The European Debate in 1894 on Journalism Education

Abstract

In summer of 1894, editor of a prominent Belgian newspaper sought to convince an assembly of fellow journalists from 16 different countries of necessity for a special professional education for journalists. For world's newspapers to fulfill the high social mission they have been allotted, E. Heinzmann-Savino stressed, it was imperative that future journalists be properly trained.(1) Heinzmann-Savino's forum was first International Congress of Press, gathered in Antwerp, Belgium, in July 1894. The ICP was first organization to bring together journalists from different countries on a regular basis, and although its educational plans had no concrete results, they merit attention because they provide unique insights into how issue of professional journalistic training was viewed a century ago.(2) This article outlines proposals made at Congress and reception they received, and it concludes by noting that many of issues raised in 1890s remain relevant today. Before introducing organization, it is necessary to briefly deal with general history of journalism education. Three approaches On national and international levels, history of journalism education brings up three different ways to prepare newspaper writers for their profession. The first, leaving training to newspaper organizations themselves, is oldest and has endured because it is grounded in persisting doubts that journalists need any educational preparation for their profession. Where value of a formal education has been recognized, discussion has arisen about direction of that education, which can focus either on practical skills, or general knowledge in sciences, arts and humanities. Countries have taken different paths when faced with three choices. In United States--where formal education first began and today is most extensive--the necessity for education was generally recognized by 1920, with a consensus that universities should offer instruction for future journalists. Consequently, American debate since then has dealt mainly with curricula and course content. In Europe, by contrast, no such consensus emerged. Although university study currently appears to be gaining in prominence, it still remains but one of three recognized paths to entry into journalism, other two being instructions at purely vocational institutions and on-the-job training in a more or less structured fashion.(3) The idea of a special education for newspaper work arose out of concerns about professional status of journalists. It surfaced as a result of profound changes in way newspapers operated, generated revenue, and reached readers--changes that were evident in both United States and Europe by time first International Congress of Press met in 1894. Harry Christian uses term commercialization to describe these changes, which include a shift from individual to corporate ownership, ascendancy of advertising as main source of revenue rather than subscriptions and political subsidies, and a division of labor separating journalists from newspaper proprietorship and assigning them specific tasks such as editing or reporting.(4) It was new division of labor that made journalists begin to voice concerns about their status. Slavko Splichal and Colin Sparks argue that journalism was a dependent profession, which could not be exercised independently like medicine or law but only within a large and complex corporate structure. As a consequence, efforts of journalists to achieve a status as professionals were based primarily on position of newspaper writers in labor market. In that context, professional education became important because it contributed to raising status of journalists, a goal that was articulated frequently in ICP debate over education.(5) History and membership The 1894 Antwerp press congress, first formal gathering of journalists from different countries, voted to accept principle of international association. …