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Journalism school

A journalism school is a school or department, usually part of an established university, where journalists are trained. An increasingly used term for a journalism department, school or college is 'J-School'. Many of the most famous and respected journalists of the past and present had no formal training in journalism, but learned their craft on the job, often starting out as copy boys/copy girls. Today, in many parts of the world it is usual for journalists to first complete university-level training which incorporates both technical skills such as research skills, interviewing technique and shorthand and academic studies in media theory, cultural studies and ethics.

Historically, in the United Kingdom entrants used first to complete a non media-studies related degree course, giving maximum educational breadth, prior to taking a specialist postgraduate pre-entry course. However, this has changed over the last ten years with journalism training and education moving to higher educational institutions. There are now over 60 universities in the UK offering BA honours degrees in journalism. Postgraduate courses are more well-established, some of which are either recognised by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) or the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ).

Contents

[edit] History

The first program for journalism education was introduced by former Confederate General, Robert E. Lee[1], during his presidency at Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Virginia, in the 1860s.[2] Both the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri founded by Walter Williams in 1908[3] and the Ecole Superieure de Journalisme in Paris, France founded in 1899[4] claim to be the worlds first journalism school. Although Paris's school opened its doors in 1899 after three years of internal debates, the question was discussed in Missouri since 1895. Since then the journalism school has become standard at most major universities.[citation needed]

[edit] Top journalism schools

There have been various attempts to rank journalism schools, and the question of which are the "best" or "top" journalism schools is frequently raised on the internet by students. Many institutions claim to be leading schools of journalism, and there is inevitably debate about which are the most appropriate criteria with which to evaluate and judge journalism schools. Awards are obvious indicators of a quality J-school, as are the quality of school graduates.

[edit] Australia and New Zealand

In Australia, a ranking of all journalism schools has been assembled based on graduating students' assessments of the quality of their courses. The top five journalism schools in Australia, based on student satisfaction ratings over four years, are (in order), Jschool Journalism College in Brisbane, University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, University of Western Sydney, Murdoch University in Western Australia and University of Technology in Sydney. Figures for the most recent year for which data is available (2008) indicate 100 percent satisfaction among students at Bond University and Jschool (both in Queensland), and 85-86 percent satisfaction among students at the Universities of Canberra, Newcastle and the Sunshine Coast.[1][self-published source?]. The New Zealand Training Organisation has published a list of New Zealand's journalism schools recognised by industry.[2]

[edit] Europe

The Centre de Formation des Journalistes ( CFJ[5]) was founded in 1946 by two Resistance leaders, although both Ecole Superieure de Journalisme of Paris and Lille had been founded earlier (1899 and 1924 respectively). Located on the rue du Louvre in Paris, many of the leading journalists in France today graduated from this school and come back to help train today's students. Other main French journalisme schools are École supérieure de journalisme de Lille, created in 1924, Ecole de journalisme de Sciences Po, CELSA, École supérieure de journalisme de Paris and Institut Pratique du Journalisme, all in Paris.

During the Third Reich, the Nazis established the Reichspresseschule (Imperial School of Press), in which journalists where taught to write what the National Socialist German Workers' Party wanted the german public to think. After the war, the first Journalism school in Germany was founded in 1949 as Werner Friedmann Institute. 1961 the schools name was changed into Deutsche Journalistenschule (German school of journalism). Today, the Deutsche Journalistenschule is often credited as the best school for journalism in the country.

Europe's most long-established postgraduate centre of journalism education is the highly-regarded School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University which was founded in 1970 by Sir Tom Hopkinson. The course was also the UK's top-rated course by the National Council for the Training of Journalists for the academic year 2007/8 [6]. The London School of Journalism (LSJ) is an independent and highly acclaimed institution with well-recognised Postgraduate programs in Journalism and writing.

London's City University, Sheffield, University of Central Lancashire, Liverpool John Moores and Kingston University also have well-respected journalism departments, and is developing fully converged journalism courses without reference to separate production disciplines such as radio journalism, newspaper journalism or magazine journalism. Issues from a European perspective in evaluating journalism schools are discussed by the president of the European Journalism Training Association: [3].

In Russia, the MSU Faculty of Journalism is the leading journalism school. The majority of textbooks on journalism in Russian were written by MSU scientists.

In Minsk (Belarus) The Institute of Journalism of BSU is one of the leading scientific and educational centers in the sphere of Mass Media on the territory of the former soviet countries. It possesses a high scientific and pedagogical potential and it's able to prepare high-qualified professionals of Mass Media ready to work in Belarus and abroad.

In Spain, the School of Communication of the University of Navarre is the most prestigious and many of the top journalists in Spain have studied in this School, founded in 1958.

[edit] Latin America

An evaluation of developments in journalism education in Latin America has been undertaken by Professor Rosental Calmon Alves [4].

JOURNALISM SCHOOLS IN COLOMBIA

In Colombia, the high court determined in 1998 that journalism was not a career. This High court said that journalism is a human right, not a profession.

Because of the ruling there are many schools of communications in Colombia where people study to work in mainly enterprises, but not in mass media

There are only two schools of journalism:

University of Antioquia, a public institution in Medellín, offers Journalism inside the Communications faculty.[7] And University of Rosario in Bogot�¡, a private institution offers Public Opinion Journalism[8]

[edit] North America

A listing (unranked) of Canadian journalism schools has been assembled by Canadian-Universities.net [5]. Journalism schools are listed and classified on the "J-Schools & Programs" page of The Canadian Journalism Project

In the United States the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) [6] applies nine standards in evaluating university programs: mission, governance and administration; curriculum and instruction; diversity and inclusiveness; full-time and part-time faculty; scholarship: research, creative and professional activity; student services; resources, facilities and equipment; professional and public service; and assessment of learning outcomes. The ACEJMCC has awarded accreditation to 109 university and college programs of study in journalism and mass communications, but does not attempt to rank the courses or programs. It accredits colleges, schools, Departments or "Divisions. The listing of a unit as accredited indicates that the unit has been judged by ACEJMC to meet its standards. That judgment is rendered after a self-study prepared by the faculty and administration of the unit and an independent evaluation of the unit by educators and practitioners.The listing shows the bachelor's and professional master's degree programs that were examined during the unit's most recent accreditation review. Some units offer degrees in addition to those listed here. ACEJMC does not accredit programs leading to the Ph.D., which is considered a research (and not a professional) degree. The Council does not list sequences or specialties.

Editor & Publisher has presented an unranked list of leading journalism schools [7], while U.S. News & World Report produces annual lists of the top schools in advertising, print, and other categories based on responses to questionnaires sent to deans and faculty members. A list based on a variety of resources claims to identify the "ten most popular journalism schools in the United States"[8]. One critic has pointed to the anecdotal nature of much j-school ranking in the absence of effective tracking of journalism graduates' career paths [9].

[edit] Debate about the role of journalism schools

One of the most cited critiques of a journalism school was Michael Lewis's article in The New Republic (1993), "J-school ate my brain" ([10]), which was strongly criticized by University of Maryland College of Journalism dean Reese Cleghorn in American Journalism Review: [11]. Discussion of the issues raised by Lewis was evident a decade later in the Chronicle of Higher Education colloquy on journalism education, [12], Columbia Journalism Review's "Searching for the perfect j-school", [13], and "The j-school debate" in the Christian Science Monitor, [14]. Alternative approaches to journalism education were suggested in Jack Shafer's Slate article "Can J-school be saved? Professional advice for Columbia University" [15]. An article in The Australian discusses "What makes a good school of journalism".[16].

On the internet, a range of weblogs have been set up by journalism students to chronicle or to criticize their journalism colleges. Examples are: [17], [18], [19], [20]. An example of a weblog criticising university journalism education in Australia is [21]. One journalism school in the UK, at the University of Westminster, has established a clearing house where all students are expected to contribute to the development and content of their own education and training using blogs.

Various commentaries on journalism education are related to criticisms of contemporary news media standards and values. One example is a paper by Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab: the Institute for Interactive Journalism [22]. A controversial paper to Australia's peak newspaper industry body PANPA (Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association) by Professor John Henningham ("Journalism sold short in media courses") blamed industry lack of interest and university cost-cutting for falling standards in journalism education [23]. In Canada, Mark Anderson[disambiguation needed] of the Ottawa Citizen has argued the case for teaching business journalism in college rather than on the job [24]. Canadian journalism professor Rick MacLean has rejected criticism by Robert Fulford ("Just what is the point of j-school") that the best potential journalists will find their way into the media, while many existing j-school students show no interest in news or the media. MacLean argues that education in journalism helps empower members of the public to understand how media work.[25].

[edit] List of journalism schools and programs

[edit] United States

[edit] Canada

[edit] Latin America

[edit] Asia

[edit] Australia and New Zealand

[edit] Europe

[edit] Africa

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links



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