For years professionals in the newspaper industry have criticized journalism schools' courses, students, and faculty members, and J-school faculty have lashed back, insisting that the charges are based on simplistic generalities and personal prejudices. While the ongoing debate has yielded little agreement and much confusion, it has provided a growing body of evidence which reveals that several--but not all--of the professionals' criticisms are mistaken. A most frequent complaint is that students are being taught by Ph.D.'s who know a great deal about academic research but little about the practical work of publishing a newspaper; however, a vast body of evidence shows the critics are mistaken. Professionals also want students to complete more courses in the liberal arts; yet, the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications already requires students to complete "no fewer than 65 semester hours in the liberal arts and sciences." Half the respondents to an ASNE survey said they did not care whether their new employees had degrees in journalism or the liberal arts. Yet, when they hired new graduates, editors overwhelmingly hired those with degrees in journalism. The first step toward creating a more harmonious relationship between newspaper professionals and J-schools may be to acknowledge the growing body of evidence gathered during the last 20 years. The second step may be to abandon unsubstantiated generalities--or to begin gathering the evidence needed to prove these generalities. (Sixty-eight notes are included. An addendum provides 14 unanswered research questions, and a list of 13 suggested readings is provided.) (NH)