NY Times Publishes David Carr’s College Curriculum as Final Media Equation Column

“I expect you to behave as an adult and will treat you like one. I don’t want to parent you — I want to teach you,” Carr bluntly told his students

(Nick_Amoscato)

Three days after the death of David Carr, the New York Times decided to run one final Media Equation column under his byline by publishing his curriculum for his communications class at Boston University.

“He was a natural teacher, and right up until the day he died last week, he was bent on minting the next generation of journalists,” the Sunday column dedicated to Carr’s “Press Play” course reads. “While David did not write his curriculum as a column, it has all the essential ingredients of one. So here it serves as the final Media Equation under David’s byline.”

The course taught students about “making and distributing content in the present future we are living through,” according to the syllabus available on Medium.

The Times hailed the note to students as Carr “in his purest form,” listing adjectives including “blunt, funny, haughty, humble, demanding, endearing and unique.”

“Don’t raise your hand in class. This isn’t Montessori, I expect people to speak up when they like, but don’t speak over anyone. Respect the opinions of others,” Carr wrote while explaining his “personal standards” to students. “This is an intense, once-a-week immersion on the waterfront of modern media-making. If you don’t show up for class, you will flounder. If you show up late or unprepared, you will stick out in unpleasant ways. If you aren’t putting effort into your work, I will suggest that you might be more comfortable elsewhere.”

“If you text or email during class, I will ignore you as you ignore me. It won’t go well,” he added. “I expect you to behave as an adult and will treat you like one. I don’t want to parent you — I want to teach you.”

The Times quoted his teaching assistant, Mikaela Lefrak, who explained in an email how Carr encouraged his students to “sound better” than the rest of aspiring journalists.

“He didn’t want us to sound like everyone else,” she said. “He wanted us to sound better. Extended metaphors should be indulged and encouraged — the stranger, the better. And clichés were poison. ‘Try harder,’ he told me constantly. ‘Create something with your own dirty little hands.’”

Carr died on Feb. 12 due to lung cancer. He was 58.

“He was the finest media reporter of his generation, a remarkable and funny man who was one of the leaders of our newsroom,” NY Times editor Dean Baquet told staff in a memo last week. “He was our biggest champion, and his unending passion for journalism and for truth will be missed by his family at The Times, by his readers around the world, and by people who love journalism.”

Carr’s 14-week course began by introducing students to the “state of narrative and content,” and covered topics including “choosing targets,” “new business models for storytelling,” essay writing, discovering your voice, distribution models and “writing for an audience of visual learners.”

“The good news is that this is the first time that I have taught this class, so boredom will not be an issue,” Carr’s syllabus concluded. “It’s also the bad news, because even though I have done a great deal of teaching over the years, it’s the first time I’ve been an actual professor and have had to string together an entire semester. You are a beta, which means things will be exciting and sometimes very confusing. Let’s be honest with each other when that happens. If you don’t get where I am going or what I want, say so. I care deeply that I do a good job in all endeavors, especially this one.”

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