ATENEO-ACFJ Alumni Online

The UNESCO model curricula for journalism December 9, 2008

Last year , the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) came up with a model curriculum for journalism courses, both for Master’s as well as undergraduate degrees. The curriculum was the result of the collaboration many journalism educators from all over the world suggesting what courses would make up a quality journalism education.

The M.A. curriculum suggests two approaches–one for those who have had undergraduate journalism training and another for those who don’t.

Below is the UNESCO section on the Master’s degree. You can also download the UNESCO curriculum from here.

(ACFJ alumni, please do go over the UNESCO curriculum. As you know, ACFJ is revisiting its own M.A. Journ curriculim and we’d like to hear your comments on the UNESCO’s suggestions. Looking forward to your comments).

MASTER’S DEGREE
In this document we offer two master’s curricula, one for students with little or no journalism background and one for students with a journalism bachelor’s degree or at least five years journalism experience. Both master’s programs in these curricula combine study in journalism with study in a second subject. We understand that some universities may not be able to offer both programs. If they choose to offer only the program designed for students with a journalism background they could
require other students to take make-up courses in journalism at the undergraduate level prior to admission to the master’s program. We do not recommend a one-year master’s degree in journalism. Nor would we recommend a master’s degree in journalism made up largely of coursework and research in the field of mass communications or mass media studies, though there may be a place in some journalism schools, especially those offering doctoral programs, for a master’s in
the academic study of journalism. In such cases, students would be required to take preparatory courses in scholarly research methods and in the literature of journalism.

A master’s degree in journalism promises a significantly higher standard of achievement in students’ knowledge and practice of journalism, as well as in their specialized knowledge of another subject. Students’ evidence-gathering capacity should show an advanced understanding of research methods, and they should write with more depth and style. In all journalism courses, they are expected to reflect deeply and rigorously on the practice of journalism, including the way stories are produced and the relevance of journalistic content for different target groups in society. Master’s students should emerge with the authority, in knowledge and
methods, to work at the most challenging levels of journalism practice.
Students with a good first degree in arts, science and/or other disciplines and little or no previous journalism education or experience, should concentrate in the first year of a two-year master’s program on the acquisition of journalism knowledge and skills of reporting and writing and media editing and production. They should have the opportunity to visit news media organizations and to benefit from lectures and
seminars conducted by practising journalists and from mentorship arrangements. At the same time, master’s students should sustain and develop their interest in the major discipline of their bachelor’s degree or in the subject in which they hope to specialize as journalists.

Students with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, and students with a bachelor’s degree in another discipline and at least five years of journalism experience, should concentrate in their first year on enriching their specialized knowledge of one arts or science subject (or combined field of study), while at the same time advancing their journalism knowledge and skills. The aim of this program is preparation for
the journalism of a specialized area; the program may also be adapted for students interested in media management. Students in this program should not be required to revise journalism material they have already studied in their bachelor’s degree or mastered during their journalism experience.

For students without previous journalism education or experience, the second year should offer further instruction in reporting and writing and in advanced research methods. For both groups, the second year should deepen their knowledge of their chosen subject area and give them intensive practice in reporting on the subject with authority.

(download model curriculum here).

Saving journalism July 27, 2008

Here’s something Dana Batnag wishes to share with everyone. It’s from a blog called My heat’s in accra, written by Ethan Zuckerman. This blog entry ponders the misgivings some journalists have about the future, and where those worrie are coming from.

It sounds awfully familiar.

There’s nothing like a meeting on the future of journalism to get you concerned about the future of journalism. While there are some brilliant and exciting ideas discussed at conferences like the Knight Foundation-sponsored meeting I attended yesterday, there’s also a very clear sense that some of the very basic questions surrounding the future of journalism remain unanswered. The biggest of those questions seems to be, “Who’s going to pay for it?” and I’ve not heard any very compelling new answers to the question lately.

Unfortunately, there’s still at least two strands of conversation that seem impossible to avoid at thee events, one cyberskeptic and one tech-utopian. The cyberskeptic strand is insistent on reminding us that blogging won’t replace journalism, that very little blogging is journalism and that we must continue training professional journalists. All true, but this argument often misses the point that the bloggers who do engage in journalism are often our best hope for high-quality, insightful, profesional journalism in the future, and that there need not be a wall between the two worlds. Many newspapers seem to be getting this, incorporating staff and citizen blogs into their coverage, and it surprises me that this conversation continues at these sorts of events. (Then again, maybe I’m too optimistic. Mark Glaser’s latest column suggests that journalists may be fleeing newsrooms because change isn’t happening fast enough.)

Read the full blog entry titled “Saving sections of the daily newspaper.”

The survival of the specie: Dana’s take July 23, 2008

We’re posting on our front page another reflection on the whole issue of the future of journalism. This is from Dana Batnag, originally in reaction to Zaky Yamani’s concerns.

It all started with the talk Leo Magno gave at the 3rd Forum of Emerging Leaders in Asian Journalism, and his rejoinder to some comments. Incidentally, Leo has replied to Zaky as well as to Vanitha Nadaraj.

Below is Dana’s take:

Here’s my two cents’ worth:

First, i would be happy if journalism becomes a hobby, because that means everyone finally has a voice. Not only that, it also means that people are finding the strength and the will to engage with others and to voice their opinions, which should strengthen popular democracy.

Second, we’re professionals. We’re trained and we have skills. I really don’t know what my boss thinks of me (and there are days when I’d rather not know), but I would like to think that I’m not totally worthless to the company. Some of us — especially the senior ones — might be overpaid, but our skills are still worth something in the marketplace, and I think we will always find a job – although it may not pay as much as we want. Also, one of the speakers showed the difference between a story written by a trained journalist (although new to multimedia reporting) and another done by a hobbyist, and of course the reporter did a better job of it.

Third, this is the reason why we have to keep on training and studying — because the marketplace is changing, and there are always younger people out there who are better trained and who are willing to work harder. That is a reality not only for reporters, but for everyone, regardless of the profession involved.

Fourth, while multimedia is much more demanding — I really can’t hold a videocam and take notes at the same time — it allows our readers to see for themselves what really happened. It takes out the gatekeeping function of the reporter because the videocam gives readers and viewers the raw data. I think this is good because it allows people to check if reporters have been biased or even wrong in their reporting. In the end, I think people will still choose a good, well-written story instead of the 2-minute video clip (unless it’s a demonstration of something, like a computer).

I’m not sure about this — everyone, please correct me here — but I think one attraction of multimedia to viewers is that it lets readers and viewers see and think for themselves. It presents different sides of the story, in a way that the written news has not been doing lately.