A Truly Bold Idea for U.S. J&MC Education

Abstract

On June 4 this year, Howard Finberg of Poynter Institute gave a speech called The Future of Journalism Education at European Journalism Centre's twentieth anniversary celebration in Maastricht, Netherlands, in which he presented results of a survey of journalists and journalism professors about value of a journalism degree, among other things.Finberg said he had surveyed more than 1,975 persons, with 42 percent being academics, 34 percent from media organizations, 11 percent freelancers/independents, and 13 percent students. Highlights, as he recounted them, were as follows:When asked about vital a journalism DEGREE is in understanding value of journalism, 95% of academics said it was to extremely Slightly more than half, 56% of professionals said very to extremely important. is a gap of almost 40 points.When questioned about value of a DEGREE when it came to equipping students with skills or abilities in news gathering, editing and presenting news, gap is as wide: *96% of academics said that a degree was very to extremely important to learning skills. *59% of professionals said very to extremely important.Also,Half of professionals said journalism education is not keeping up with industry changes. That isn't shocking, as there has always been a feeling in professional news ranks that academy isn't aware of what's going on in real However, about a third of academics who responded also agreed that journalism education isn't keeping up. At Poynter hear from scores of teachers who are frustrated with situation-the lack of support to change what is being taught and their lack of skills to equip students for today's media world. Still, that leaves me wondering about remaining two-thirds who believe that academy is keeping up with changes in industry. Frankly, I'm not sure media industry is keeping up.Later in speech, Finberg added these figures: *54% of academics say a journalism degree is very to extremely important when it comes to getting hired. *Only 38% of professionals say same, with only 33% of senior managers agreeing that a degree is very to extremely important when it comes to getting a job.How does Finberg respond? He likes Eric Newton's (president's senior advisor, Knight Foundation) suggestions for journalism education:1. Innovate. Create both new uses of software and new software itself. 2. Teach open, collaborative methods. No longer must students be lone wolf reporters or cogs in a company wheel. 3. Connect to whole university. can mean team-teaching a science journalism class with actual scientists. 4. Expand their role as community content providers. University hospitals save lives. University law clinics take cases to Supreme Court. University news labs can reveal truths that help us right wrongs.But Finberg also suggests that Newton's ideas aren't being bold enough. Finberg then spent rest of his speech bragging about Poynter's News University, encouraging journalism schools to offer a lot of News University-type online courses, saying that maybe a journalism degree isn't endgame (after earlier having said I do NOT suggest that this survey says that a degree is unimportant), suggesting that journalism and mass communication (J&MC) programs do practical research, not academic exploration, and pushing a combination of student work portfolios that go way beyond just traditional clips or tapes and digital badges that represent skills or other competences of students in addition to uber-portfolio and course transcript.Finberg packed quite a bit into this Maastricht speech, and it requires more than a little bit of unpacking, which will do here without defending status quo. (Finberg says, This is not time to say 'we have always done it that way.' is time to disrupt everything, and cites Newton for referring to the 'symphony of slowness' to change at journalism schools that hurts both students and society [all but symphony of slowness are Finberg's words]. …