Dan Gillmor points to an incendiary post by Paul Conley, who declares, "you cannot train someone to be part of a culture" and "there's no room for Web newbies." Conley is writing about B2B (trade) journalism, but presumably the same position might be taken in regard to general journalism.
Harsh? Coincidentally, Jeff Jarvis cites a comment from the Guardian's Neil McIntosh about why a job applicant's blog is an important factor in evaluating the candidate. "The quality of the blog really matters, because it lets me see how good someone is unedited and entirely self-motivated," McIntosh writes.
Here's the key: Self-motivated.
Conley is right that any journalist who hasn't made the effort to keep up with the real world isn't worth keeping on board. We don't have the ergs to spare on those who need to be carried. We need self-propelled journalists who are lifelong learners.
But ban training? That's the wrong way to do it. Proper training fills gaps and provides context that delivers real benefits to lifelong learners, and those who employ them.
This issue isn't unique to journalism, by the way. It's common to any pursuit that is rapidly changing. Many programmers find that their core skills wear out in 24 to 36 months if they don't put significant energy into the pursuit of the new.
If you're a software developer and you need someone to explain Ajax or REST APIs to you, be prepared to ask: "Do you want fries with that?"
I won't offer similar advice to journalists, because those who need it will never see it.
Comments
But what do they need to know...
But Steve, one of the big problems - as the post 'what is a digital journalist' at http://craig-mcgill.com/2007/12/20/what-is-an-online-journalist/ shows is that no one can agree on what skillsets journalists need to be confirmed up to date? Is it writing a blog? Is it video and audio editing abilities? Is it aving a RSS setting or email address next to the byline?
As for training, there's a secondary problem in that to train the staff you need to be bringing in new equipment, so you need new equipment plus staff training = very costly. And most newspapers I know don't spend much on reporter staff training.
And then, what about casuals and freelancers brought in? We're moving into an era past that of knowing how to use Quark and Word being all you need to be a sub or reporter? What if a person is trained in one system but not another? Can the NUJ be relied on to train people on all the systems?