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About the New Media Publishing course at the Haas School The explosive growth of on-line media services - such as on-line newspapers and financial publications, "portal" Web sites (Excite, Yahoo), and radio and television station Web sites - raises both journalistic and business issues, argues Amy Shuen, a visiting professor in the Haas School’s Management of Technology program. To explore those issues, Shuen is co-teaching a new course, "Journalism and Business Models in New Media Publishing," with Paul Grabowicz, a lecturer at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. "This course is one of the first anywhere to address the issues of what business leaders need to understand about electronic commerce in order to stay competitive in the ‘new economy,’" said Shuen. "On-line publishing is one area where strategy and timing are big concerns. Companies that adopt a ‘wait and see’ attitude will be left behind." In the course, Haas School MBA students, journalism graduate students, and students from the School of Information Management and Systems (SIMS) are teaming up to perform in-depth analyses of the critical journalism and business issues affecting the success of various types of on-line publications. On the business side, explained Shuen, "traditional print and broadcast media companies that are going on-line, as well as new media such as portal sites, are looking at how they have to alter traditional business models in order to survive and prosper on the Internet. For example, what kinds of advertising work best for each type of on-line publication? Should on-line publications charge users a fee to access their content? What joint ventures should on-line publications pursue to maximize traffic and revenues?" On the journalistic side, issues of content, credibility, and ethics also need to be reconsidered for on-line publishing, said Grabowicz. "For example, how do on-line publications decide what content should be put on their sites? Is it more important to be first with the information or to take more time to verify stories and be comprehensive? How do on-line publications alert readers to distinguish between content and advertising? What ethics and disclosure policies should on-line publications adopt?" The course is also considering design issues such as how on-line publications and Web sites can best be organized and what technologies sites should employ to maximize ease of use, reach their target audiences, and exploit opportunities for interactivity. The course is among the first to make use of Information Rules, the popular new book by Haas School professors Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian, as required reading. "We use Information Rules as a starting point and extend its insights into on-line media," explained Shuen. Both Shuen and Grabowicz are excited about the cross-disciplinary nature of the course. "In the new media, journalists are being thrust into situations where they must confront business issues that traditionally have had nothing to do with editorial content," said Shuen. "Journalists fear that business concerns will become the driving force of the new media and that traditional standards and ethics will be lost." Grabowicz is impressed with the quality of the students attracted to the course. "I was surprised to discover how many of the MBA students had worked as journalists or in publishing," he said. Shuen added that several on-line publications have already expressed interest in publishing columns from the student teams about their findings. [E-commerce courses at the Haas School for MBA students] [E-commerce courses at the Haas School's Center for Executive Development] [E-commerce courses at the Haas School for undergraduate students] [E-commerce courses elsewhere at UC Berkeley] [E-commerce home page] [top of page] |
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