Thirteen U.S. journalism educators spent two days in late September at Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication discussing how changes in the media industries and communication technologies are affecting journalism education.

Becker, foreground, right, during discussions.

Though the educators agreed that education for those seeking to enter the various communication occupations will change, they did not agree on what that change should be. In fact, the group did not even reach a consensus on what labels should be used in the future to describe the field of study.

The educators were invited to LSU by Manship Dean Jack M. Hamilton and Associate Dean Anne C. Osborne. Hamilton served as discussion leader for the dialog on September 20 and 21. The meeting was underwritten by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which was represented at the discussion session by Clark Bell, the foundation’s journalism program director.

Dr. Lee B. Becker, director of the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research at the University of Georgia, was one of those invited to the two-day discussion. Dr. Becker directs the Annual Surveys of Journalism & Mass Communication, which track education for journalists and other communication professionals.

During the session, Dr. Becker informed the group that enrollments in journalism and mass communication are now growing but at a slow rate. While growth in journalism and mass communication enrollments has slowed, he said, enrollments continue to grow in the broader field of communication.

Each of the participants in the gathering had prepared an essay to address a question posed by Drs. Hamilton and Osborne in advance: What is the most pressing challenge for journalism and mass communication education in the future?

Dr. Becker argued that journalism and mass communication programs must figure out how to differentiate formally educated and trained journalists from those without such credentials in a working environment where “everyone is a journalist.”

The new technologies have freed journalists of those who own and control distribution technologies, Dr. Becker argued, making it possible for people to practice journalism on their own and without any formal preparation for journalistic work.

Dr. Ted Glasser of Stanford University argued that journalism education should take place at the graduate level, not at the undergraduate level, which is overwhelmingly the case today.

“Students need to arrive, not leave, with the basic newsroom skills of writing, reporting and editing,” Dr. Glasser argued. “An education in journalism thus becomes an opportunity to refine skills, not acquire them.”

Others attending the meeting were: Pat Curtin, University of Oregon; Everette Dennis, Fordham University; Jean Folkerts, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Oscar Gandy Jr., University of Pennsylvania; Robert Giles, Harvard University; Ralph Izard, Ohio University and the Manship School; John Pavlik, Rutgers; and Jan Slater, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

The essays written by the participants, as well as an edited transcript of the session, will be published by Drs. Hamilton and Osborne.
The Annual Surveys of Journalism & Mass Communication have been housed in the Cox Center since 1997. The Cox Center is a unit of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.

Click here to download Dr. Becker’s advance comments for the LSU discussion.

Click here for the biographical sketches of the participants in the meeting.

Click here to learn more about recent findings of the Annual Surveys of Journalism & Mass Communication.