CC BY
88
A
Book Review
Journalism Education Worldwide: A Growing Academic Field
Prof. Dr. Sergey G. Korkonosenko
Saint Petersburg State University, Russia 7-9, Universitetskaya nab., St Petersburg, 199034 E-mail: s.korkonosenko@spbu.ru
"In fact, Global Journalism Education seems to be the first in 25 years to provide comparative journalism education case studies from six continents." This initial remark of the book editor characterizes unique content of the publication. The book has appeared thanks to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the World Journalism Education Congress, with great support of the publisher, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas, U.S. The partners were inspired by a set of general trends, such as the growth of journalism education, quantitatively and qualitatively; its significance for protecting world journalism from pressing threats; the necessity of internationalizing this field; the searching for the "best education" model in the 20th century, et cetera. That said, the anthology gives highly founded alternative response to those who skeptically declare "the death" of journalism education, as well as journalism as such. In this respect, it has an urgent importance for the Russian journalism educators and experts who meet the same problems at home.
The book composition combines few thematic divisions:
- Descriptive case studies in a wide range of countries;
- Conceptual chapters examining the past, present, and future of global journalism education;
- Empirical case studies detailing classroom innovations;
- Conclusive chapters with journalism education predictions and final observations on journalism education state and ways to improving.
Certainly, almost all chapters reveal the increasing of journalism education. The observers argue that it "has become one of the fastest growing academic fields in the world" [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 254]. For example, in India, there are about 700 universities with programs of varied scale, scope, and nomenclature. More and more students aspire to become media professionals. The same picture may be seen in other regions.
However, here it is necessary to make a comparison with the situation in our country. Special chapter "Journalism Education in Russia: How the Academy and Media Collide, Cooperate, and Coexist" was included in the book. Unfortunately, Moscow authors focused only on the history and experience from Lomonosov Moscow State University. But apart from this observation, exerts know well that in our state, aimed and strictly structured journalism education took its own origin in 1920s and 1930s, in different regions. Nowadays it is represented by a huge net of specialized university departments with greatly qualified staffs which provide students with fundamental teaching books on three educational levels. According
deep tradition, they combine practical training with research activities and forming proper professional ideology. The most of these organizations should be called scientific and pedagogic schools.
Not similar state of affairs exists in many countries shown in the anthology. Let's look at the descriptions.
Australia. Journalism education maintains "a particularly compliant relationship" to the news industry; journalism research in Australia usually receives more criticism than accolades from the broader scholarly community [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 25].
China. Journalism education is in crisis. First, it has yet to meet the demands of the job market. Second, a number of schools are desperately short of professional-track and/or journalist-turned-academic instructors. Third, faculty members' research needs to advance much quicker in many newly established programs. Fourth, the curricula offered by different journalism schools are essentially the same, lacking unique selling points to differentiate them. And finally, the paltry state-allocated funding for journalism programs is worsening the situation [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 82].
India. There is no monitoring and assessment specifically for journalism programs; journalism education is mostly referred to as "mass communication" or "media" education; research remains a low priority; journalists seem to be getting trained more in technology and skills rather than in critical-thinking and content [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, pp. 119, 124, 127].
Israel. Academic journalism education program was not established until the early 1990s , none of academic institutions created a department of journalism or departments of radio or television; journalism studies are considered relatively insignificant at universities, students can only choose from a handful of practical courses covering topics such as newsgathering, reporting, and editing [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, pp. 137, 143, 144].
The United Kingdom. Journalism training was carried out on the job in newspapers through the first two thirds of the 20th century, it only moved into universities and colleges in the 1970s and 1980s; first came postgraduate diplomas and from the early 1990s came undergraduate programs; most university journalism educators enter academia with practical experience only, only a few have teaching experience and practical experience [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 199, 208].
Of course, one can find more positive cases in the global educational practices, if wishes. But generally, our national legacy looks quite richer than pedagogical heritage of many neighbors. Obvious national priorities should be kept in mind while exchanging and discussing with foreign partners. By the way, rather surrealistic statement was placed in the book, as though in 1990s journalism education in Russia expanded rapidly - aided by U.S. and European educators [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 430].
Nevertheless Russian pedagogical community must perceive main concerns of the book team which today are typical for worldwide. The first one is balancing the conflicting demands of industry and the academy. In many chapters it was said that media professionals routinely criticize journalism educators for teaching too much theory and ideology, without relevant attention to the industry dynamics. From another side, many university colleagues look at journalism programs as "trade schools" with little redeeming academic value [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 431]. The old opposition of giving skills or knowledge still persists. Archaic approach prevails in teaching focused more on preparing students for industry-related jobs rather than developing critical-thinking "supercitizen" skills for changing society in positive ways.
Current public realities claim rethinking deontological basis of education. Mark Deuze argues that journalism educators need to decide once and for all whether the journalist is a neutral observer or a participant [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 321]. Then, from the internalization viewpoint, the book editor reminds on Western bias in journalism education worldwide and its influence on the construction of knowledge. Most such influence is based on
education systems founded on Western models and a prevalence of Western books, teaching materials, and English-language academic and professional journals [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 450]. This is a reaction to voices from the so-called world periphery, for example from South Africa in which scholars insist on national-based approach to teaching and on extricating from dependency on Western-orientated models of journalism education and training. In Russia, we feel pressing of Anglo-American domination, especially when domestic books are the re-telling of foreign materials in a different language and different cultural context. It will be interesting to watch how new, indigenously written materials will differ from the West in their conceptual directions and normative content [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 436].
The financial basis of education is of great interest and importance. There are no country chapters without complaints on low government subsidies. In this regard the U.S. practices deserve close attention. In this country various philanthropic organizations invest money in journalism education. They grant millions of dollars every year to universities and related organizations to support educational initiatives that align with foundation priorities. So, Henry-Sanchez and Koob foundation gifts of $146.4 million in grants for journalism education between 2009 and 2011. The two foundations gave nearly $20 million between 2005 and 2011 to develop a vision for 21st century (!) journalism education. As government funding for higher education is reduced, along with industry-specific funding for journalism education, financial support from grants and contracts is increasingly important. It should be added, American foundations primarily support education for the profoundly different digital age of communication [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 227, 228].
This advanced experience shows one of the ways to constructing the "best education" model in different world regions. And this is one of the effects of the collective book which serves to better understanding and improving within common field of activities. The productive ideas are proposed in the Epilogue: solve problems through increased contact with one another and with additional stakeholders worldwide, international student exchanges, and news literacy efforts directed toward educators, journalists, and citizens alike [Goodman & Steyn, 2017, p. 452].
References
Goodman, R.S. & Steyn, E. (Eds.) (2017). Global Journalism Education in the 21st Century: Challenges and Innovations. Austin: Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, University of Texas at Austin, 493 p. ISBN 13: 978-1-58790-388-5; ISBN 10: 1-58790-388-1
