How Do You Educate a Journalist? The Competing Discourses of Journalism Education Nora French Thesis submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education University of Sheffield February 2005 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank a number of people for their support and assistance during my work on this thesis. Firstly, I am very grateful to my supervisor, Professor Gareth Parry, for his skilful, supportive and insightful guidance throughout the research process. This was backed up by the EdD staff in general and the class of 2000 who provided much intellectual stimulation and enjoyable company over the four years of the doctoral programme. I would like to thank my colleagues in DIT Aungier St, particularly those in the School of Media, for their interest and encouragement and also their forbearance as I completed the thesis. A special word of thanks to those from DIT who successfully completed the Ed.D. before me and who were generous in sharing their experience. I would like to mention Dr Tom Duff in particular in this regard. I also wish to acknowledge the kind assistance of Brian Trench of the School of Communications in Dublin City University for facilitating access to documentation which was crucial to my work. Finally and most importantly, my family and friends in their different ways provided me with support, advice and understanding over the last few years. They never doubted that I would reach the end, which was a great spur to bring the work to its completion. Table of Contents Page no. Abstract 1 Acronyms and Abbreviations 2 Chapter 1 Introduction 4 1.1 The research topic 4 1.1.1 Introduction 4 1.1.2 The problem 4 1.1.3 The research questions 6 1.1.4 The boundaries of the study 6 1.1.5 Significance of study 7 1.2 The context of the research 8 1.2.1 Journalism education in Ireland and elsewhere 8 1.22 The concept of journalism 9 1.2.3 The concept of journalism education 10 1.3 Research design 12 1.4 Positionality and ethics 13 1.5 Structure of thesis 15 Chapter 2 Journalism Education in Ireland 16 2.1 Introduction 16 2.2 The development of journalism education 17 2.2.2 The main programmes in journalism 17 2.2.3 Other programmes 20 2.2.4 The involvement of the NUJ 22 2.3 The current situation 25 2.3.1 The primary centres of journalism education 25 2.3.2 Journalists and journalism education 27 Chapter 3 What is Journalism? 29 3.1 Introduction 29 3.2 The role of the journalist 30 3.2.1 The traditional role 30 3.2.2 Journalism and democracy versus journalism 32 as business 3.3 Challenges to journalism 33 3.3.1 Consumerism 33 3.3.2 Weakening of democracy? 34 3.3.3 Information and communication technologies 36 3.3.4 Globalisation 38 3.4 Response to challenges 40 3.4.1 Journalism and media/communications 40 3.4.2 Reconceptualising journalism's role? 42 3.5 Journalism education 43 Chapter 4 Professional Journalism Education 45 4.1 Introduction 45 4.2 The concept of profession 45 4.2.1 What is a profession? 45 4.2.2 Knowledge 48 4.2.3 Public service 51 4.2.4 Autonomy 52 4.2.5 The professional project 54 4.3 Is journalism a profession? 54 4.3.1 Knowledgelcompetence 55 4.3.2 Public service 56 4.3.3 Autonomy 57 4.3.4 Professionalisation of journalism 57 4.3.5 Why was professionalisation not achieved? 60 4.4 Professional education 62 4.4.1 Professional education within higher education 62 4.4.2 The curriculum of professional education 64 4.5 Professional journalism education 67 4.5.1 Journalism in higher education 68 4.5.2 Models of professional education in journalism 72 Chapter 5 Critical Discourse Analysis as Methodology and Method 78 5.1 Introduction 78 5.2 Forms of analysis 78 5.2.1 Linguistic analysis 78 5.2.2 Discourse analysis 79 5.2.3 Critical discourse analysis 80 5.2.4 Critical Discourse analysis within Discourse Analysis 82 5.3 Theoretical foundations 84 5.3.1 Structuralism 84 5.3.2 Post-structural ism 85 5.3.3 Conflict, power and discourse 87 5.4 The analysis 90 5.4.1 Three dimensions of analysis 90 5.4.2 Text, discourse practice and social practice 91 5.4.3 Reflexivity 93 5.5 Research methods 95 5.5.1 A study of two cases 95 5.5.2 Data selection, analysis and sample size 96 5.5.3 Documents as research data 98 5.5.4 Criteria for evaluation 100 5.5.5 Ethics 103 5.6 Summary 104 Chapter 6 Level One Analysis: Core Texts 105 6.1 Introduction 105 6.2 The concept of journalism 106 6.2.1 Journalism or media? 107 6.2.2 Journalism a profession? 109 6.2.3 Public service, knowledge, autonomy 110 6.3 The concept of journalism education 112 6.3.1 Academic or vocational? 113 6.3.2 What model of professional education do the texts 114 outline? 6.3.3 Models of journalism education 118 Chapter 7 Level Two Analysis: Discourse Practice 121 7.1 Introduction. 121 7.2 Anal ysis of course modules 122 7.2.1 DCU modules 122 7.2.2 DIT modules 125 7.3 Concept of journalism 127 7.3.1 Journalism or media? 127 7.3.2 Journalism as a profession? 130 7.4 Concept of journalism education 132 7.4.1 Academic or vocational? 132 7.4.2 Knowledge-based or practice-based? 134 7.4.3 The Barnett, Parry and Coate model 135 7.4.4 Models of journalism education 136 7.5 Analysis of course rationale 137 7.5.1 DCU documents 137 7.5.2 DIT document 138 7.6 Concept of journalism 139 7.6.1 Journalism or media? 139 7.6.2 Journalism as a profession? 141 7.7 Concept of journalism education 146 7.7.1 Academic or vocational? 146 7.7.2 Knowledge-based or practice-based? 148 7.7.3 The Barnett, Parry and Coate model 150 7.7.4 Models of journalism education 151 Chapter 8 Level Three Analysis: Social Practice 153 8.1 Introduction 153 8.2 Concept of journalism 153 8.2.1 DCU, DIT 153 8.2.2 National and international education bodies 156 8.2.3 Academic and professional associations 158 8.2.4 Legislation, government reports on journalism 164 8.2.5 International bodies concerned with journalism 167 8.3 Concepts of education 169 8.3.1 DIT, DCU 169 8.3.2 Academic and professional associations 174 8.3.3 National policy 175 8.3.4 International policy 179 8.4 Summary 182 Chapter 9 Conclusions 184 9.1 Restatement of problem 184 9.2 Summary of findings 184 9.2.1 Concept of journalism 184 9.2.2 Concept of education 186 9.3 Discussion of issues 188 9.4 Methodology and positionality 194 9.5 Conclusions and implications for practice 196 9.5.1 Journalism 196 9.5.2 Journalism education 199 9.5.3 Developing journalism theory 201 9.6 Further research 205 Appendices Appendix 1 Research Outline 206 Appendix 2 Core Texts 207 Appendix 3 Course Modules 211 Appendix 4 Texts for Level Three Analysis 217 References 221 Abstract This research is concerned with the curriculum in an area of professional education, that of journalism. Competing concepts of journalism and journalism education exist which have led to variety and some confusion in the structure and content of educational programmes. The research investigates the beliefs and values underlying the two main undergraduate degree programmes in journalism in Ireland, at Dublin City University and the Dublin Institute of Technology, with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the issues involved. The study is set in the context of the more general debates on journalism education and professional education. As the topic is to do with meaning and language, a discourse analysis approach was used, specifically the method of critical discourse analysis developed in the work of Fairclough. This approach entails a comprehensive, multi-layered analysis starting from a small amount of data or core texts. The data used were documents. The brief published descriptions of the two courses served as the core texts; the analysis of which was further tested through examining documents detailing the course modules and course rationale. The third layer of analysis looked at the usage of the concepts in texts from the wider journalistic and educational contexts in which the courses were developed. Discrepancies were found in the concepts of journalism and journalism education within and between the texts at the different levels of analysis. There were differences in the perception of journalism as distinct from or part of the media in general, differences in the nuances attached to its role, and differences as to whether its status is that of a profession. The two curricula studied exemplify the two common journalism education models which are difficult to place within the conventional models of professional education. The findings of the study are discussed in so far as they have implications for practice. Acronyms and Abbreviations ACEJMC Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications AJE Association for Journalism Education BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BCI Broadcasting Commission of Ireland BJTC Broadcast Journalism Training Council CAO Central Admissions Office CDA Critical Discourse Analysis CDVEC City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee CFJ Centre de Formation des Journalistes CIT Cork Institute of Technology DA Discourse Analysis DCU Dublin City University DIT Dublin Institute of Technology DPS Discourse Psychologists ECTS European Credit Transfer System EEC European Economic Community EJT A European Journalism Training Association ESF European Social Fund EU European Union FCC Federal Communications Commission FETAC Further Education and Training Awards Council GCD Griffith College Dublin HE Higher Education HEA Higher Education Authority HETAC Higher Education and Training Awards Council IAMCR International Association for Media and Communications Research IBI Independent