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If you have questions about this paper, please contact the author
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Walking in Step to the Future:
Views of Journalism Education by Practitioners and Educators
Ernest F. Martin, Jr.
Associate Professor, School of Mass Communications
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 842034, Richmond, VA 23284-2034
Telephone: 804-827-3733; FAX: 804-828-9175
[log in to unmask]
Debora H. Wenger
Associate Professor, School of Mass Communications
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 842034, Richmond, VA 23284-2034
Telephone: 804-827-0250; FAX: 804-828-9175
[log in to unmask]
Jeff C. South
Associate Professor, School of Mass Communications
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 842034, Richmond, VA 23284-2034
Telephone: 804-827-0253; FAX: 804-828-9175
[log in to unmask]
Paula I. Otto
Assistant Director, School of Mass Communications
Virginia Commonwealth University
P.O. Box 842034, Richmond, VA 23284-2034
Telephone: 804-827-3709; FAX: 804-828-9175
[log in to unmask]
This study was conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University's School of
Mass Communications, in conjunction with the Radio-Television News
Directors Association and Foundation and the Associated Press Managing Editors.
Paper submitted to the
Radio-Television Journalism Division
2004 AEJMC Convention
Toronto
Walking in Step to the Future • Page 1
ABSTRACT
Walking in Step to the Future:
Views of Journalism Education by Practitioners and Educators
This study, based on an Internet survey of 317 educational administrators,
television news executives, newspaper editors and online executives during
first quarter 2004, contrasts views about preparation of students for
current and future jobs by showing gaps between what employers' value most
in job applicants and what educational programs are providing. Second, it
addresses newsroom challenges that are shaping the industry and journalism
education.
Walking in Step to the Future • Page 1
Walking in Step to the Future:
Views of Journalism Education by Practitioners and Educators
Introduction
Journalism is undergoing tremendous change as technology and business
practices move the industry to convergence of newspapers, television and
the Internet. Today, both journalism educators and practitioners are in a
unique and challenging position.
… Changes in the media are sure to alter the status quo in the classroom
and in the newsroom. A stronger partnership between the classroom and the
newsroom is needed. Unfortunately, because of the skepticism of both
groups, the alliance has never reached its full potential.
The alliance is not needed to validate the importance of either the academy
or the profession. The alliance is needed to protect and promote
journalism. It should not be necessary to march in lock-step to realize
that educators and journalists are on the same side. …
The journalism tent is big enough for many orientations. We are not
threatened by the journalism tent growing too big. We are threatened by the
prospect of it becoming too small. …
In the next decade, our democracy will depend on an informed public. That
public will continue to need news gatherers and news explainers.
By the end of the next decade, journalism classrooms and newsrooms likely
will look different, perhaps dramatically different. …
It is ludicrous for practitioners and educators to operate so apart from
one another. The relationships vary from state to state, but as a rule,
very little collaboration beyond job references ever takes place. The smart
people in the academy and the profession need to figure out how to improve
that in the next decade. (Charles Overby, 1999)
It is against this backdrop that we look at views of journalism education
by educators and journalism practitioners. Educators and practitioners are
constantly walking forward into the changing future – simultaneously
constrained by challenges of the daily operation, emboldened by the future
horizon and grounded in current industry practice.
Previous Research
The question "What can universities contribute to the education of
journalists?" continues to engender debate (Kirtz, 2002). Glasser (2002),
addressing the periodic flare-up of this question, says:
No one benefits from a discussion mired in the vocabulary of 'theory versus
practice,' 'academics versus professionals,' 'education versus training,'
or _ to remind everyone how old and tired this debate has become _ 'chi
squares versus green eye shades.'
At the same time, perceived needs of practitioners and educators, informed
by challenges posed by new economic, technological and social changes,
place the discussion into new contexts.
In 1997, Ketchum Public Relations conducted a survey of media executives
about journalism education and issues in the media. In that survey, media
executives stressed the importance of reporting, interviewing, ethics,
government affairs and current events as especially important areas for
undergraduate journalism education (Lindenmann, 1997).
Other recent studies have looked at various of the aspects of convergence.
Huang et al. (2002) examined practitioner concerns about skills news
professionals need to learn in their current positions. Toward the top were
good writing, multimedia production, new technology, critical thinking,
computer-assisted reporting and visual production.
Bulla (2002) examined the impact of convergence on contemporary working
journalists' job routines and skills development and their suggestions
about what journalism educators should be teaching their students.
Assessment of the educational needs of students is a never-ending process.
The Freedom Forum's Winds of Change study of journalism education
(conducted by the Roper Center at the University of Connecticut)
interviewed journalism educators, new journalists and newsroom recruiters
and supervisors (Medsger, 1996).
A variety of thoughtful pieces on journalism education appears in multiple
venues. William Woo (2003) wrote about the purpose of journalism, and
journalism education, going beyond reporting and writing.
Some institutions may turn out excellent practitioners of craft. Others may
produce graduates rich in historical, social, and theoretical
understanding. But what does it matter if the owners of America's media are
indifferent to these qualities?
The great task for journalism educators, in addition to providing practical
training and academic breadth, is to equip their students with a firm sense
of the public trust: how it developed, what it means to America, how it
manifests itself or is betrayed in the work of journalists and news
organizations. Journalism programs, departments, and schools need to become
the places where such concepts are nurtured, protected, and ceaselessly
advocated.
Research Questions
In the context of 2004, we ask journalism educational administrators,
television news executives, newspaper editors, and online executives
questions addressing the following areas:
1. How aligned are educators and practitioners on the important skills for
students entering journalism for the first time?
2. How effective are university programs in training for the essential skills?
3. How aligned are educators and practitioners on the importance of
particular general education areas for journalism students?
4. How aligned are educators and practitioners on the essential skills
needed to make convergence successful?
5. What are the significant challenges in journalism relating to audiences,
business, diversity, technology, resources and budget?
6. In what ways can journalism schools assist in addressing various challenges?
Method
This study is based on an Internet survey of national samples of
educational administrators, television news directors, newspaper editors
and online executives. The survey field dates were Jan. 12-March 8, 2004.
The protocol was approved by the VCU's Institutional Review Board. Initial
e-mail invitations were sent to each sample, with two reminder e-mails. The
questionnaire was self-administered online.
The sample of educators was drawn from the schools listed in the AEJMC
directory, with e-mail addresses verified by searching university Web
sites. The response rate for educators was 27 percent (91 returned from 336
eligible respondents). Eligible respondents were defined as those whose
e-mailed invitations did not "bounce back" as a "disconnected" addresses.
Educators accounted for 29 percent of the total respondents of 317. The
characteristics of returned educator sample is:
• 51 percent undergraduate only; 49 percent undergraduate and graduate
programs.
• 67 percent journalism and other mass communications programs; 8 percent
journalism only; 25 percent other.
• 40 percent ACEJMC accredited; 60 percent non-accredited.
• 2 percent fewer than 50 students; 32 percent 50-199; 30 percent 200-499;
27 percent 500-999; 9 percent 1,000 or larger.
• 20 percent hold the title dean or director; 61 percent head or chair; 19
percent other.
• 18 percent designate their curriculum as highly converged; 39 percent
self-designate their program as moderately converged; 29 percent as
somewhat converged and 13 percent as not converged. In the questionnaire,
we define a converged curriculum as one that teaches all journalism
students how to generate news content for print, broadcast and online.
• For the educators, 38 percent are in the Southeast; 24 percent in the
West; 25 percent in the Midwest; 14 percent in the Northeast.
The newspaper sample was drawn from the "Managing Editor" e-mail addresses
in Bacon's Information Inc.'s database of daily newspapers. The response
rate was 9 percent (84 of 955 eligible respondents). The newspaper sample
accounts for 27 percent of the total sample.
• 89 percent of the respondents in the newspaper sample have the title of
managing editor; 11 percent other.
• 49 percent of the newspaper sample comes from papers with circulation
below 25,000; 23 percent from 25,000 to 49,999; 18 percent from 50,000 to
99,999; 8 percent from 100,000 to 499,999; and 2 percent from 500,000 or more.
• For the newspaper sample, 21 percent are in the Southeast; 27 percent in
the West; 38 percent in the Midwest; 13 percent in the Northeast.
The television sample was drawn from the "News Director" e-mail addresses
in Bacon's Information Inc.'s database of television stations. The response
rate was 10 percent (65 of 635 eligible respondents). The television sample
accounts for 21 percent of the total sample.
• 89 percent of the television sample hold the title of news director; 11
percent other.
• 19 percent of the TV sample came from market size 1 to 25; 19 percent
from 26 to 50; 30 percent from market size 51 to 100; 21 percent from
markets 101 to 150; and 11 percent from markets 151 or smaller.
• For the television sample, 36 percent are in the Southeast; 27 percent in
the West; 22 percent in the Midwest; 11 percent in the Northeast.
The online sample was drawn from the "Online Managing Editor, Online
Editor" e-mail addresses in Bacon's Information Inc.'s database of daily
newspapers and television stations. The response rate was 15 percent (77 of
512 eligible respondents). The newspaper sample accounts for 24 percent of
the total sample.
• 40 percent of the online sample hold the title of online managing editor;
60 percent other.
• 74 percent of the online sample self-identify their organization as a
newspaper; 12 percent an online organization; 5 percent a television
station and 9 percent other (generally combination).
• 27 percent of the online sample had fewer than 50,000 monthly unique
visitors to the site; 12 percent 50,000 to 99,999; 39 percent 100,000 to
499,999; 9 percent 500,000 to 999,999; and 13 percent 1,000,000 or more.
• For the online sample, 33 percent are in the Southeast; 31 percent in the
West; 15 percent in the Midwest; 21 percent in the Northeast.
A summary of response rates are below. We know that non-response has been a
serious problem with online surveys for quite a while, and rates have
recently been plummeting. The response rates are low, but not unusual for
recent non-permission based or non-opt-in panel sampling. The eligible
non-responders introduce unknown bias into the results.
Sample
Eligible
Returned
% of Total
Response Rate
Educator
336
91
28.7
27.1
Newspaper
955
84
26.5
8.8
TV
635
65
20.5
10.2
Online
512
77
24.3
15.0
Total
2,438
317
100.0
13.0
Findings and Discussion
Research Question 1:
How aligned are educators and practitioners on the important skills
for students entering journalism for the first time?
(See Table 1)
It is hard to find a skill that journalism educators or practitioners do
not deem important for students to acquire before entering the job market.
Even the skill ranked lowest in importance among the 13 tested received a
mean score of 3.64 for educators and a 3.35 for practitioners _ on a
five-point scale. This skill, the ability to gather and edit audio, ranked
well above average in importance to everyone surveyed with the exception of
the print journalists, who weighed in with a mean score of 2.84.
However, there appears to be stronger agreement between educators and
broadcast journalists on a majority of the skills tested in the survey than
between educators and newspaper or online journalists. Broadcasters were
most closely aligned with educators on five skills, including the most
highly ranked skill of reporting, the third most highly ranked skill of
interviewing as well as collaboration skills, computer-assisted reporting
and multimedia story planning. In addition, there was no statistically
significant difference between broadcast and print journalists in their
alignment with educators on the No. 2-ranked skill of ethics, and no
statistically significant difference between broadcast and online
journalists in their alignment with educators for gathering/editing audio.
Print journalists were most closely aligned with educators on four skills,
including research skills, copy editing, covering multicultural communities
and creating/designing graphics.
Online journalists were most closely aligned with educators on two skills:
writing across media platforms and gathering/editing video.
This may reflect the changing nature of journalism programs and schools of
mass communication. As educators adjust their programs to meet the demands
of an increasingly diverse journalism environment, there may be a slight
movement away from teaching the skill set that traditionally focused on
preparing students for jobs in newspapers.
The data also reveals a challenge for those journalism programs that are
trying to prepare students for converged newsrooms – those newsrooms that
are asking their journalists to gather or report information on more than
one media platform. The practitioners are widely divided on the importance
of three of the skills in the survey: writing across platforms,
gathering/editing video and gathering/editing audio.
Educators see writing across platforms as more important than any of the
practitioner groups – the mean score is a 4.23. Online journalists were
most in sync with a mean score of 4.17, followed by broadcast journalists
at 4.03. The print respondents were more than three-quarters of a point
lower than the educators with a 3.44. Educators may see this skill as more
important than practitioners in the legacy media of broadcast and print
because so there are so many indicators that convergence is going to be a
factor in the future of journalism. Within that framework, it is no
surprise that online journalists are most closely aligned with educators on
this issue.
To underscore this point, the skill of gathering/editing video scores a
mean of 3.38 for educators and a 3.50 for online journalists – again the
closest practitioner match. Understandably, the broadcast journalists rank
this skill much higher with a mean of 4.35, but print journalists see this
as the most unimportant skill with a mean of 2.72. It is clear that the
print respondents in this survey were not placing much value on convergence
or in creating Web sites with a strong multimedia component. And finally on
this point, gathering/editing audio received a mean score of 3.64 from
educators, a 3.50 from online, a 3.78 from broadcast and a 2.84 from print.
Again, print is outside the cluster of practitioner peers, lagging behind
in placing a value on multimedia content.
In the open-ended section of the survey, many educators and broadcasters
said journalism graduates must know, above all, how to write and report.
"Strong fundamental writing skills are an absolute must," one educator
wrote. Another added: "The nuts and bolts of reporting well, writing well
and getting the facts straight are enduring aspects of great journalism
programs."
In the words of one educator, it boils down to "writing, writing and more
writing!"
Several broadcast respondents agreed. One wrote, "Teach people how to write
and ask good questions." Another said journalism curricula should emphasize
"spelling and grammar use – English, English, English."
Research Question 2:
How effective are university programs
in training for the essential skills?
(See Table 1)
The more troubling news for educators is how far off the mark practitioners
think schools are when it comes to teaching students the skills evaluated
by the survey. Educators score themselves below a 3.0 (2.89) on just one
skill – multimedia story planning. In contrast, practitioners score
educators below a 3.0 on 10 of the skills evaluated. Practitioners do give
educators a better than average grade on reporting, ethics and interviewing
– the three skills designated as most important in the survey. However,
educators rank themselves at least three-quarters of a point higher than
practitioners do on all three of those skills.
There are obviously many possible factors contributing to this disconnect.
Perhaps the industry's expectations of what schools can accomplish are set
too high. Few programs allow more than 40 credits to be completed within
the major. If those courses were taken all at once, that would be just
three intense semesters of journalism instruction. Or it may be that
journalism schools must do more to build relationships with the profession.
When practitioners say certain skills are important, what does that mean in
terms of instruction? What aspects of reporting, ethics and interviewing
need to be included in the curriculum? By creating a more extensive,
ongoing dialogue with journalism professionals, educators may be able to do
much to close the effectiveness gap revealed here and in other similar
research.
Interestingly, broadcast journalists find the schools least effective
overall – ranking them lowest among practitioners on five skills:
reporting, interviewing, research skills, creating/designing graphics and
copyediting. As we pointed out in the first research question, broadcast
journalists are most closely aligned with educators on the importance of
reporting and interviewing – yet they perceive the biggest disconnect in
effectiveness. It is possible that programs steeped in a tradition of print
reporting may be failing to address some of the unique concerns of
reporting and interviewing for broadcast journalism.
Online journalists graded the schools most harshly on four skills:
computer-assisted reporting, covering multicultural communities, writing
across media platforms and multimedia story planning. Given the nature of
online journalism, it seems appropriate that the practitioners associated
with this platform set the standards on these skills very high. Online and
print journalists both rank schools equally low on collaboration skills
with a mean of 2.72. Broadcast is only slightly higher with a 2.76.
In relative terms, print journalists seem to be the most forgiving when it
comes to grading the schools. Among practitioners they scored schools the
lowest on just three skills: ethics, gathering/editing video and
gathering/editing audio. As indicated in the response to the first research
question, print journalists regard video and audio skills as the least
significant overall, so their judgment on the effectiveness of teaching may
be tied to their indifference to the skills themselves. The concern about
the effectiveness of ethics training is significant; however, educators
give themselves a mean of 3.97 compared to the print journalists' score of
3.16.
This is data that may inspire more introspection on the part of journalism
schools and programs. Are practitioners grading educators too harshly, or
are educators getting complacent about their programs and ceasing to evolve
to meet the needs of an ever-evolving industry?
In their open-ended responses, several practitioners said many journalism
graduates lacked basic skills.
"The key for success in the future is to train students in the basics," one
broadcaster wrote. "I can't believe the number who come out of school
unable to write coherent sentences. Spelling, grammar, sentence structure –
where did this get lost? I believe it happens when we're dazzled by the
'technology' and forget about the basics. Schools need to ensure students
can write correctly, or they don't graduate."
Another broadcast respondent said: "We get many young journalists who want
to be on the air, yet don't know how to report. They just want to have
their face on TV. They need to be taught how to interview how to
investigate and how pick up the phone and get basic information. There also
seems to be a basic lack of knowledge in the area of journalistic ethics."
A third broadcaster wrote: "The English skills of the candidates I've
considered in the past three years are probably at a ninth-grade level."
Research Question 3:
How aligned are educators and practitioners on the importance
of particular general education areas for journalism students?
(see Table 2)
There is no doubt that practitioners would prefer that journalism schools
were able to do it all, and so do the educators. Only one of the items
included in this question generated a mean response below 4.0 when one
compares responses for educators and all practitioners combined. However,
there are significant differences when one compares what educators consider
the most important general education courses to what practitioners deem the
highest priority.
For educators, requiring courses for students in liberal arts receives a
mean score of 4.67. When you look at percentages, 70 percent of all the
educator respondents said liberal arts courses were very important, another
26 percent said the courses were important. This may be linked to
accreditation standards, which require schools to provide a strong liberal
arts background for students. All of the practitioners rank liberal arts
courses as second to last in importance (mean = 4.06) with only courses in
management and business practices receiving a lower mean score. This raises
at least one important question: If educators feel this strongly about the
value of a liberal arts education for journalists, should they not be
working harder to inform the industry about why this kind of education
should matter to journalism practitioners?
In the case of practitioners, current events and government affairs are
ranked No. 1 and 2 for both broadcast and online journalists. In fact,
broadcasters give the topic of current events a mean score of 4.81, with
the survey showing 81 percent rating this coursework as very important.
Print journalists put government affairs first, followed by current events.
Many journalism schools teach current events as part of other skills and
theories classes, and government affairs may be offered by another academic
department or incorporated into a journalism course that does more than
focus on the process of government. Though the survey did not ask how
effective schools are at teaching these general education curricular areas,
the results of this question may be an indicator that practitioners wish
schools could do more in those two areas of instruction.
In the open-ended responses, one educator said: "A well-rounded liberal
arts education should be the primary goal of every good journalism school;
an emphasis on reporting, editing, design, photojournalism (in whatever
medium) should be second; and convergence third."
Journalism practitioners said it's important for students to study history
and political science.
"Classes in marketing and advertising? Who cares?" wrote a broadcaster.
"Classes on how the courts work, criminal science, how city government
functions, politics, history, sociology – now you're talking."
One practitioner – a newspaper respondent – said the value of liberal arts
was overrated. "I'm perturbed by this overweening preoccupation with
journalism ethics, political science, history, diversity and other liberal
arts drivel at the expense of practical skills."
Research Question 4:
How aligned are educators and practitioners
on the essential skills needed to make convergence successful?
(see Table 3)
To understand the results of this question, you have to have additional
background on the respondents' views about the importance for journalism
schools to prepare students for work in highly converged newsrooms. The
educator mean is 4.16, and the practitioner mean is 3.98. When you look at
the practitioner groups individually, you see it is the print respondents'
mean of 3.66 that is defining the lower mean response for practitioners.
On all the skills listed as potentially necessary to make convergence
successful, print journalists consistently rank them lower than their
journalism peers or educators. However, a note about the survey sample
seems relevant here. Nearly half of the print respondents in the sample
came from papers with circulations below 25,000. These are newspapers that
may be less likely to seek out or be sought after for full convergence with
an online and TV partner. For example, one newspaper respondent wrote,
"Convergence is more important in large media markets, and it is not yet an
issue of any import for most small to medium newspapers I know. … if
journalism students get caught up in the electronics and gadgets associated
with convergence, I fear their basic reporting, editing and writing skills
will suffer even more than they already have."
The Web presence of such small newspapers may be relatively minimal. Future
work with this data may involve comparing the larger market newspapers with
the smaller market newspapers to see if any differences emerge in the
responses on these questions.
By the same token, on all the skills listed for the survey question above,
online journalists rank them as more important than any other set of
practitioners or educators – with the exception of Web technical skills
(mean = 3.56). Of all the respondent groups, the educators place the most
value on this skill (mean = 3.92). This may be a place for educators to
take note. When the presumed experts in the field see this skill to be less
important, it may mean that educators are placing too much emphasis on this
issue when trying to teach convergence. Could it be that these skills are
easily acquired "on the job" or are unnecessary for most online work?
Further study on this issue may be called for.
In the open-ended section of the survey, several educators and broadcast
respondents cited the importance of crossplatform skills.
"Students should have exposure to and practice with mutiple platforms," one
educator wrote. This respondent said it is unrealistic to expect each
journalism graduate to be "really skilled producers" in print, broadcast
and online media. However, the educator said, "It is realistic to expect we
can help most of them to become good journalists who understand strengths
of all platforms and may be good at production in one."
A broadcast respondent agreed. "Schools should still encourage students to
specialize or pick a platform. But they must expose students to the
practicalities of working on other platforms."
In particular, students must learn how to take advantage of the Web,
another broadcaster wrote. "There needs to be a great emphasis on the
growing necessity of Web reporting as a basic part of the job for newsroom
personnel. As we continue to grow partnerships and as more people develop a
reliance on the Web as an information source, we as communicators need to
ensure we are making Web coverage a part of our everyday (or every hour)
concentration."
Print respondents were far more likely to dismiss convergence and to
emphasize "traditional" skills.
"I strongly oppose convergence in the media," a newspaper respondent wrote.
"Newspaper reporters write to a completely different audience than radio or
television reporters. I have done all three media so I have first-hand
knowledge of this. Train journalists as specialists _ not generalists."
Another newspaper respondent added: "Journalism schools seem to be
over-emphasizing the importance of writing across multiple platforms _ to
the detriment of focusing on basic reporting and writing skills. No amount
of cross-medium training can make up for lack of basic journalism skills.
Ever."
Several newspaper respondents expressed fears that convergence would
displace writing and other basic skills in the curriculum.
"Any new emphasis by any journalism school on convergence must not come at
the expense of basic reporting and writing skills and a liberal-arts
education," a newspaper respondent wrote. "Most new graduates' grounding in
those fundamental areas is inadequate as it is."
Some broadcast respondents shared that fear.
"The basics are the most important," one wrote. "If someone can write and
research, she/he can be taught to modify that story for another medium. If
you are not a good journalist in the first place, the medium doesn't matter."
Research Question 5:
What are the significant challenges in journalism relating to
audiences, business, diversity, technology, resources and budget?
(see Table 4)
When you compare the mean scores for educators and practitioners as a
whole, three challenges arise as the most significant: the emphasis on
profits, the lack of newsroom staff and resources, and a declining audience
are all making it harder for journalists to succeed. Within this framework,
there are minor but interesting variations. Print journalists rank
declining audience as the most significant threat. No other challenge
received a mean score higher than this one did at 4.42. Broadcasters feel
strongly that a lack of staff and resources is the most significant
challenge. With the industry demanding that television newsrooms continue
to produce more news with fewer and fewer resources, broadcasters continue
to struggle with this issue. Educators rank an emphasis on profits as the
No. 1 industry challenge and for online journalists, emphasis on profits
does not even make it in the top three. This anomaly among the practitioner
group may be due to the fact that many online news organizations have been
allowed to operate outside the budget constraints of their legacy media
peers. In many cases, the online side of the business has been given a
grace period in which the organization works to grow the business, but is
not expected to immediately turn a profit.
Other interesting observations may be made regarding the challenges on the
lower end of the scale as well. Though educators see a decrease in the
qualifications of job applicants as just a little bit more than an average
threat (mean = 3.08) broadcasters are quite concerned about this issue
(mean = 4.16). As was noted in Research Question 2, broadcasters graded
educators significantly lower on effectiveness than many of their
practitioner peers. This finding on the issue of job qualifications may be
related to those low effectiveness scores. Broadcasters also feel
significantly more concerned about the declining quality of journalism
(mean = 4.22). On the low end of the scale are print journalists, who rank
the quality challenge with a mean of 3.70. Since broadcast journalists feel
a more intense pressure than their practitioner peers from a lack of staff
and resources and an increased emphasis on profits, it seems only logical
that they would also have more concern about declining quality. With fewer
people and a corporate mission to make more money, it becomes more
difficult to produce quality journalism.
The data concerning the challenges of recruiting a diverse staff and
covering multicultural communities may reveal a shifting media and cultural
landscape. Online journalists include difficulty in recruiting a diverse
staff in their top three for industry challenges, knocking out an emphasis
on profits as we mentioned earlier. Broadcast journalists are nearly a half
a point lower (mean = 3.36) than educators (mean = 3.84) in terms of
evaluating the significance of covering multicultural communities.
Broadcasters also rank the difficulty in recruiting a diverse staff as
fairly low in significance (mean = 3.67) and the diversity and
multicultural coverage challenges were the only two that received a mean
below 4.0 for the broadcast group. Does that mean broadcasters already feel
they are doing a good job of covering multicultural communities and in
recruiting diverse staffs? Or could do broadcasters simply perceive other
threats as being more dire and immediate? This dimension is worth further
study.
Research Question 6:
In what ways can journalism schools assist
in addressing various challenges?
(See Table 5)
On this research question, the results are in agreement. Practitioners and
educators believe the schools can provide the most significant help to the
industry in the area of basic journalism instruction and by requiring more
hands-on training opportunities. Practitioners are even more adamant than
educators that this is an area in which the schools can be of great
assistance. In many ways, this is reassuring; it is still all about
teaching journalism and practicing the craft. But the industry plays a role
in helping schools to succeed on this dimension, especially in the area of
hands-on training opportunities. Schools can do more to require internships
and other "real world" experience, but it is the practitioners who must
work harder to make these opportunities more valuable to future
journalists. How many news organizations excuse themselves by saying, "It's
up to the individual student to get the most out of his or her internship"?
When many media outlets continue to use interns as unpaid employees, it
becomes tougher for some of the best and the brightest in our journalism
schools to afford to take advantage of this hands-on training. The best
internship programs are those that are structured managed and evaluated.
Without that framework, they tend to lose their impact.
Of all the solutions included in the survey, the importance of schools
retooling their curricula to teach students how to report across multiple
platforms raises an interesting disconnect between print journalists, their
practitioner peers and educators. Every group but print ranks this solution
as No. 3 on a list of approaches to help the industry. Print journalists,
in general, minimize the idea that educators could help them address
challenges by providing instruction on reporting across multiple platforms.
Educators see this solution as even more valuable to the industry (mean =
4.10) than the practitioners (mean = 3.71), though online respondents
clearly saw the benefit of this instructional approach (mean = 4.15).
When it comes to requiring courses on covering multicultural communities
and diversity, broadcasters again place less importance (mean = 3.50) on
this dimension than their practitioner peers or educators. Print
respondents value this approach the most of all the sub-groups (mean =
3.80) with online journalists and educators close behind (mean = 3.77).
Broadcast journalists also see the emphasis on schools recruiting a diverse
student body and faculty as less important (mean = 3.72) than any other
practitioner group, and significantly less important than educators (mean =
4.09). This supports evidence elsewhere in the study that issues of
diversity and covering multicultural communities are not rising to the
level of high priority for broadcast journalists in particular. Educators
appear to be leading the way on the diversity dimension of the study.
Accreditation requirements may be having an impact on the approach schools
are taking toward journalism instruction or educators have simply
recognized and accepted the need for journalists to become more diverse
themselves or more adept at covering diverse communities. The question is
whether the educators and practitioners who understand the need for
diversity and multicultural journalism will be able to translate that
knowledge into action that has impact on the profession.
Conclusion
This study surveyed 317 journalism educators, print, broadcast and online
journalists using an Internet survey. Response rate within the groups
ranged from 8.8 percent (newspaper journalists) to 27.1 percent (educators)
for an average response rate of 13.0 percent. The data shows that there
continues to be a need for better collaboration between practitioners and
journalism educators.
Specific Survey Findings:
• Educators and practitioners generally agreed on the most important skills
for students entering journalism for the fist time: reporting, ethics,
interviewing and research skills.
• Practitioners are widely divided on the importance of three convergence
skills: writing across platforms, gathering/editing video and gathering
/editing audio.
• Print journalists are lagging behind their practitioner peers in placing
a value on multimedia content.
• Educators consistently give themselves much higher scores on doing a good
job of preparing future journalists than the scores they receive from the
practitioners; however, practitioners do give educators a better than
average grade on reporting, ethics and interviewing skill development.
• There is disagreement about the most important courses outside of the
journalism curriculum. Nearly all educators (96 percent) rank liberal arts
courses as very important or important. Practitioners rank liberal arts
courses seventh out of eight items and rank current events and government
affairs as the two most important areas of general education study.
• Educators and practitioners in general are in agreement that students
need to have convergence skills. Ranking of the most important skills
varies, with the industry ranking Web technical skills the lowest.
• Educators and practitioners are in agreement that the three most
significant challenges to the industry are the emphasis on profits, the
lack of newsroom staff and resources, and a declining audience.
• Educators appear to be leading the way on diversity, placing more
importance on requiring courses on covering multicultural communities and
diversity than do practitioners, especially broadcasters.
• Practitioners and educators agree that schools can provide the most
significant help to the industry in the area of basic journalism
instruction and by requiring more hands-on training opportunities.
Areas for Future Studies:
• Exploring what is at the heart of the difference between how well the
academy believes it is preparing students and how practitioners are grading
the academy, with a goal of developing a better understanding of the
industry's expectations (and whether or not they are reasonable) and taking
a closer look at whether curricula are evolving to meet the ever-changing
needs of the industry.
• Determining if schools are putting too much emphasis on Web technical
skills based on the finding that the industry ranks those skills below all
other convergence skills.
• Taking a closer look at why print journalists appear to be out of sync
with their peers in ranking the importance of multiple-platform
storytelling. As noted, comparing answers between smaller and larger
circulation newspapers may be important.
• Determining why broadcast journalists don't put more emphasis on the
importance of covering multicultural communities and diversity.
This is the kind of study that needs to be repeated because of the
continually changing media landscape. The researchers anticipate
longitudinal tracking of these issues will reveal more concrete solutions
to the challenges facing the journalism industry. We cannot walk in step to
the future until we achieve some kind of consensus on what that future
should look like and how best to arrive.
Walking in Step to the Future • Page 1
References
Brynildssen, Shawna (2002). A review of trends in journalism education.
ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication Digest #178.
EDO-CS-02-09, December 2002. http://reading.indiana.edu/ieo/digests/d178.html
Glasser, Theordore L. (2002) What Difference Does a Journalism Education
Make? http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/debate/forum.1.essay.glasser.html
Huang, Edgar, Davison, Karen, Shreve, Stephanie, Davis, Twila, Bettendorf,
Elizabeth, and Nair Anita (2002?) Facing the challenges of convergence:
Media professionals' concerns of working across media platforms. Department
of Journalism and Media Studies, University of South Florida St.
Petersburg. Working paper.
Kirtz,Bill (2002) Don't Academize Columbia J-School, Editor & Publisher,
August 20, 2002
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1614078
Lindenmann, Walter K. (1997) Views of print and broadcast media executives
toward journalism education: Results of a nationwide survey conducted for
the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Mass Communications and The
Associated Press Managing Editors, October. Working paper.
Medsger, Betty (1996) Is journalism different? Journalism Education, the
First Amendment Imperative, and the Changing Media Marketplace.
http://www.mtsu.edu/~masscomm/seig96/medsger/medsger.htm
Overby, Charles (1999). Alliance needed between journalists, educators.
Freedom Forum, September 15, 1999
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp? documentID=6650
Woo, William F.(2003) Journalism and serving the public trust. Global
Issues, February. http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0203/ijge/gj06.htm
Walking in Step to the Future • Page 1
Table 1:
Skills Gap Analysis
How aligned are educators and practitioners on the important skills for
students entering journalism for the first time?
How effective are university programs in training for the essential skills?
Importance
Effectiveness
Gap
Mean
N
Sig.
Mean
N
Sig.
-mean
%
Reporting
4.82
284
.011
3.70
271
.000
-1.12
-22%
University
4.84
81
4.31
81
-0.53
-11%
Practitioner Total
4.81
203
3.44
190
-1.37
-27%
Newspaper
4.94
82
3.52
79
-1.42
-28%
TV
4.80
61
3.12
59
-1.68
-34%
Online
4.65
60
3.67
52
-0.98
-20%
Ethics
4.81
286
.722
3.45
264
.000
-1.36
-27%
University
4.83
83
3.97
80
-0.86
-17%
Practitioner Total
4.81
203
3.22
184
-1.59
-32%
Newspaper
4.84
81
3.16
75
-1.68
-34%
TV
4.82
61
3.18
57
-1.64
-33%
Online
4.75
59
3.35
52
-1.40
-28%
Interviewing
4.68
283
.001
3.34
272
.000
-1.34
-27%
University
4.71
82
4.00
82
-0.71
-14%
Practitioner Total
4.67
201
3.05
190
-1.62
-32%
Newspaper
4.84
83
3.16
79
-1.68
-34%
TV
4.69
61
2.61
59
-2.08
-42%
Online
4.40
57
3.38
52
-1.02
-20%
Research Skills
4.60
284
.135
3.15
269
.000
-1.45
-29%
University
4.63
82
3.76
82
-0.87
-17%
Practitioner Total
4.58
202
2.89
187
-1.69
-34%
Newspaper
4.63
82
2.90
77
-1.73
-35%
TV
4.64
61
2.54
59
-2.10
-42%
Online
4.44
59
3.27
51
-1.17
-23%
Copy Editing
4.46
282
.069
3.22
269
.000
-1.24
-25%
University
4.52
82
3.96
81
-0.56
-11%
Practitioner Total
4.43
200
2.90
188
-1.53
-31%
Newspaper
4.55
80
2.97
78
-1.58
-32%
TV
4.28
61
2.69
58
-1.59
-32%
Online
4.42
59
3.02
52
-1.40
-28%
Collaboration Skills
4.27
284
.054
2.96
266
.000
-1.31
-26%
University
4.30
81
3.47
83
-0.83
-17%
Practitioner Total
4.26
203
2.73
183
-1.53
-31%
Newspaper
4.16
83
2.72
74
-1.44
-29%
TV
4.18
61
2.76
59
-1.42
-28%
Online
4.49
59
2.72
50
-1.77
-35%
Importance
Effectiveness
Gap
Mean
N
Sig.
Mean
N
Sig.
-mean
%
Computer-Assisted Reporting
4.27
284
.269
3.03
264
.003
-1.24
-25%
University
4.24
83
3.34
79
-0.90
-18%
Practitioner Total
4.29
201
2.90
185
-1.39
-28%
Newspaper
4.37
81
2.92
75
-1.45
-29%
TV
4.33
61
3.00
58
-1.33
-27%
Online
4.14
59
2.75
52
-1.39
-28%
Covering Multicultural Communities
4.03
281
.177
2.97
263
.002
-1.06
-21%
University
4.18
83
3.27
81
-0.91
-18%
Practitioner Total
3.97
798
2.83
182
-1.14
-23%
Newspaper
4.06
79
2.80
75
-1.26
-25%
TV
3.89
61
2.93
56
-0.96
-19%
Online
3.93
58
2.76
51
-1.17
-23%
Writing Across Media Platforms
3.95
280
.000
2.81
254
.000
-1.14
-23%
University
4.23
83
3.25
80
-0.98
-20%
Practitioner Total
3.84
197
2.61
174
-1.23
-25%
Newspaper
3.44
79
2.69
68
-0.75
-15%
TV
4.03
60
2.65
57
-1.38
-28%
Online
4.17
58
2.45
49
-1.72
-34%
Multi-media Story Planning
3.73
279
.000
2.60
244
.002
-1.13
-23%
University
3.84
83
2.89
81
-0.95
-19%
Practitioner Total
3.69
196
2.46
163
-1.23
-25%
Newspaper
3.38
76
2.55
60
-0.83
-17%
TV
3.54
61
2.48
54
-1.06
-21%
Online
4.24
59
2.33
49
-1.91
-38%
Creating/designing Graphics
3.51
281
.000
2.94
258
.000
-0.57
-11%
University
3.81
83
3.34
80
-0.47
-9%
Practitioner Total
3.39
198
2.76
178
-0.63
-13%
Newspaper
3.62
79
2.71
73
-0.91
-18%
TV
3.02
61
2.70
53
-0.32
-6%
Online
3.47
58
2.90
52
-0.57
-11%
Gathering/Editing Video
3.59
266
.000
3.14
230
.000
-0.45
-9%
University
3.78
83
3.53
78
-0.25
-5%
Practitioner Total
3.50
183
2.94
152
-0.56
-11%
Newspaper
2.72
65
2.78
46
0.06
1%
TV
4.35
60
3.19
57
-1.16
-23%
Online
3.50
58
2.80
49
-0.70
-14%
Gathering/Editing Audio
3.44
268
.000
2.98
229
.000
-0.46
-9%
University
3.64
83
3.37
79
-0.27
-5%
Practitioner Total
3.35
185
2.78
150
-0.57
-11%
Newspaper
2.84
67
2.71
45
-0.13
-3%
TV
3.78
60
2.86
56
-0.92
-18%
Online
3.50
58
2.76
49
-0.74
-15%
Table 2:
Importance of General Education Coursework
How aligned are educators and practitioners on the importance of particular
general education areas for journalism students?
Importance
Mean
N
Sig.
Current Events
4.51
276
.001
University
4.35
80
Practitioner Total
4.58
196
Newspaper
4.46
81
TV
4.81
58
Online
4.53
57
Government Affairs
4.47
280
.140
University
4.39
84
Practitioner Total
5.51
196
Newspaper
4.52
81
TV
4.59
59
Online
4.39
56
Computer Skills
4.35
278
.734
University
4.32
82
Practitioner Total
4.37
196
Newspaper
4.31
81
TV
4.42
59
Online
4.39
56
History
4.34
279
.636
University
4.31
84
Practitioner Total
4.35
195
Newspaper
4.38
80
TV
4.41
59
Online
4.25
56
Political Science
4.25
279
.010
University
4.14
84
Practitioner Total
4.29
195
Newspaper
4.29
80
TV
4.50
58
Online
4.09
57
Liberal Arts
4.24
280
.000
University
4.67
84
Practitioner Total
4.06
196
Newspaper
4.14
81
TV
3.97
59
Online
4.04
56
Management & Business Practice
3.85
280
.130
University
3.77
84
Practitioner Total
3.88
196
Newspaper
3.94
80
TV
3.71
59
Online
3.98
57
Table 3
Importance of Convergence Skills for Students Entering Journalism for
First Time
Mean
N
Sig.
Prepare Students for Convergence (importance)
4.03
271
.000
University
4.16
80
Practitioner Total
3.98
191
Newspaper
3.66
77
TV
4.09
58
Online
4.30
56
Write for Multiple Platforms
4.20
264
.000
University
4.35
80
Practitioner Total
4.14
184
Newspaper
3.78
72
TV
4.34
59
Online
4.40
53
Collaboration Skills
4.35
266
.012
University
4.31
81
Practitioner Total
4.37
185
Newspaper
4.21
72
TV
4.34
59
Online
4.63
54
Multimedia Story Planning
4.19
264
.001
University
4.19
80
Practitioner Total
4.18
184
Newspaper
3.92
72
TV
4.20
59
Online
4.53
53
Web Technical Skills
3.69
261
.008
University
3.92
79
Practitioner Total
3.59
182
Newspaper
3.49
70
TV
3.76
58
Online
3.56
54
Capture Video Clips
3.71
258
.000
University
3.83
82
Practitioner Total
3.65
176
Newspaper
3.33
64
TV
3.92
59
Online
3.75
53
Capture Stills
3.76
263
.321
University
3.80
81
Practitioner Total
3.74
182
Newspaper
3.63
70
TV
3.75
59
Online
3.89
53
Capture Audio Clips
3.61
255
.021
University
3.68
79
Practitioner Total
3.57
176
Newspaper
3.34
65
TV
3.69
58
Online
3.74
53
Table 4
Significant Industry Challenges
Mean
N
Sig
Emphasis on Profits
4.25
266
.001
University
4.51
78
Practitioner Total
4.14
188
Newspaper
4.16
76
TV
4.31
58
Online
3.94
54
Lack of Newsroom Staff & Resources
4.21
266
.172
University
4.09
78
Practitioner Total
4.26
188
Newspaper
4.20
76
TV
4.41
58
Online
4.17
54
Declining Audience
4.29
265
.053
University
4.08
77
Practitioner Total
4.37
188
Newspaper
4.42
76
TV
4.38
58
Online
4.30
54
Recruiting Diverse Staff
3.91
265
.205
University
3.97
78
Practitioner Total
3.88
187
Newspaper
3.97
76
TV
3.67
58
Online
3.96
53
Covering Multicultural Communities
3.62
266
.039
University
3.84
79
Practitioner Total
3.53
187
Newspaper
3.60
75
TV
3.36
58
Online
3.63
54
Declining Quality
3.88
259
.010
University
3.89
75
Practitioner Total
3.88
184
Newspaper
3.70
73
TV
4.22
58
Online
3.74
53
Keeping Up with New Technology
3.77
267
.003
University
3.75
79
Practitioner Total
3.78
188
Newspaper
3.54
76
TV
3.78
58
Online
4.13
54
Job Applicant Qualifications
3.61
259
.000
University
3.08
76
Practitioner Total
3.83
183
Newspaper
3.71
73
TV
4.16
58
Online
3.63
52
Table 5
Solutions for Industry Challenges
Effectiveness as Solution
Mean
N
Sig.
Basic Journalism Instruction
4.79
267
.042
University
4.75
79
Practitioner Total
4.80
188
Newspaper
4.88
76
TV
4.83
58
Online
4.67
54
Hands-on training
4.45
267
.000
University
4.18
80
Practitioner Total
4.57
187
Newspaper
4.50
76
TV
4.67
58
Online
4.57
53
Report Across Multiple Platforms
3.83
267
.000
University
4.10
79
Practitioner Total
3.71
188
Newspaper
3.33
76
TV
3.81
58
Online
4.15
54
Recruit Diverse Student Body & Faculty
3.88
266
.071
University
4.09
79
Practitioner Total
3.79
187
Newspaper
3.82
76
TV
3.72
58
Online
3.81
53
Multicultural Communities - Diversity
3.72
265
.254
University
3.77
79
Practitioner Total
3.70
186
Newspaper
3.80
76
TV
3.50
58
Online
3.77
52
Media Management & Business Practices
3.61
267
.055
University
3.39
80
Practitioner Total
3.71
187
Newspaper
3.74
76
TV
3.67
58
Online
3.72
53
Certify Competency in Computer Skills
3.42
266
.101
University
3.30
79
Practitioner Total
3.48
187
Newspaper
3.32
76
TV
3.67
58
Online
3.49
53
|
