Education — AEJMC Hot Topics

80% of J&MC Programs Make Changes to Reflect Media Landscape

August 22, 2012 By AEJMC 2 Comments

For Immediate Release | August 22, 2012
ASJMC Press Release (PDF version)

Journalism and mass communication programs are making sweeping changes to their curricula and putting new models in place for training the next generation of American journalists.

Results from the Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Enrollments indicate that nearly 80 percent of all U.S. university programs in journalism and mass communication have made changes to their curricula in the last two years to reflect changes in the communication landscape.

Among the digital skills more than three-quarters of the programs reported teaching are:

96% writing for the web
95% using the web in reporting
94% using social media
92% using video on the web
92% using still photos on the web
90% creating and using blogs
89% using audio on the web
88% web layout and design
88% editing for the web
88% using the web in public relations
87% using graphics on the web
82% digital storytelling
77% using slide shows on the web

In addition, just under half of programs reported teaching management skills for online or web publishing (46%) and teaching entrepreneurial “start-up” skills (44%).

“A recent ‘Open Letter to University Presidents’ from leading foundations that support journalism and mass communication education underscores the importance that our programs must place on continuously moving the culture and the curriculum forward to reflect and anticipate the changing media environment,” said Peggy Kuhr, president-elect of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication and dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Montana. “Often these changes occur in subtle ways, and sometimes with greater fanfare. What’s important about the results of this survey is the consistency of the message: Our programs have made change, and I know we’ll see even more in the future, particularly in the areas of mobile technology and entrepreneurship.”

“The Open Letter raises issues that have been important to the accrediting process for several years now,” said Peter Bhatia, president of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications and editor of The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Ore. “As this survey shows, many, many programs are embracing the necessary and ongoing curricular change required to prepare students for the digital world. They should be applauded and encouraged to keep pushing ahead and to be doing so in a timely and continuing fashion.”

More than half of the programs responding to the survey reported having hired new full-time faculty members with digital media skills (55%). Three-quarters of the programs said they had hired adjunct faculty with digital media skills (77%). Nearly seven in 10 (68%) of those responding said they had sent faculty members to digital media training programs, while a quarter (26%) said they were now using digital media skills as a criterion for promotion of faculty members.

“These results indicate that journalism and mass communication programs are well aware of the imperative for our curricula to change so that our students can continue to be prepared to enter the media industries or go on to graduate study,” said Beth E. Barnes, president of ASJMC and director of the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. “Even as programs continue to face budget challenges, they are finding ways to enhance current faculty members’ digital skills and bring in outside expertise to provide their students with access to current practice.”

The survey of administrators at 491 programs offering coursework in journalism and mass communication was conducted between October 2011 and July 2012 and asked about curricular offerings and enrollments during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic years.

The survey identified 487 programs offering bachelor’s degrees related to journalism and mass communication, 222 with master’s degree programs and 50 with doctoral programs. In Fall 2011, these programs enrolled 203,561 students in undergraduate programs, 13,392 in master’s programs and 1,789 in doctoral programs.

Not all of the administrators answered the questions on program offerings. Responses were weighted to reflect the full population of programs.

The Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Enrollments is conducted every year in the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research, a unit of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

Dr. Lee B. Becker, director of the Cox Center, also directs the enrollment survey project.

All programs listed in either the Journalism & Mass Communication Directory, published by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, or The Journalist’s Road to Success: A Career Guide, published online by the Dow Jones News Fund, Inc., are included in the survey.

For further information:
Dr. Beth E. Barnes, bbarnes@uky.edu
Professor and Director, School of Journalism and Telecommunications
Associate Dean for Undergraduate and International Programs, College of Communication and Information
University of Kentucky

Dr. Lee B. Becker, lbbecker@uga.edu
Professor and Director, James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research
Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Georgia

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The Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication promotes excellence in journalism and mass communication education. A valuable resource for chairs, deans and directors, ASJMC is a non-profit, educational association composed of some 190 JMC programs at the college level.

Filed Under: Hot Topics Tagged With: ASJMC, Education, higher education, Journalism, Mass Communication

From CJR: Journalism students can be “truly baffled” when confronted for plagiarism

July 17, 2012 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

By Kristal Brent Zook on CJR, July 16

Perhaps Liane Membis, the Wall Street Journal intern fired recently for inventing quotes, started out with noble intentions. As Miss Black America-Connecticut last year, she spoke against high illiteracy rates among African American children and of wanting to represent black women “in a positive light.” We’d assume that Membis, a Yale graduate, brought these ideals to her internship at one of the nation’s most prominent dailie

So what happened? How did her high ideals come crashing down so horribly? As odd as it may seem, she may not have thought she was doing anything so terribly wrong. As the director of the MA Journalism Program at Hofstra University on Long Island (and a former adjunct at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism), Membis’s transgressions probably should surprise me, but they don’t. Many students these days are amazed—I mean, truly baffled—when confronted with their own unethical behavior.

Read the full post on CJR

Filed Under: Hot Topics Tagged With: CJR, Education, plagiarism

Newspaper Digital Audience is Younger, Wealthier, Better Educated

December 13, 2011 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

Creative Commons: Jon S

Press Release by Pulse Research, Dec. 13, 2011 –

“The assumption has been that the newspaper’s digital audience is younger, more affluent and better educated than print. Now, a recent Pulse Research national survey shows just how distinct and compelling newspaper’s digital audience is.

Demographics: The average age of a digital audience member is 44, seven years younger than the average age of 51 for a print household. In the 30 and under segment, there are 60% more digital households than print. The average household income of a digital household is $65,480, which is 21% higher than a print average household income of $53,776. Even more significant, 82% more digital households earn over $100,000 per year. Digital households are better educated; 22% more digital households have a college or post degree education. In addition, 50% more digital households have children at home; 48% compared to 32% of print households having children at home.

Purchasing plans: In the key real estate and automotive categories, the digital household has much higher planned purchases over the next 12 months. Personal home: 46% more digital households plan to purchase a personal residence in the next 12 months; 7.6% compared to 5.2% of print households.

Digital household purchasing plans for new cars in the next 12 months is 24% higher than print households; 8.4% to 6.8%. The same upward purchasing trends hold true for furniture stores. The planned purchasing by a digital household at a furniture store in the next 12 months is 51% higher than a print household; 24.4% compared to 16.2%.

The digital audience is defined as a household that has visited the local newspaper website in the last 30 days and owns a smart phone.”

Read the full press release on Editor & Publisher or visit the Pulse Research page

Filed Under: Hot Topics Tagged With: Digital, Education, Newspaper, Pulse Research, youth

LSE: Should Journalism Students Be More Like Julian Assange?

October 31, 2011 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

On the London School of Economics and Political Science blog, Charlie Beckett asks the question of whether or not journalism students should be taught to be more like Julian Assange. He makes the argument that they should. He said at the beginning of his post:

“Imagine Julian Assange ran a journalism school. Why not? He’s created one of the world’s biggest media brands on a tiny budget. It’s produced some of the most extraordinary pieces of journalism in the digital era and he’s worked with all the big names. If you judge journalism by how much the people in power hate you, then he scores A*.

I think we can all learn from WikiLeaks.

Later in the post he goes on to say:

“What made WikiLeaks work was Assange’s ideological drive and his all-consuming desire to use digital communications as a political weapon. He spotted a new business model and a novel kind of platform.”

His argument is that students should learn not only what their mainstream media bosses want, but also learn new and “disruptive” ideas.

Read the full post at LSE

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Charlie Beckett, Education, Julian Assange, LSE, Wikileaks

University of Colorado Closes Journalism School

April 20, 2011 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

Last week, the Board of Regents at University of Colorado voted to close the journalism school at the Boulder campus. This marks the first time the university has closed an entire college.

Although the school itself will no longer exist, the university is stressing that its journalism education will continue. The university will no longer have an independent journalism undergraduate program but will instead have a “Journalism Plus” program that will allow students to major in journalism as long as they major in another undergraduate program as well. Students will also be able to minor in journalism or earn a certificate in journalism.

Photo Credit: SFGate.com

The university president, Bruce Benson, wrote in a memo to Boulder’s chancellor Phil DiStefano:

While technology is driving rapid change in the field, journalism’s fundamental values of fairness, balance, accuracy, ethics and law remain. Any program we offer should promote those values, regardless of administrative structure.

You can read an article about the closing on the Columbia Journalism Review website.

What are your thoughts on the closing?

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Education, Journalism, University of Colorado

Climate Change and the Belief Gap Hypothesis

April 13, 2010 By AEJMC Leave a Comment

A recent study shows that ideology is a better predictor of beliefs about climate change than is educational attainment, and that the resulting “belief gaps” between liberals and conservatives grow over time.

This study marks a departure from previous work which showed that heavy media coverage of science news contributed to “knowledge gaps,” or growing disparities in knowledge between those with different levels of educational attainment. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Research Tagged With: Climate Change, Doug Hindman, Education, Ideology, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Washington State University