Rethinking Journalism Education

By Doug White
Online Reporter

Attention teachers: Put down the chalk, stop drawing the inverted pyramid, and slowly walk away from the board. You can throw out the pica pole, too. At least for now.

After three years of researching the core principles journalists share, Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel think journalism education could use a makeover.

The authors recently published The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect, the culmination of the Committee of Concerned Journalists' intensive research of journalists and their readers, viewers and listeners.

According to Kovach and Rosenstiel, journalism instructors should teach critical thinking skills, intead of focusing on the craft from the last century.

Journalism and technology are changing so fast that much of what's being taught today revolves around outdated theories and soon-to-be obsolete equipment, both authors said.

"At a time like this of rapid change, it's important to teach the purpose of journalism as a way of knowing," Rosenstiel said in a recent phone interview. "The function of news does not change when you cross mediums."

Kovach and Rosenstiel preach that first and foremost, younger journalists need to understand the role and function of journalism in a democratic society. Students should have a strong grasp of the concepts of fairness, verification, balance, and skepticism.

"Too much journalism is taught in the way of techniques," Rosenstiel said. "The inverted pyramid is not a principle, it's a technique."

"There is nothing wrong with the inverted pyramid when you're dealing with limited space and a complex story," Kovach agreed. "But then you add the next layer. The focus should not be the tools; they are not the core of your being. What you teach is the journalistic way of knowing, a way of thinking."

Rosentiel said journalism educators could start by taking a look at the law school model.

Law schools don’t expect students to try court cases the day they graduate, said Rosenstiel. "They do think they’ll have taught students how to think like a lawyer, to understand the logic of law. They teach law as a way of thinking, a mental discipline. There's something there for journalism education."

The authors suggest teaching from the principles down to the practical. The authors advise teachers ask students guided, open-ended questions that lead to critical thinking and decision-making.

What is journalism supposed to do? How do you decide what stories to tell? How do you make the story more engaging so people pay attention?

These questions help students work out ways to meet the principles they identified for themselves.

"The Socratic part is the initial questioning," Rosenstiel said. "It's leading them (the students) toward a point, but they shape the conversation."

The next step is to encourage students to think about presenting the information in a thoughtful way that meets the audience's needs.

"Once you've learned to manage the information, then you pull out the toolbox," Kovach said. "You use the tools to produce the end result of that thinking. It’s a matter of focus and priorities."