. Good journalists are as scarco as would4)o journalists arc numerous. It is also possible that , the new course, which will coincide at most points with' tho ordinary arts .course, may change, infinitely for the bettor, the character of,' the appeal which College studies make to the ordinary student. At present the average student, regards the.half-dozen subjects of the B.A. course as. half-a-dozen tiresome hurdles, erected for goodness knows what reason,' and to bo forgotten as soon as they, are surmounted. He regards his course as simply a brick-carrying : task. A course in journalism may-in time infect the wholn College teaching, and, hy establishing a relation betweon study and life, lead the student to use the bricks'to build a little house for his advantage,, instead of leaving them in a forgotten .' and desolate heap.