1 / 23

Challenges to the university education of journalists in the twentieth first century

Reflecting on 50 years of journalism education in Chilean universities and addressing the new challenges faced in the 21st century. The importance of well-trained journalists in a digital age.

gmarquis
Download Presentation

Challenges to the university education of journalists in the twentieth first century

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Challenges to the university education of journalists in the twentieth first century Professor Abraham Santibañez Diego Portales University, Chile Santiago-Chile Spring 2003

  2. Half a century of history • In 2003 the journalism schools in Chilean universities celebrate their 50th anniversary. • They were established as a way of “dignifying” the profession. • That involved complying with many bureaucratic requirements. • Also the course had to comply with high academic standards.

  3. This Presentation • After 50 years, it’s time to reflect on the results. There have been both successes and failures. • As a result we have made changes to our programs.

  4. Things had changed a lot by the end of the 20th century This has been a period of intense and profound change that has tempted some observers to suggest that journalists are not longer needed, especially in the context of the emergence of the Internet.

  5. The Flag Bearer (Negroponte) In his Being Digital, Nicholas Negroponte proclaimed that with the advent of Internet and instant access to information journalists were no longer needed.

  6. We believe it is a mistake to think so... Our view is that today more than ever we need well-trained journalists able to keep the community informed in a professional way BUT…

  7. New Challenges • In Chile we have too many schools of journalism…

  8. Growth out of control? In 2004 there will be 70 Journalism programs at 38 universities: more programs than universities exist in Chile. They will offer 2,147 places. (Council for Higher Education)

  9. The cost of studying journalism in Chile (per year)

  10. Lessons from reality... • During the last two years, a team of professors from DPU has been providing on the job training for journalists. We have being working with regional newspapers • The programme has been successful with a strong demand the courses.

  11. They were graduates... • When we asked participants (more that 200) about the continuation of these programmes, the feedback was very positive.

  12. What do they ask for? I would like a course on: *Interview Techniques: 42,8%*Editorial Work: 42,2% *News Writing: 39, 7% *Journalism Ethics: 15, 5% “others:” journalist specialization, Internet and Feature Writing.

  13. Which does this mean...? • Among new graduates there is strong demand for on-going education. • Also we detected a low level of satisfaction with the training they received at university

  14. More information asks for more professionalism Society needs to have access to reliable information and needs professionals able to apply a rigorous criteria in the selection of news stories within a context of abundant external stimuli.

  15. Old skills and new challenges Journalists of “our time” ought to master not only the basic processes of newsgathering and writing, as they have always done, but they also need to understand the ethical implications of their work and act responsibly within society

  16. Not only writers... • Journalists of “our time” have to be comfortable and at ease with modern multimedia technologies. • In the middle of a revolutionary change, journalism students must be able to cover news events for different media outlets, print, broadcast or the Internet.

  17. Great expectations? Some people, mainly media owners, are convinced that university journalism graduates should be able to visualize the possibilities of presenting a news story in any medium, be it traditional or digital.

  18. Let’s look at the other side At the same time, it is conceivable that taking advantage of the relative accessibility to new communication technologies (and no less important: less expensive equipment) new graduate journalists should be able to create their own media outlets.

  19. These are the lines we have been working on • Starting next year, we will have a new “malla” (curriculum): more flexible and more practical. • While I support the changes, I have some doubts.

  20. Looking back to the beginning • Schools from NZ to South Africa • What journalists need (according to Pulitzer). • The journalism Chilean experience. • The importance of theory. • Back to the beginning.

  21. Some clues: • We are dealing with future journalists. • For us, the most important lesson is to make them conscious of the importance of content... • That journalism is, in the very first place, a service to society. An important service in a democratic society.

  22. Conclusion • We know that our students, as professionals, will have many temptations. • There is the temptation of fame. • There is the temptation of sensationalism. • There is the temptation of superficiality.

  23. Notwithstanding... • The most important fact is that we still believe in journalism. Old style journalism in a modern context. • We are trying to prepare our students accordingly.

More Related