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Looking at a new degree system for journalism education

May 23, 2012, 9:53 a.m., Posted by Eric Newton – 1 Comment

infographic

 

We’ve gotten so much reaction on my recent journalism education reform speech, that my colleagues created an infographic to explain the new degree system I’m suggesting would make professionals and scholars equal. 

My basic argument is the “teaching hospital” model is the best for journalism and communication education in the digital age. To have a good teaching hospital, you have to have not just researchers but doctors. 

This system would have a professional master’s (as some schools do already) but also a professional doctorate (kind of like an MD).

The main feature of a new degree system would be to honor people who can do both scholarship and excellent journalism with a “higher doctorate” and a “higher master’s” that would outrank the other PhDs and Master’s degrees.

As I was working on the infographic, I realized that my original speech wasn’t entirely clear in the naming of the various degrees, so I’ve tweaked it to align with the graphic above.

By Eric Newton, senior adviser to the President at Knight Foundation

Comments

July 6, 2012, 8:25 p.m.

Peter Erikson

I think this thought-provoking speech has moved me to write an essay on the subject. For now, the gist: There is no question that journalism departments have lost their relevancy in the digital world, though it's a reflection on the industry as a whole.

The answer is not just to combine journalism and communications, but to pair them with, at the very least, English, linguistics, philosophy, tech writing, advertising, public relations and the literary arts. But there are much more important questions we need to ask ourselves first: If we can't prepare college students now (most simply can't write), imagine how it will be in the future. The California K-12 system is in a shambles, junior colleges are teetering and the cost of going to a university is going to explode once Pell grants disappear and most other aid is halted.

We are living in a profoundly different existence where jobs are scarce (the media does a woeful job reporting on this subject, never putting things into proper perspective but rather parroting the latest unemployment figures, which fluctuate wildly, and not factoring in the vast numbers of the dissociated and underemployed) and will most likely stay that way for years. Who will be the college students of tomorrow under this scenario?

Colleges must change in order to reflect this new world order, in which the traditional career trajectory -- first college, an internship, then perhaps graduate school and, finally, a lucrative job -- is no longer viable. We're not preparing young people for a job anymore, and we need to put our heads together and come up with a solution. Cities are going bankrupt -- in Stockton, you can't fight City Hall, but you can repossess it, as Wells Fargo did. Los Angeles could be next. We are at the precipice.

It's easy to dream and plan and scheme if you've got a nice job, but look around. I should be in the prime of my career and probably will never work full-time again. I'm not alone.

We journalists love to think that everyone should appreciate our craft, but where exactly does one work after acquiring the skills? the best and brightest don't want to become journalists anymore, and turning students into brilliant scholars with the aid of the craft is not going to happen. I could write all day. More to come ... Please excuse the probable typos and other gaffes ...

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