How to Improve Journalism Education

How to Improve Journalism Education

Media tycoons agreed that profound changes are taking place in the News media industry that pose challenges for journalists and the news organizations for which they work.

Their advice can be clustered into three broad prescriptions.

· Emphasis the basics of journalism craft along with analytical thinking and a strong sense of ethics.

· Help the journalists to build a specialized expertise to enhance their coverage and help them to acquire first-hand knowledge of the societies, languages, religions and cultures of the world.

· Channel the best writers, curious reporters and the most analytical thinkers into the profession of journalism.

Journalism is different from history or chemistry or any of the traditional academic disciplines. It is different also from ‘practical’ branches of education such as law or medicine, where pure academic knowledge is linked with professionalism. None of us would like to represent a lawyer or medical practitioner without a sound academic qualification. But even the most dedicated journalism educators would accept that it is possible to be a journalist of the highest distinction without the benefit of any formal education in journalism.

In this respect journalism education is unlike teaching of acting and dancing. In all these fields, basic talent is inborn and cannot be taught. We all know that, in practice academic ability alone is a poor indicator to make a good journalist.

There is a diversity of perception existing in between the media tycoons regarding the requirement of journalism institutes. Some believe a degree in journalism is nec...

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The content of journalism education varies from country to country. The subject reflects a strong focus on national sphere. At the same time, the globalization of technological communication creates a number of people who use international communication. New international media are created as an answer to this demand. We need a journalism training strategy that can meet this demand. For that we have to eschew national stereotypes in journalism education. This process involves two steps. The first is internationalization of journalism education by introducing more international subjects into curriculum. The second step is creating a transnational journalism education. It helps to achieve a comparative understanding of national similarities and differences. It also helps to understand what the national identity is and is not.