Susanne Shaw, the accrediting council's executive director, does not favor a rigorous standard. She favors a more relaxed standard in keeping with the financial resources of the nation's public schools. In her mind, the crucial word is exposure. Nonetheless, some journalism educators foresee a day when exposure will no longer be adequate. Stewart predicts that in two years building and maintaining Web sites will become basic skills for journalism students, like using computers for word processing today.
Money is another key variable.
It can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase computers, network them, hire technicians to keep them operating properly, and then find and hire qualified faculty to teach students how to use them. For all the colleges revamping curricula, there are probably an equal number that cannot due to financial reasons, says McKerral, the professor at Troy State. Only schools blessed with large endowments seem to be able to move forward, McKerral said. Meanwhile, many public institutions are retrenching because of budget cuts inflicted by state legislatures. A closely related problem is the ability to attract faculty.