If you’re a regular AgWired reader then you know I’ve pointed you to Mindy McAdams before. She’s a University of Florida Journalism Professor. I got to meet her for coffee yesterday to talk about “online journalism.” You definitely need to be reading her blog if you want to enhance your agricultural communications skills. She actually has some ag background from a previous job she had in Pennsylvania.

We had a great talk and time just ran out or we might still be talking. I graduated from the UF College of Journalism and Communications with a bachelor degree in “Broadcasting.” Now it’s called Telecommunications. One of the the things she said to me is how the school still separates journalism and broadcasting as if they’re somehow different. Of course they teach public relations and advertising too (and separately). I wonder what’s really different about all these things today.

Actually, I believe that you can have a personal blog on a subject and be every bit as “journalistic” as anybody. I don’t write anything that I think is factually incorrect for example. If I’m wrong, I’m quite willing to be corrected. I think that helps my credibility as an online journalist who also happens to do a lot of public relations work. I think I make it very clear which is which too.

I’m just glad to see that there’s someone in the journalism department at my alma mater who “gets” this new media thing and is helping prepare students for a career which really needs to include skills many schools still aren’t teaching. Hopefully, I’ll get to meet with Mindy again someday soon.