Journalism Curriculum Research Articles

Fact check: Still not core journalism curriculum

Fact-checking has become a global industry, with more than 417 fact-checking outlets in 100 countries operating in 69 languages (Stencel, Ryan & Luther, 2023). According to the Duke Reporters’ Lab, half of the world’s fact checkers are associated with media outlets, but there are also 24 affiliated with academic institutions. Although the work is time consuming and resource intensive, fact-checking has increasingly been introduced to journalism programmes at universities and in professional settings. This expert article brings together some insights from a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Journalism Education Council (WJEC) roundtable event ‘Fact-Check and Verification as Core Journalism Curriculum’ hosted by RMIT University in Australia in 2021, alongside relevant literature exploring the nature and presence of fact-check based education approaches at that time. It concludes that while fact-checking and verification are important skills for student journalists, fact checkers do not necessarily need to be journalists, nor indeed have journalistic training. However, more students are needed who are excellent journalists and the authors argue that fact-checking is just part of that training.

Fact check: Still not core journalism curriculum

Fact-checking has become a global industry, with more than 417 fact-checking outlets in 100 countries operating in 69 languages (Stencel, Ryan & Luther, 2023). According to the Duke Reporters’ Lab, half of the world’s fact checkers are associated with media outlets, but there are also 24 affiliated with academic institutions. Although the work is time consuming and resource intensive, fact-checking has increasingly been introduced to journalism programmes at universities and in professional settings. This expert article brings together some insights from a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Journalism Education Council (WJEC) roundtable event ‘Fact-Check and Verification as Core Journalism Curriculum’ hosted by RMIT University in Australia in 2021, alongside relevant literature exploring the nature and presence of fact-check based education approaches at that time. It concludes that while fact-checking and verification are important skills for student journalists, fact checkers do not necessarily need to be journalists, nor indeed have journalistic training. However, more students are needed who are excellent journalists and the authors argue that fact-checking is just part of that training.

Journalism Education and Sustainable Journalism in Ghana

ABSTRACT Despite a decentralised planning system for a multi-stakeholder approach in implementing the SDGs and numerous efforts towards attaining Agenda 2030, Ghana's progress is not at the rate required to achieve the SDGs targets by 2030. One of the reasons for slow progress is because less consideration is given to the role of professional journalism in sustainable development. This study is on the premise that education in sustainable journalism is central to attaining Agenda 2030. As a result, it seeks to investigate how journalism education in Ghana equips students with education for sustainable journalism. Using a qualitative approach and case study design, multiple methods (document analysis, FGD and interviews) are used to gather data to establish how sustainable journalism is integrated into the Ghanaian journalism curriculum. Thematic analysis of data through the lens of the curriculum framework for SDGs established that, to an extent, sustainable journalism is part of the curriculum even though it is not expressly taught as a stand-alone course. Therefore, there was unanimous support for the modification and inclusion of sustainable journalism into the existing curriculum.

Who Teaches About Hostility? Examining Factors for Inclusion in Journalism Curriculum

Journalistic well-being is garnering increasing attention from scholars globally. Nevertheless, minimal research has explored how colleges and universities are teaching about such topics, especially as they pertain to hostility toward the press, which is on the rise. Utilizing a survey of journalism instructors at ACEJMC-accredited U.S.-based universities, this study explores the state of education on the topics of abuse and safety toward journalists. Data indicate that instructors rarely teach about hostility in the classroom, although most feel efficacious to do so. Moreover, findings indicate an instructor is more likely to teach about hostility toward the press the more they see it as an issue and have encountered it personally as a journalist—particularly women faculty. Implications for these findings are discussed for journalism schools and their curriculum.

A Skills-driven Approach to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Journalism Curricula

ABSTRACT Though journalism aspires to confront and dismantle systemic injustices, the real-world practice of journalism has often caused harm to marginalized communities and further entrenched oppressive systems of power. As part of larger efforts to examine and address the problems in journalism practice and journalism education, this study sought to identify ways that curricula of communication skills courses might be changed to train journalists in more ethical and less harmful practices. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts recognized for their contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work at academic institutions, media outlets, or other organizations. Transcripts of these interviews were analyzed using a constant comparative approach to arrive at three recommendations for curricula changes. After analysis was complete, four experts participated in follow-up interviews to address additional questions. First, experts recommended that instructors place more focus on skills like beat-building and follow-up, which connect reporters to sources and issues even when they are not reporting specific stories. Second, experts advised instructors to cultivate “soft skills” such as curiosity, empathy, and compassion. Third, the authors urge instructors to reconsider course content that promotes extractive practices. Limitations and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Awareness of Trauma-Focused Education and Attitudes Toward Incorporating Trauma-Focused Education in Curricula Among MENA Journalism Educators

This article reflects the perspectives of journalism educators responsible for preparing journalists for careers in the Middle East and North Africa region, which has received little attention in trauma education research. A survey with quantitative and qualitative questions is used to reflect opinions of 101 journalism educators from Algeria, Sudan, and Palestine on journalism trauma-focused education and to elicit their attitudes toward incorporating trauma education into their institutions’ journalism curricula. The findings revealed that journalism educators are particularly cognizant of the role of trauma in journalism practice and the relevance of incorporating trauma education elements into journalism curricula. Journalism educators have identified a number of barriers to incorporating trauma into their institutions’ journalism curricula, as well as various perspectives on how to incorporate trauma-focused education into journalism curricula, which could call for changing how journalism is taught in their respective institutions. The study establishes a methodological foundation for other scholars to use when investigating triangulation (or the lack thereof) among educators, students, and practitioners in their own communities.

Understanding and Enhancing Journalism Students’ Perception of Data Journalism

As the media landscape continuously evolves in response to the increasing dominance of data, it is important to understand how future journalists perceive and respond to the emerging discipline of data journalism. This paper explores the impact of an introductory session on data journalism conducted with second-year journalism students at Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece. The study aims, through a focus group survey, to assess the students’ initial understanding and beliefs about data journalism and explores how an educational activity, structured as a one-time workshop utilizing a resource from the Al Jazeera Media Institute and data journalism project examples from the BBC, can elucidate the notion of data journalism and stimulate interest in the field. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the integration of data journalism into journalism curricula and the training of the next generation of journalists. Therefore, the findings could provide valuable insights for educators in understanding journalism students’ perception of data journalism in order to develop effective curricula and teaching methods for data journalism.

Examining Gaps in Journalism Curriculum to Solve the News Desert Crisis

This exploratory study uses semi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews ( n = 32) with journalism educators at universities in Europe, Australia, North America, and the South Pacific to examine the current state of local news pedagogy. While these journalism educators understand the significance of the news desert crisis, their efforts to engage their students around the issue often fall short. Using an ecological framework of system theory, this paper argues that journalism higher education has largely failed in helping repair or preventing the crisis facing local news.

Socializing students to accept hostility? How instructors talk about hostility in the journalism classroom

Although hostility toward journalists is a pressing issue, research on how instructors are preparing students for hostility is lacking. Interviews with 30 journalism instructors from across the U.S. help illuminate how hostility is perceived and if/how hostility is talked about in journalism courses. Through the lens of professional socialization, this manuscript argues the majority of instructors normalize hostility in problematic ways, identifying a gap in journalism curriculum that needs filled.

Embedding Trauma Literacy Into Curriculum: An Examination of the Attitudes of Australian and New Zealand Journalism Educators

Australia and New Zealand have reputations as countries prone to catastrophic and frequent natural and man-made disasters. Therefore, it is no surprise that antipodean academics want trauma-informed education for their journalism students. This study presents the Australian-New Zealand results of a 2021 survey exploring educators’ attitudes toward embedding trauma literacy into journalism curriculum. It mirrors a survey from the UK-based Journalism Education and Trauma Research Group. The Australian-New Zealand results confirm that educators want more training to effectively embed trauma-informed reporting into their curricula. The discussion notes the availability of local, research-based teaching materials, and identifies barriers to implementation.

Mental Health Resilience in the Journalism Curriculum

Reporting on trauma is part of the journalists’ job, and it needs to be conducted with care for their mental health of the interviewees and audiences. Data from focus groups and online survey with journalism students in Macedonia identified that: reporting on traumatic events can affect mental health; education can be a factor for coping and building resilience; educators lack adequate training; there are no adequate teaching materials in journalism courses at faculties; and at the end, students are not equipped with strategies and skills for dealing with trauma when reporting on trauma.

Analysis of Convergence Journalism Education from the Perspective of Complexity: Thinking Based on Theoretical Dimension and Technical Logic

From attributes of education, the news practice and theory of convergence journalism, the characteristics of the Internet, convergence journalism education is a complex system. Under the impact of the Internet, the knowledge system of traditional journalism is no longer suitable for the media environment and social needs of new media. Under the impact of the Internet, the knowledge system of traditional journalism is no longer suitable for the media environment and social needs of new media. Internet-based convergence journalism theory needs to form a communication journalism theory system because of traditional journalism theory system. At the same time, the convergence journalism curriculum also faces the deconstruction and reconstruction of traditional journalism curriculum system by Internet technology. Based on the complexity theory, this paper analyzes the complexity of convergence journalism education from the two dimensions of journalism theory and technology, so as to explore the innovative path of convergence journalism education. The paper holds that from the theoretical dimension, the convergence journalism education is confronted with the challenges of the convergence journalism phenomenon and practice to the traditional journalism theory, the adaptation of the convergence journalism education to the Marxist journalism, and the construction of the convergence journalism paradigm on the basis of the traditional journalism. From the point of technology dimensions, the complexity of journalism education embodied in the macro level of complex network environment , the medium of level of interweaving between the curriculum system and interconnection technology, and the micro level of practice courses such as news interview, writing, editing and publishing relying on Internet technology. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the innovative path of convergence journalism education, we should form systematic thinking in the complex process of convergence journalism education, establish the “dual logic” in education to keep the tension between the elements of convergence journalism education, and embody the process of integrated journalism education and activates the vitality of collaborative development between courses

Cultivating Talents for Reporting Environmental News on China’s Carbon Neutrality Policy

Reports on environmental news can guide public opinion and regulate stakeholders to take the initiative to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. With China’s declared target of “carbon peaking and carbon neutral”, specialized environmental journalism talents are needed, and a good environmental journalism curriculum reform evaluation system is essential. The Snowball sampling technique is adopted to survey respondents using a well-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire included four dimensions: course content, assessment methods, development planning, and teaching research. The experts’ comments were quantified first, and then a three-level evaluation system was constructed using the Analytic Hierarchical Process. It was found that the content of the environmental journalism course on carbon peaking and carbon neutrality and the assessment methods for students were most valued by the experts and account for relatively large portions of the overall system. According to the scores of experts on the current situation of environmental journalism education with a double carbon theme in China, the course content and assessment methods need to be further improved compared with the career development planning of students and the teaching research of educators.

From the Classroom to the Newsroom: A Critical Route to Introduce AI in Journalism Education

From a computer vision application to monitor elections transparency in Argentina to automated real-state texts in Norway, and everything in between, Artificial Intelligence-powered tools are changing journalism. Scholars have taken note, and the academic production of AI in journalism has gained considerable ground in the last five years. However, research on how journalism education deals with AI influence in the industry is scarce. Based on a self-training method using available online free courses for journalists and a review of university teaching initiatives, this article proposes key elements to trace teaching trajectories to introduce AI into journalism curriculum. Included are recommendations for drawing a path to teaching journalism students to think critically about AI and, at the same time, to understand the available tools for reporting and investigating in a complex context where journalism lives in a profound state of crisis.

Teaching Data Journalism: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT Data Journalism has attracted considerable academic attention as an innovative journalism practice in the recent past. It has resulted in a steady increase in academic research on data journalism. A subset of these studies deals with imparting training in data journalism. This study attempts to systematically review the peer-reviewed academic literature on data journalism training in order to ascertain the present status of academic research on the subject. By examining the studies, it brings together insights about the prevalent methods used in data journalism training, the challenges faced by the instructors, the recommended best practices and the students’ perception about data journalism training. The study finds that accommodating a new programme in the existing tight schedule of journalism curricula, alleviating the math-fear in students and adequately addressing the interdisciplinary nature of the practice through consistent up-skilling are some of the challenges faced by data journalism educators. It also finds that the academic literature on data journalism training is less concerned about imparting ethical awareness related to the practice.

ACTION RESEARCH FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF MOBILE AND SOCIAL MEDIA JOURNALISM STUDIES

Mobile phone and social media are very inherent in human life today. These device and platform then becomes a tool to help or facilitate human life, including working activities. One of them is in the field of journalism. This is replicated in the journalism curriculum at universities. This study uses action research method to evaluate mobile and social media journalism class at Universitas Multimedia Nusantara.This study aims to know the level of understanding and ability of students related to mobile and social media journalism and the final result or evaluation of the course. This research uses survey and in-depth interview for collecting the data. 87 students took a part in this study; then the result was explored by conducting in-depth interviews with unique samples of student. The result, students who have taken the mobile and social media journalism course already have the knowledge and ability to use mobile devices and social media platform. The challenge is when they uses a mobile device in the news production process and in the news editing process because of the characteristics of the device (small screen). Knowledge of the specifications of each editing application is very helpful as a mobile journalist. The class will be more ideal with learning how to reporting or hosting news which is very common on social media platform.

Editing as part of an advertising and public relations curriculum

The general philological discipline, Editing, has been part of a journalism curriculum since the middle of the last century. There are leading experts and practice-proven methods of teaching editing to journalism students. In his publication, the author argues for including editorial competencies training in the curriculum of a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations. The study draws on the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education and the syllabus of the academic discipline. It takes into account market conditions (professional competition, high demands on the part of consumers for the quality of media communications) and the staffing and methodological support for teaching editing in applied communications at St. Petersburg University. The discipline, Editing in Advertising and Public Relations, is focused on an activity-based approach in training specialists in applied communications. Drawing on educational and methodological literature, instruction follows a developed methodology for editorial work with advertising and PR texts.

Laboring in Journalism’s Crowded, Precarious Entryway: Perceptions of Journalism Interns

ABSTRACT The both glamourous and precarious figure of the intern has become iconic in popular culture over the past 15 years. However, little academic research has explored interns and internships. Even fewer studies have examined internships as a form of labor in journalism (rather than as a component of journalism education), and none is based primarily on the voices of journalism interns themselves. To help fill this gap, this study explores how aspiring news workers today experience and respond to internship labor. The findings show that journalism interns face long, unpredictable work hours, rely on family support and side jobs to “afford” internships and use private resources to support their news production during internships. Their experiences often include a lack of mentorship and training, regardless of whether the internship is pursued as part of a journalism curriculum or independently. It is argued that concepts by critical communication scholars such as hope labor and aspirational labor—rather than the community of practice approach often used in research on journalism education—capture the work experiences of journalism interns in this study. Finally, a modification of the recently developed space of journalistic work model is proposed to account for interns’ growing importance to as well as precarious position in contemporary news production.

СТАНОВЛЕННЯ ЖУРНАЛІСТСЬКОЇ ОСВІТИ НА ПОЧАТКУ ХХ СТ.

The article considers the first steps of training professional journalists in the early XXth century in the Russian Empire. The aim of the investigation is to find out the conditions and features of creating courses for journalists in Moscow and Odesa (1905), to clarify the biographical and creative achievements of the founders of these centers of journalism education. The peculiarities of the functioning of the «scientific and practical courses for journalists» in Moscow (1905) under the guidance of Doctor of Criminal Law, lawyer, a native of Poltava region L. Vladimirov, as well as the courses of «practical newspaper technology» in Odesa (1905; editor, publisher and writer A. Rabinovych as the founder of these courses) were analyzed. Professor L. Vladimirov based his journalism curriculum on «systematic ethical and legal knowledge», necessary for the study and discussion of issues of public life in terms of writing a journalistic (publicistic) text. Аt the same time the editor-publisher A. Rabinovych (Chyvonibar) focused on the practical implementation of acquired knowledge, offering his students to bring their publications in the two consecutive newspapers – «Reporter» and «Odesskaya Zhizn / Odessa Life» (1906), where reports, notes, feuilletons, articles, essays of the journalists-beginners were published. There were students not only from Odesa and the nearest regions, but also from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Siberia and other cities and territories of Russia; they studied full-time and part-time, received a certificate of education and recommendations for work in press. The contribution of Professor L. Vladimirov (he studied at Kharkiv University, later worked here as private-docent, extraordinary and honored professor at the department of criminal law and judiciary), as well as editorial and publishing specialist A. Rabinovych (Chyvonibar) to the formation of professional journalism education is still little appreciated in Ukraine. The biographical and publishing aspects of A. Rabinovych's activity in Odesa and the functioning of his courses (probably existed until 1917) also are not clarified.

Human development and advocacy journalism: Analysis of low editorial coverage in Pakistan

AbstractContextDespite being a nuclear power, Pakistan does not have satisfactory human development indicators. The 2018 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) ranking places it at 150 out of 189 countries, the lowest in the region after Afghanistan.PurposeThis article examines advocacy journalism coverage of human development issues versus other issues in the contents of mainstream Pakistani newspapers and investigates the factors behind the inadequate space given to them. The study further explores the association between editorial and readers’ priorities.MethodsThe quantitative content analysis method is used to measure and compare the frequency of sample content in five categories coupled with qualitative in‐depth interviews with veteran journalists/academics to explain the factors that influence the editorial content.FindingsRather than use precious space to comment on social hardship and ultimately improve the country’s HDI value, editorial content is dominated by the discourse produced by the communication bureaucracies of powerful national and international establishments. Issues‐based policies of the state and political actors that do not concern human development, and warmongering and actual conflicts with India and Afghanistan, are given considerably greater coverage. Moreover, readers’ reactions to editorial content through Facebook Likes indicate a clear difference between editorial and readers’ priorities.Policy ImplicationsThe communication aspects of development programmes should actively feed editorial boards regarding current global development agendas to ensure sufficient coverage of their advocacy. It is imperative to make the UNESCO‐led syllabus Teaching Journalism for Sustainable Development an integral part of the country’s journalism curriculum. Relevant bodies should organize professional editorial training to raise awareness of how to use precious space wisely for the advocacy of development issues and how to be alert to the readers’ priority issues.