Judy VanSlyke Turk is Director of the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University. Prior to joining VCU in March 2002, she was founding dean of the College of Communication and Media Sciences at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates. Previously, VanSlyke Turk was also dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina, director of the journalism and mass communications program at Kent State University and a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma, Louisiana State University and Syracuse University. Turk is a past president of AEJMC and is the current president of ASJMC, the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication.
How do you define mass communication?
I don’t think there is such a thing as mass communication anymore. Every communication is personal, segmented, targeted. It’s not a matter of reaching the masses with a message but in reaching large audiences via targeted, specialized messages.
How do you keep your students excited about working in the field of communications in light of shrinking job opportunities?
There are still jobs out there for students who “get it” re the need for legacy media to change and grow with the changing media landscape. Those who understand (and have the skill set for) multimedia, on-line journalism, use of social media in advertising and public relations and other “new media” applications will be sought for the smaller number of positions that are available.
What changes do journalism and mass communication programs need to make in order to stay relevant today?
One of our biggest challenges as educators is to keep our academic programs in step with — or even ahead of — what’s happening in journalism and mass communications professions. We need to adapt to a shrinking role for “legacy media,” and a growing role of social media, segmented and specialized media, and “journalists” who really aren’t prepared. trained journalists in our traditional sense of the word.
If you could save one journalism and mass communication course from extinction, what would it be and why?
I’d like to save a journalism and mass communications ethics course. Many of our programs have combined ethics with law into one course because of accreditation and credit hour limitations, at a time when I think we need to be increasing, not diluting, our attention to the ethical practice of our craft.
What new media tools or applications do you incorporate in your teaching? Why these in particular?
I use blogs in my teaching as a way of introducing students to the opportunity of creating dialogue and discussion on-line. Students are comfortable using social media such as Facebook, but really don’t participate in important discussions about current affairs, their professions and civic issues. So I’ve created blogs for my classes to which I post items that I intend to stimulate critical thinking and discussion.
If you could offer a piece of advice to both your fellow educators and media professionals in the field, what would it be?
Advice for just about everyone these days: be nimble, be flexible, be willing to admit you don’t know the answer but are engaged in the search.
What do you see for the future of journalism and mass communication both in general and in higher education?
There will always be journalism and mass communication. The challenge is that there will be pressures to make it something less than what it is now. Citizen journalism is, I think a threat to the integrity of news that journalists must counter — information that poses as journalism but which does not adhere to high journalistic values and standards. Professional journalists must stand strong against the unprofessional journalism (and public relations and advertising) that threatens the integrity of the professional practiced that we teach.