WJEC Declaration of Principles of Journalism Education

Declaration of Principles of Journalism Education
World Journalism Education Congress
Singapore, June 2007

We, the undersigned representatives of professional journalism education associations share a concern and common understanding about the nature, role, importance, and future of journalism education worldwide.  We are unanimous that journalism education provides the foundation as theory, research, and training for the effective and responsible practice of journalism. Journalism education is defined in different ways.  At the core is the study of all types of journalism.

Journalism should serve the public in many important ways, but it can only do so if its practitioners have mastered an increasingly complex body of knowledge and specialized skills.  Above all, to be a responsible journalist must involve an informed ethical commitment to the public.  This commitment must include an understanding of and deep appreciation for the role that journalism plays in the formation, enhancement and perpetuation of an informed society.

We are pledged to work together to strengthen journalism education and increase its value to students, employers and the public.  In doing this we are guided by the following principles:

1.    At the heart of journalism education is a balance of conceptual, philosophical and skills-based content. While it is also interdisciplinary, journalism education is an academic field in its own right with a distinctive body of knowledge and theory.

2.    Journalism is a field appropriate for university study from undergraduate to postgraduate levels.  Journalism programs offer a full range of academic degrees including bachelors, masters and Doctor of Philosophy degrees as well as certificate, specialized and mid-career training. 

3.    Journalism educators should be a blend of academics and practitioners; it is important that educators have experience working as journalists.

4.    Journalism curriculum includes a variety of skills courses and the study of journalism ethics, history, media structures/institutions at national and international level, critical analysis of media content and journalism as a profession.  It includes coursework on the social, political and cultural role of media in society and sometimes includes coursework dealing with media management and economics.  In some countries, journalism education includes allied fields like public relations, advertising, and broadcast production.

5.    Journalism educators have an important outreach mission to promote media literacy among the public generally and within their academic institutions specifically.

6.    Journalism program graduates should be prepared to work as highly informed, strongly committed practitioners who have high ethical principles and are able to fulfill the public interest obligations that are central to their work.

7.    Most undergraduate and many masters programs in journalism have a strong vocational orientation.  In these programs experiential learning, provided by classroom laboratories and on-the-job internships, is a key component.

8.    Journalism educators should maintain strong links to media industries.  They should critically reflect on industry practices and offer advice to industry based on this reflection.

9.    Journalism is a technologically intensive field.  Practitioners will need to master a variety of computer-based tools.  Where practical, journalism education provides an orientation to these tools.

10.    Journalism is a global endeavor; journalism students should learn that despite political and cultural differences, they share important values and professional goals with peers in other nations.  Where practical, journalism education provides students with first-hand experience of the way that journalism is practiced in other nations.

11.    Journalism educators have an obligation to collaborate with colleagues worldwide to provide assistance and support so that journalism education can gain strength as an academic discipline and play a more effective role in helping journalism to reach its full potential.

Comments

[Mindy McAdams]

Thanks for posting this in a readable format, Rebecca! It's also easy to link to. And it already Googles. Well done!

[Rebecca MacKinnon]

Hi Mindy, thanks. Ideally the WJEC should have posted it themselves as a linkable HTML page rather than just a PDF. Then they could have benefitted from the links and the Google juice themselves. But oh well.

[Martin Hirst]

It's interesting that this declaration is now going up on blogsites. I put it on mine a few days ago. I was in Singapore for the conference and I must say I'm a little disappointed with this statement of principles. In my mind it does not inspire or reflect the passion that drives most journalists and journalism educators.
To be honest I think it's fairly wimpish and bland. Nothing to really complain about, but also nothing to get fired up for either.
I get out of bed each day thinking about how I can best inspire and teach the next generation of news hounds. I'm afraid if my work was to live or die by these principles, I'd probably rather be driving a cab in New York. At least that would be exciting and get the blood pumping.
Cheers from Aotearoa
M

[Lim Wing Hooi]

Hi Rebecca! I am a final year journalism student in a private university here in Malaysia.

I stubled upon your blog when I keyed in journalism education in Malaysia my the search engine. So when I read the first thing on your blog was this declaration, what can I say? I thoroughly agree with your opinion that there is nothing to get fired up with this declaration. To me, it translate to as good as not having one at all.

I am currently doing a qualitaitve study on journalism education in Malaysia from the perspectives of practitioners. It is more of a sociological approach where I try to understand the practitioners- what made them fires up, what made them soldiered on despite the odds, etc but above all, what made them stay in the field. I guess journalism schools, then should enculcate this 'secrets' that seems to be common sense to the practitioners and are now becoming almost unheard of?

Who would want to enter journalism today, with its irregular hours, low pay and the danger of challenging authorities or the powerful? Who would still believe in giving voice to the voiceless, to champion the welfare of the weak, etc?

Does journalism schools even care about firing up all these ideals in the classroom, hoping they the students will battle it out in the newsroom when their time comes?

Another glaring problem is that education is becoming more expensive these days, and students who pay a bomb to attend a j-school might just find a higher paying job in another field, say corporate communications, or even hired by spin agencies. Of course they can pay more. So where do we go? Are students trained to be good workers or are they trained to nurture their ideals?