“What journalism should we teach?” “How can the academy drive and lead change in practice?” These questions run like a red thread through a new publication produced by a collective of BU academics in the Journalism Education Research Group, based within the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice.
Challenges and New Directions in Journalism Education (Routledge) draws on original and innovative contributions from educators, practitioners and students – including BU alumni.
Some observers describe journalism as broken – accused of elitism and often branded as too far removed from the reality of people’s lives. Beleaguered by a persistent crisis of trust, journalists and journalism are often portrayed as core to the problem, rather than the solution. Inclusivity remains an urgent issue with news organisations and industry councils intensifying protocols in a bid to create more diverse newsrooms.
Against this background, Challenges and New Directions in Journalism Education engages with a series of key themes and objectives. These include discussions around safeguarding, sustainability, journalism’s ‘democratic deficit’, integrating media literacy, podcasting and the ‘post-pandemic’ context.
Each chapter draws on a research-informed approach: primary data, case studies and examples to describe and unpack the topic, and concludes with practical suggestions for journalism educators. The core tenet is the importance of listening — to the voices of students, the requirements of industry, and to each other.
The book was edited by Karen Fowler-Watt, with chapters written by several members of the Journalism Education Research Group: Andrew Bissell; Jaron Murphy; Graham Majin; David Brine; Michael Sunderland; Jo Royle; Max Mauro and Julian McDougall; and Fiona Cownie. BBC Newsround presenter and BU graduate De-Graft Mensah and ITV News reporter Daniel Henry also contributed chapters.
The book is accompanied by a podcast, in which the chapter authors expand on the final section of the book – Reflections. It concludes with a Manifesto for Change, drawn up by the authors, which is intended to spark a conversation within and between industry and the academy.
The podcast includes the findings of a ‘call and response’ exercise with final year students of BA (Hons) Multimedia Journalism. This exercise was discussed further in a podcast with journalism.co.uk. It also considers how journalism schools and news organisations can work together towards the shared goal of producing journalists that are ready to hit the ground running in industry.
Challenges and New Directions in Journalism Education is published by Routledge.
The 2 part podcast: I Challenges and II New Directions is available under ‘Support Materials’ for the book.
The journalism.co.uk podcast is available here.
