If you’re keeping up with the JOMC news, you’ll note that Penelope Muse Abernathy, a journalism professional with more than 30 years experience as a reporter, editor and media executive, was named the Knight Chair in Journalism and Digital Media Economics at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her appointment takes effect July 1.

She specializes in preserving quality journalism by helping the news business succeed economically in the digital media environment. Her appointment strengthens the point I made in a previous blog post…the school needs to interact with media professionals in the state and beyond to assure that we’re teaching students to function in a new world, but also to assist professionals in developing new business models.

Professor Abernathy intends to involve students…the new newspaper audience…in helping to develop entrepreneurial models that make sense to the new generation.

We believe combining Abernathy’s professional experience and knowledge with the enthusiasm of students who represent emerging consumers of news will ignite new ideas to serve the school’s various publics.

One of my goals as dean of JOMC is to stay connected to the media practitioners in the state and to make sure our curriculum educates students for the world they are graduating into.

Visits in January to Walter Phillips, editor and co-publisher of The Carteret County News-Times in Morehead City, and to the Gaston Gazette in Gastonia, where Jennie Lambert is publisher and Hunter Bretzius is editor, emphasized how interconnected journalism education needs to be with the profession.

The editors and publishers of both of these newspapers are experimenting with their Internet sites and are building Internet readership.  The many challenges include understanding which audiences are attracted to online newspaper sites as well as testing entrepreneurial business models.  Understanding new content models also is critical.

Now, more than at any other time in history, schools of journalism and mass communication can work with publishers and editors to test new models.

Our training of students in solid reporting, writing and multimedia techniques provides the workforce these newspapers need.  See a later post for how we are meeting the need to test entrepreneurial business models.