Charles N. Davis is an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and the executive director for the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC), headquartered at the School.
Davis’ scholarly research focuses on access to governmental information and media law. He has published in law reviews and scholarly journals on issues ranging from federal and state freedom of information laws to libel law, privacy and broadcast regulation. He has earned a Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for his work in furthering freedom of information and the University of Missouri-Columbia Provost’s Award for Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching, as well as the Faculty-Alumni Award. In 2009, Davis was named the Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Teacher of the Year.
Davis has been a primary investigator for a research grant from the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation for NFOIC and another from the Rockefeller Family Fund for the study of homeland security and freedom of information issues. He was a co-investigator for an award from the U.S. Department of State for a curriculum reform project for Moscow State University in Russia.
Davis worked for newspapers and as a national correspondent for Lafferty Publications, a Dublin-based news wire service for financial publications, Davis reported on banking, e-commerce and regulatory issues for seven years before leaving full-time journalism in 1993.
How do you define mass communication?
Hmmm…..I wonder whether the question is whether the very nature of mass communication is changing in real time, with emphasis on the “mass.” Blogs, listservs, Twitter feeds – all can achieve what a decade ago required mass distribution. What that does to the relationship between the audience and the content mean these days, and how it works with and without interpersonal media – those are real questions worth pursuing.
How do you keep your students excited about working in the field of communications in light of shrinking job opportunities?
If a student is not excited, or at the very least intrigued, by the chaotic state of the field these days, then they lack the kind of thrill-seeking spirit that will be requisite in the industry these days anyway! That said, I hope that I keep students excited by demonstrating, through lots and lots of examples, just how amazing journalism can be, the good that it does and its centrality to the democracy.
If we demonstrate passion, daily, for what we do, the students get that — immediately and profoundly.
What changes do journalism and mass communication programs need to make in order to stay relevant today?
If I knew what changes that we needed to male to stay relevant — if I, or anyone else held the keys to that riddle — they could set themselves up in a sweet consulting deal and retire to a lovely island somewhere in no time. Truth is, none of us knows precisely where all of this is headed, certainly not economically, but can we agree that students at the very least expect to be trained in a variety of media distribution platforms? To be conversant in a variety of platforms, while retaining our core skills and theoretical training seems, to me, to be the tension here. How do we do all of this simultaneously, and do we risk become dependent on the ever-changing technology and taking our eyes off the bottom-line mission of teaching our students how to report and write and edit at a professional level? I often feel we need twice as much time as we have just to accomplish some measure of professionalism on that front.
If you could save one journalism and mass communication course from extinction, what would it be and why?
Well, this is incredibly selfish, but I’d save the media law course, because disruptive technologies have a way of challenging legal assumptions, and the basis of First Amendment protection for expression is certainly no exception. We must create a new generation of mass communicators with a deep appreciation for First Amendment rights — many of which will face renewed challenges in this era of “new” threats posed by new technologies.
What new media tools or applications do you incorporate in your teaching? Why these in particular?
I am a laggard in terms of technology, but I find myself working to close the gap between myself and my students, who are always introducing me to new applications. I am a FaceBook and Twitter user of some renown — I find them to be the only ways in which I can effectively communicate quickly with students. I am experimenting with some podcasting, e-books and other things as well.
If you could offer a piece of advice to both your fellow educators and media professionals in the field, what would it be?
One piece of advice? Wow. That’s pressure!
I guess one piece of advice I seem to tell someone, either a current or former student, seemingly weekly, is that journalists of this era must be willing to embrace the change inherent in technologies, and not give in to the powerful temptation to throw up their hands and yield it to the kids! Students need — indeed, they crave — direction in terms of reportage and writing. That doesn’t change. It never will. So embrace that which is changing, and you’ll get much better at doing the stuff that hasn’t changed, and won’t. It sounds cliché, I know, but really doing that is a brave thing. I have not yet done it as completely as I should, I know that!
What do you see for the future of journalism and mass communication both in general and in higher education?
In terms of both journalism education and higher education in general, what I see is an age of greater entrepreneurial impetus, independence and disintermediation than ever before. The institutions that once brought us all the journalism, and provided us J-Schools with all the jobs, are in the midst of evolutionary change. Higher education is a bit more insulated from those effects — for now. But the university I retire from will look very, very different from the university that today’s retiree is leaving.