Andrew R. Cline

If someone had told the 20-year-old me that I would be a journalism professor by age 53, well, I would have laughed. The 20-year-old me had specific career plans that certainly did not include teaching and research in the Ivory Tower. I saw myself becoming one of those crusty old journalists my professors always told me about - the ones who sit in smoky bars in foreign lands and tell marvelously insightful war stories and offer an endless stream erudite comments on the important issues of the day.

I didn't give up on romantic dreams. I simply traded for a better one. Stop by my office. I'll be happy to tell you marvelously insightful war stories about it.

So what am I doing here at MSU? I'm teaching print/internet journalism and conducting interdisciplinary research in rhetoric, journalism, and media ethics.

That means my current research and teaching interests include:

1. developing a theory of the rhetoric of journalism

2. examining the effects of journalists’ rhetorical choices on the ethical practice of the craft

3. discovering new methods of fulfilling the primary purpose of journalism in multimedia, converged, and collaborative environments.

My interests also include online journalism, social media, and weblogs. I am the author of the Media Rhetoric Journal on the Rhetorica Network. My students write for the Ozarks News Journal -- part of our new multimedia journalism class JRN378.

I also write a utility bicycling blog called Carbon Trace in addition to my role as media critic on Rhetorica,

I think the study of the liberal art of journalism is an excellent preparation for the vagaries of life. Despite many of its problems, journalism remains, in my opinion, one of the the most important discoursive practices in our culture. It is an honorable profession practiced by honorable people who are vitally concerned with public affairs. Check it out.