Journalism v. Integrated Marketing Communications

There’s a story fluttering about the Internets about how the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications screwed the pooch by awarding misspelled diplomas where the “n” in “Integrated” somehow vacated the premises. Everyone is lapping it up because the school is known for the “Medill F,” the grade conferred upon any student who dares to include a factual or spelling error in any given assignment. Oh, the irony. Hardy har har. No one, alas, seems to be too bothered by the school’s fairly recent name change (2011), where both “Media” and, more curiously, “Integrated Marketing Communications” were tagged onto the far more distinguished and direct “Medill School of Journalism.”

In case you’re wondering, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a real thing, and you can learn more about it over at Wikipedia. If you’re a critical reader, you’ll notice fairly quickly that IMC works as a clunky euphemism for the most cutting-edge rendition of marketing technology, which in turn works as a once-removed euphemism for highly effective corporate propaganda. (As a sidebar, you’ll also notice that “community involvement,” “charity involvement & events,” and “corporate philanthropy” all fall under the heading of IMC.) Surprisingly, aside from the usual business pulpits preaching the gospel (see Forbes Magazine), there isn’t much material centered on the broader significance of IMC. I was able, however, to find this disturbing gem. It’s a paper that documents how IMC has successfully pushed poisonous food and beverage products on millions of unsuspecting consumers.

Add to this Poynter’s scoop about the big-money foundations applying pressure to the major journalism schools in order to re-frame the curriculum around “provid[ing] students the ability to pursue career paths as journalist entrepreneurs and journalism-technologists” and we’ve got ourselves an eyebrow-raising trend. Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought the fourth estate was about keeping the powerful on their toes, not about joining them in the hustle. In any case, this all helps explain why so many “journalists” equate their profession with corporate and government flackery. It’s nigh time some real journalists get on this. Unlike most of what we see these days, this actually amounts to a story worth reporting.
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