Reinventing Journalism Curricula for the Electronic Environment

Abstract

The advent of new communication technologies, especially Internet and World Wide Web, has brought forth a set of opportunities and challenges for traditional media professions, such as journalism. This challenging new context is evident from plethora of books and articles that suggest radical changes precipitated by new technologies to basic communication processes such as human perception, cognition, and expression (Bolter & Grusin, 1999; De Kerckhove, 1995; Turkle, 1995). The fundamental reach of these challenges places journalism education at a crossroads regarding direction of curriculum development, program design, and professional training (Newhagen & Levy, 1998). Although dominant path followed by journalism education is still being debated, at least two distinct directions are evident within research examining new communication tech nologies. On one hand, research emphasizing fundamental shifts implied by new technologies suggests that journalism education be reinvented to develop practices that are congruent with imputed properties of cyberspace. On other hand, research emphasizing continuity and evolution of new technologies suggests that journalism education be reformed to incorporate them into existing norms and practices, which continue to function as bedrock of professional journalism. The purpose of this article is to contribute to discussion of future of journalism education as it is challenged by development of new communication technologies. Specifically, it will provide an overview of key concepts introduced within research, which is a subset of new communication technologies literature existing largely outside of journalism studies. While research centers on narrative form, many of its themes and conclusions have implications beyond writing. Therefore, this article will discuss relevance of research on theories and practices of journalism, ranging from philosophical assumptions, such as truth, to concrete reporting and practices. Next it will provide a review of recent books and articles that focus generally on new technologies in journalism and journalism education to ascertain general directions taken in professional training programs. Finally it will describe a university reporting and course that attempts to respond to fundamental challenges of within context of contemporary journalism. Challenges of Within arts and humanities, numerous scholars have suggested that new communication technologies are transforming contemporary standards of what is considered good writing and accepted, narrative practice (Birkerts, 1994; Bolter, 1991; Bolter & Grusin, 1999; Joyce, 1995; Landow, 1997; Murray, 1997). Characterized as the late age of print (Bolter, 1991), this period can be thought of as analogous to 50 years following introduction of Gutenberg press and invention of typographical and organizational conventions such as typefaces, page numbering, paragraphing, chapters, and like (Murray, 1997). Such incunabular periods are characterized by experimentation, invention, and struggle to develop new media conventions, which are evident in recent, introductory guides - developed outside of journalism education for most part -that have begun to explore interactive and production practices (Bonime & Pohlmann, 1998; Condon & Butler, 1997; Samsel & Wimberley, 1998; Vitanza,1998). Much of this contemporary experimentation and invention has centered on developing an understanding of nature and function of hypertext and its consequences for basic assumptions regarding readers, writers, cognition, and even reality. Hypertext is far more than hot links on a Web page; it is a structure that is assumed to be more compatible with inherent characteristics of digital media than traditional narrative forms, such as journalism's inverted pyramid (Bolter, 1991; Fredin, 1997; Joyce, 1995; Murray, 1997; Nielsen, 1995). …