The scene: A college classroom at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

The subject: Writing the newspaper column.

The question: “Can any of you name a columnist you read — in a newspaper or magazine or online — on a regular basis?”

In response: Dead silence.

[…]

“My generation is very visually oriented,” explains Ryan Schreiber, a U-M Dearborn junior from Dearborn who — like most in the class — is majoring in journalism but doesn’t read much of it. —Laura Berman —Nonreading generation of writers needs 12-step program (Detroit News)

A response from the student paper doesn’t quite get at the core of the problem… but the site requires registration, so I don’t think I’ll bother responding in my blog.

Via Joanne Jacobs.