There, students do take part in real reporting – I’m not sure of the extent that even forward-thinking J-schools like City want to replicate that. There are so many talented young trainees willing to do this – there just needs to be a platform for them.

Meanwhile, the most sensible students are already setting up their own sites. The opportunity for schools to capitalise on this is ebbing away.

And as for libel, I’d say that’s the number 1 fear of MSM when engaging with h-local or student media – certainly the worry I hear the most in conversations I’ve had.

Virtually every major university in the US (not just those with J-schools) has a student-run newspaper — often a pretty high-quality daily that covers the local community — or runs some sort of news agency that sells into the commercial media. Why UK journalism schools don’t operate in what Brock nicely calls a “teaching hospital” manner has never made any sense to me. Is it caused by fear of our libel laws or something?

This post was mentioned on Twitter by psmith: post from #newsrw: http://psmithjournalist.com/2010/01/journalism-students-should-play-a-real-role-in-news-reporting/...