Jane, associate professor at the American University in Washington, D.C., is a regular on Fox News Watch, contributes to Columbia Journalism Review, and has written about coverage of Iraq for The Harvard International Journal of Press & Politics. She earned her graduate degree from Columbia and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1996 for her coverage of the Disney/Capital Cities merger in the Los Angeles Times.

Jane Hall - Hailing from the other West Texas

I was born and raised in a town in West Texas called Abilene. I’ve been interested in politics and media and journalism all my life. My dad was the mayor of the town, and my mother was very active in the arts community. It was part of family conversation when I was a kid. It amuses me when people are surprised to learn you’re from Texas and you’re not a Bush Republican — it’s bad enough for people not to think you’re intelligent. I’ve got that out-of-towner’s perspective on Washington, even though I lived and worked in New York for years and have lived in D.C. since 1998.

I was interested in creative writing, but also politics and media, and journalism seemed like a great way to talk to people. One time I interviewed David Letterman in the early days of his show, and I remember he said he wanted his show to be “the grenade launched into the brunch.” I love asking questions that get that kind of answer. Fred Friendly was still at Columbia when I was there, and I got interested in writing about media and television news. I very much grew up as a reporter covering the mainstream media, writing about cutbacks at the broadcast networks, covering the anchors. I worked for People Magazine for several years, profiling people like Tom Brokaw and Bill Moyers. I’ve written for Rolling Stone, The Nation, The Wall Street Journal.

On her blog - learning through teaching

Now I teach, so my students have really educated me about new media. I began to hear about Michael Moore from them years before he broke through to the consciousness of the mainstream media. I’ve learned a lot from their experience of media. They really are the first generation that has grown up with the internet. I come from mainstream media, and yet I see the world is changing so much. My students don’t share my nostalgia and reverence for the broadcast evening news.

I teach two different types of courses, those that teach students how to be journalists, and the other are news media study courses. I teach the intersection of politics and the media, and chapters of American history and the media. It’s interesting, because as an educator in this field we’re all sitting here trying to figure out how to educate people, and we don’t even know how it’s going to turn out. It’s fascinating to me.

On our direction

On Fox News Watch we review issues in media coverage every week. The panel has a diversity of opinion, which is what Pajamas Media is trying to do — to span the range and present a lot of opinions, and feature the voices you find in blogs. I think that’s something that’s of tremendous value. And blogs are starting to do more original reporting as well.

There’s a love/hate relationship with the media — I come from that, and it’s disheartening for me to hear people saying ‘oh, they’re dinosaurs, they’re dead.’ But at the same time, I have a sense that we’re moving beyond that. I’m hopeful that there will continue to be a mix of media. The mainstream media has absolutely been fascinated with blogs as the next big thing. There have been an awful lot of gee-whiz stories, and I think the older media are afraid of not being hip.

Every medium historically has been afraid that what’s new will kill it. Newspapers feared radio, and radio feared television. There’s always this sense, but there’s always been room so far. I hope we will still let a thousand flowers bloom.