As journalism relies more on technology, educators struggle to stay ahead of the curve.

Journalism students have a computer in their future -- but editors and journalism educators who have expressed themselves on the issue agree. "It's still the ABCs and not the VDTs" that should be the primary concern of journalism schools.

William Metz, 1991 from Newswriting from Lead to 30

It's a safe bet that few journalism schools are stressing VDTs over the ABCs these days. Safer still that any journalism student even knows what a VDT is, or will ever have the chance to watch their words come to life in the luminous green letters of that boxy 12-inch screen that once earmarked modern newsrooms. But the issue alluded to in Metz's textbook -- the tug of technology vs. the anchor of "traditional journalism values" -- has never been more contentious, or more important.