University Journalism Education: A Global Challenge

The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), a project of the National Endowment for Democracy, commissioned this 40-page study on the current state of journalism education worldwide "to achieve a better understanding of how and where international media assistance can be directed to address the current challenges of university-based training." The report suggests that not only is there a surge in student demand for university-based journalism studies world-wide, but it is likely that most entry-level journalists come from university programmes. This leads to a concern about the quality of journalism studies, according to this document, for those intent on improving independent journalism in its role of undergirding and strengthening democracy. According to this report, "the receptiveness of any particular university for enhanced journalism training is contingent on local conditions that vary widely from region to region." Concerns about journalists emerging directly from universities into the field include the trend of merging journalism with public relations, the lack of educational grounding in the ethics of independent journalism, and the failure of universities to "underscore the journalists’ mission as independent watchdogs holding the powerful accountable."

From the executive summary:

"This report therefore explores the current state of university-based journalism education and describes avenues for engaging those international media developers by highlighting three strategies:

• Universities are important for entry-level journalism training. International media developers should consider investing in journalism schools; however, the type and level of assistance should depend on local circumstances.
• International funders are showing interest in mapping journalism education worldwide. Such efforts must draw information from every part of the world in order to help media developers find the most promising entities for investment of their limited development funds.
• The media sector has changed dramatically, but many journalism programmes fail to meet the new challenges of the industry. Media developers can help overcome this gap in several ways: funding teacher training and curriculum development, providing updated educational materials and adequate equipment, facilitating the creation of student-run media to develop practical skills, and funding cross-disciplinary partnerships and programmes."

The report gives an overview of worldwide journalism, including country "snapshots" throughout. It discusses training for the new media environment, emphasising maintenance of core disciplines of checking facts and writing clearly on a deadline, "even if professional, fact-based news has less traction in a field crowded with viral cell phone reporting and Internet rumours, social networking, talk show culture, and amateur 'citizen journalism'." A recommendation here is the study of the internet and cell phones, not just as tools (recognising that they provide penetration and impact where traditional media does not reach, including into politically restrictive media environments), but also as competing sources of good and bad citizen journalism, with which professional journalists need to cooperate, and from which they may need to differentiate their reporting. The report observes that "[i]n the developing world, traditional media and new media are... in a race because they haven’t had an open policy environment [in which traditional media might have established itself earlier]." Hence, in some media environments, citizen-generated content is turning journalism into a conversation where the professional role is to check their material and moderate the public information flow.

The author turns to the question of "why teach journalists at universities?" and then moves to the problem of matching journalists' education to the job market. Here, the author observes that some traditional journalism curricula do not leave room for interdisciplinary studies now sought in certain job markets. It is stated that, in some locales, those who leave journalism school knowing only "the skill of communication" do not find journalism jobs as readily as those trained in politics, philosophy, or law. Strategies addressing this issue include visiting fellowships, team-teaching across disciplines, and joint-degree programmes with other university departments. Partnership models between universities and professional media can also address this issue. In some cases, universities provide the interdisciplinary studies, while the media organisations provide journalism training; in others, journalism organisations, notably the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), set up their own colleges of journalism.

The section on working with limited resources provides both recognition of needs for equipment, particularly media labs, and strategies for and examples of solutions. Simple core media labs with funding for a maintenance technician is suggested. Short workshops utilising these technical resources can both offer training to increased numbers of students and journalists, and address swiftly changing technologies more quickly. The use of student publications as training grounds for emerging journalists is suggested. Also moving university journalism studies out of the field of literature, making it its own discipline is suggested. The report notes that funding may be available by introducing niche journalism on topics such as health, the environment, or global business. Networking schools from hub institutions that become "centres of excellence" is an approach taken by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Partnerships of university journalism programmes across borders and partnering to develop inter-university student reporting teams are further networking models for consideration.

Curriculum considerations include the "hallmarks of an ideal journalism curriculum" developed at the World Journalism Education conference (WJEC), in Singapore, June 2007, and the additional “statement of principles” for journalism education developed there. In addition, in 2007 UNESCO published the “Model Curricula for Journalism Education for Developing Countries and Emerging Democracies," emphasising three “axes” of study: (1) tradecraft, (2) the role of journalism in society, and (3) non-journalism courses that expand the student’s knowledge of the world. Practical training strategies include incorporating business training for start-up publishing and broadcasting ventures, possibly through partnering journalism faculty with business school faculty. Non-university training is also filling an untapped niche, as stated here, through non-degree courses, workshops, and online training. "Catch-up" pedagogy needs to include new media technologies and adapt some of its interactivity and peer-to-peer features, according to the report. Faculty as facilitators of learning, who stress independent student work, with students negotiating their own assignments and submitting to peer assessment could serve students as a model for the online journalist who guides the reader interactively through the news. The final curriculum suggestion is advocacy for the teaching of journalism in local languages.

The document recommends a census of journalism schools and gives results of a preliminary online survey. It discusses the possibility of journalism school assessment through the lenses of university accreditation and of student assessment. It includes reference to the 2007 UNESCO “Criteria and Indicators for Quality Journalism Training Institutions and Identifying Potential Centres of Excellence in Journalism Training in Africa," which includes an audit checklist. Based on the results of this audit, schools seeking to improve themselves, as stated here, can "write out an analysis of the challenges or weaknesses their programme is facing and how they expect to overcome them."