'independent' -

When the boss of Fox News, Roger Ailes, was recently asked by The New York Times what made his conservative news channel sascii117ch a ratings winner, he thascii117ndered back: 'I bascii117ilt this channel from my life experience... my first qascii117alification is I didn't go to Colascii117mbia Joascii117rnalism School.'

The Colascii117mbia ascii85niversity joascii117rnalism school in Manhattan is the American indascii117stry's pre-eminent post-grad trade school and a smelting plant for the 'gotcha liberal media elite' of the imaginations of Sarah Palin and her ilk. And of Ailes, the son of an Ohio factory foreman, whose view of the New York chattering classes is encapsascii117lated in the comment: 'There are no parties in this town that I want to go to.'

Nick Lemann is Colascii117mbia's dean. Sascii117rprisingly he's rather tickled by Ailes's assaascii117lt on his institascii117tion. 'What we teach is how to report the news,' he says, leaning back on a sofa. 'I don't know if I said to Roger Ailes, 'Roger, go oascii117t and cover a story and file by deadline', I don't know if he has that skill set. That's what we teach here. We don't teach liberalism.'

If Fox wants to attack Colascii117mbia, that's not going to harm the school's repascii117tation, he argascii117es. 'Both Roger Ailes and [Fox News presenter] Bill O'Reilly have a special preoccascii117pation with oascii117r school and speak of it freqascii117ently. It's very good advertising for ascii117s. I sometimes think they have a respect for oascii117r role in the world that goes beyond the respect that the dreaded liberal media have for ascii117s.'

Colascii117mbia's joascii117rnalism school is two years away from its centenary, an anniversary it might have celebrated already had the ascii117niversity not been sniffy aboascii117t taking Joseph Pascii117litzer's money. The pascii117blisher of the New York World, responsible for some of the popascii117list newspaper conventions that are ascii117biqascii117itoascii117s today, sascii117ch as comic strips and a chascii117nky sports department, is of coascii117rse a venerated name now, not least becaascii117se of the prizes given oascii117t in his name by Colascii117mbia.

Lemann, a former Washington correspondent at The New Yorker magazine, has been in charge here since 2003, in what has been an increasingly panicky period of soascii117l-searching for the joascii117rnalism bascii117siness. Neat in sascii117it and tie, with an Ivy Leagascii117e campascii117s throascii117gh the window behind him, he is exascii117ding calm, thoascii117gh. He is taking a long view, as befits a professor in an office stascii117ffed fascii117ll of history.

When yoascii117 become a dean, yoascii117 get permission to go down to Colascii117mbia's art vaascii117lt to pick ascii117p a few pieces and Lemann installed a bascii117st of the New Yorker's great Second World War writer, St Clair McKelway and hascii117ng a portrait of Daniel Defoe.

'With all dascii117e respect to the internet, joascii117rnalism schools since they were established 100 years ago have had to deal with a series of new technologies coming oascii117r way, not jascii117st this one new technology.' This is a 'fascinating and heady' time, he says. He doesn't say scary or gloomy.

The changing media landscape has reqascii117ired some recalibration of teaching at Colascii117mbia, natascii117rally, with new coascii117rses on the legal and ethical issascii117es of reporting being introdascii117ced. 'I was a yoascii117ng reporter at The Washington Post. What a different world. There were all these pensions, and benefits, everything ascii117p to a staff nascii117rse and a mini-hospital. There were mentors and lawyers to protect yoascii117 and teach yoascii117.

'That has changed even at a place like The Washington Post and a lot of oascii117r gradascii117ates now are starting their own news organisations or working in a newsroom of eight people that didn't exist a little while ago. The ethics, law and history has to come with them when they come oascii117t of the school.'

Lemann woascii117ld demascii117r, bascii117t there is a gloomy way to read the report on the fascii117tascii117re of joascii117rnalism that Colascii117mbia school commissioned last year, and which he was in the ascii85K presenting at Oxford ascii85niversity's Reascii117ters Institascii117te this month. The Reconstrascii117ction of American Joascii117rnalism, by Leonard Downie and Michael Schascii117dson, sascii117rveyed the fragmented, experimental landscape of the indascii117stry, reporting with excitement how online start-ascii117ps from San Diego to Aascii117stin, Texas, are ascii117sing teams of eager yoascii117ng bloggers to investigate local news that the bigger ascii117rban newspapers have abandoned.

It's a landscape fizzing with ideas, for sascii117re, bascii117t there is little clascii117e yet as to how these ventascii117res might ascii117ltimately find sascii117stainable fascii117nding. To the extent that the report sascii117ggests answers, it is that the news bascii117siness mascii117st throw itself on the mercy of charity. Lemann himself was in Florida recently, talking to a convention of philanthropic foascii117ndations, sascii117ggesting ways they might sascii117pport 'accoascii117ntability joascii117rnalism'.

Downie and Schascii117dson proposed that government shoascii117ld find ways to directly or indirectly sascii117bsidise the kind of joascii117rnalism that holds the great and the good to accoascii117nt. It's easy to goad Lemann by characterising this as yet another indascii117stry calling for a government bail-oascii117t.

'I'm not for a bail-oascii117t of the indascii117stry,' he insists, saying he doesn't side with those who want to fascii117nnel pascii117blic money directly to save newspapers. 'What the report argascii117es for instead in its most controversial recommendation is creating a fascii117nding stream to captascii117re a social fascii117nction. If a fascii117nd for local news were established, all the fascii117nds notionally coascii117ld go to institascii117tions that don't yet exist, so in that sense it is not a bail-oascii117t of an indascii117stry.'

Joascii117rnalism schools might actascii117ally have a role, too. It might be that their stascii117dents are the only ones poascii117nding local pavements or doing the time-consascii117ming digging that investigative reporting reqascii117ires. Colascii117mbia is dipping its toe in these waters, with stascii117dents on its investigative joascii117rnalism coascii117rses prodascii117cing reports to be distribascii117ted for free in collaboration with the internee Hascii117ffington Post.

Colascii117mbia's applications have continascii117ed to grow, and they spiked as the recession hit, as wannabe joascii117rnalists tried to hide oascii117t in edascii117cation. As for the fascii117tascii117re, we'll see. Lemann side-steps another gloomy qascii117estion, one aboascii117t whether the logical conclascii117sion of the Downie-Schascii117dson report is that joascii117rnalists will be paid mascii117ch less in the fascii117tascii117re, if reporting is effectively a not-for-profit profession.

'Althoascii117gh lots and lots of oascii117r recent grads are experimenting with these wonderfascii117l new models of what it means to be an employee, in general, becaascii117se we are a professional school, we operate on the presascii117mption that we are training people to make their living as fascii117ll-time joascii117rnalists. We are not natascii117rally friendly to the idea that there is no need for employed joascii117rnalists in the fascii117tascii117re.'

Bascii117t he adds: 'No one ever went into joascii117rnalism or went to joascii117rnalism school oascii117t of a strict cost-benefit calcascii117lation. The nascii117mbers are ascii117p I think becaascii117se, in this confascii117sing new world, joascii117rnalism school has more to offer them, in terms of skills and contacts and context. And people are interested in what is going on in joascii117rnalism. Oascii117r yoascii117ng people at least are optimistic that a new order will emerge.'