Ohio University

Expertise:

Television news, journalism, managing change in journalism education, media reform, broadcast journalism, journalism on the Web, international communication and mass media history

Journalism is dead. Gone are the days of Woodward and Bernstein, Walter Cronkite, and long simmering investigative pieces that change legislation or culture. Social media and TMZ are dancing on journalism’s grave. Robert Stewart, director of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, disagrees.

“There’s a perception that journalism is dying,” said Stewart. “Certainly, there are many challenges to the business model that existed for decades, even centuries. Those challenges are often thought to signal the death knell of journalism, but those of us engaged in preparing students for the current and future needs of media organizations are reminded again and again that more journalism is being consumed than ever before.”

Journalism is evolving, and Dr. Stewart’s goal is to study how it is changing and teach future journalists how to adapt.

“Finding ways to monetize the journalism that is being done, or to use the skills taught in journalism school for other purposes, is the task before us,” said Stewart. “In my capacity as the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism’s associate director for several years and now as its director, I have spent a good part of the last decade trying to ensure that our curriculum and faculty meet the education needs of our current (and future) students. As the world of journalism changes, those of us engaged in educating future journalists must adapt and respond to the needs of our students.”

In addition to teaching and managing the journalism school, Dr. Stewart is a media historian, and he is working on biographical research about Julien Bryan, the first-ever “multimedia journalist.”

Stewart is the co-editor of the Web Journal of Mass Communication Research. He also writes for academic journals and is the author of the book CNN: Making News in the Global Market.

Prior to Ohio University, Stewart taught at the University of Washington and Leipzig University and worked as a journalist at numerous media outlets, including KOMO Radio-Television.

Dr. Stewart holds Ph.D. and M.A degrees in communications from the University of Washington.