The role of work-integrated learning in preparing journalism students for the workplace

Over a broad spectrum, South African employers complain about the workplace readiness of newly graduated tertiary students. It is against this background that this article explores the role of work-integrated learning (WIL) in preparing tertiary journalism students for a work environment. Over the years, internship programmes in academic journalism training have proved to be the most efficient way to prepare students for the workplace. At the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa, a six month work-integrated learning module, in which the media and communication industry were directly involved, proved crucial for the success of the journalism training programmes and was widely accepted and welcomed by employers and industry mentors. This article investigates the importance of preparation for WIL in the field of journalism. It further examines how undergraduate journalism students perceive the WIL programme and how they work towards rendering themselves employable in the media industry. The findings indicate that a combination of theory and practical training is important in journalism education to produce graduates who are work ready

Comments on the Sanef media audit: a new news culture is facing the media and journalism educators: the time to act is now!

This omnibus article deals with some of the comments received by the authors of the Sanef media audit (see p. 11) of the edition of Ecquid Novi). As Mark Deuze, one of the commentators puts it: The threats and challenges to contemporary journalism have caused scholars, publics, journalists, and thus journalism educators, to reconsider their approaches, definitions, roles, and function in community and society. Widely recognized as the four main changes or challenges facing education programmes in journalism are: the multicultural society; the rise and establishment of infotainment genres; the convergence of existing and new media technologies (cf. multimedia); and the internationalization or ‘glocalization’ of the media and journalism playing field. The four mentioned challenges and developments could be seen as reflected in the 2002 Sanef audit. The report particularly stresses the ‘new culture’ within which journalists are expected to do their work. This is a culture determined by fragmented audiences; a widening gap between journalists and their publics; and an increased need for quality information. It is also a culture of enhanced interactivity and media accountability; intercultural communication; recognition of cultural diversity; and dealing with ‘nonhierarchical’ management styles. Journalism education, in other words, is gearing up to face a tough challenge: keeping the best practices of the teaching context and practical skills courses on the one hand, and including cultural and critical reflective didactics on the other. This is not the traditional theory versus skills debate of old—this is definitely something ‘new’—as is clearly shown in the Sanef audit. In this respect the Sanef audit stands out for its discourse of emphasizing changes in journalism and news culture, rather than simply advocating more or less theory- or skills-based curricula

Enkele indrukke oor aspekte van Suid-Afrikaanse joernalistieke opleiding

Eleven years ago the South African journalism fraternity got a huge wake-up call following a damning journalism skills audit report in which some serious shortcomings concerning professionalism in newsrooms were   highlighted. Naval-gazing by the majority of the media role players (educators and industry) agreed with most of the findings of the South African National Editors’ Forum’s first skills report published in May 2002 (Sanef 2002a). This was followed by a second audit in 2004 focusing on the state of middle management skills in the same environment with much the same conclusion concerning skills gaps that needed urgent attention (Sanef   2004). In this article answers to the research questions give an overview of some of the impressions of leading South African educators and trainers around an age-old question of what could be the answer to the “correct” way of training newcomers to the profession and what is perceived as the biggest stumbling block in teaching entry-level journalists. This is certainly nothing new, but the answers received are presented and deliberated on against the background of the author’s personal experience as a practising journalist and journalism educator over a period of 40 years. It may be that in certain areas of journalism practice and journalism education opportunities have gone begging and lessons could have been learnt. At the same time acknowledgement should be given for efforts made to counter the sometimes wild and opportunistic claims that the quality of journalism practice and education in South Africa leaves much to be desired

Simplifying financial reports for the average news consumer: a study of some South African newspapers

This article investigates the perceived accessibility of business news in some South African newspapers of which the target reader is the average consumer of news in a predominantly black readership market. A sample of readers and editors/journalists were interviewed as part of an explorative, qualitative research design. The respondents were of the opinion that newspapers, such as City Press, Sowetan and Sunday World, fail to write business articles that are easily understandable because the financial jargon used in stories confounds the average news consumer. However, 95% of the respondents agreed that the business section of Daily Sun uses simple language in its reporting. It is argued that a new set of guidelines to report business or financial news is needed to rectify the status quo. Eight guidelines for reporting business news for the average news consumer are proposed

Using the information needs of internet users in combating disruptive innovations in the newspaper industry

This article focuses on the relatively new concept of disruptive innovation, which has proved to be a useful analytical tool for understanding how technological innovation can play an important role in shaping many industries in society. The impact of disruptive innovations is perceived as a serious problem by most traditional newspapers, and even as threatening the future existence of the newspaper industry in its current form. Also relevant is the so-called Newspapernext strategy, a four-step strategy designed specifically for newspapers concerned about the impact of disruptive innovations. The first of the four steps to combat disruptive innovations consists of determining the information needs of a sample representing a potential new market for the newspaper. The study described in this article consists of an online survey of information needs, conducted amongst a randomly drawn sample of South African Internet users, and is an application of the first phase of the Newspapernext strategy. The article identifies and discusses patterns of information needs found among the respondents, and makes suggestions on how the findings can be implemented by newspapers wishing to proactively combat disruptive innovations

Exploring Twitter reporting and best practices in a South African news organisation

Twitter journalism is a new phenomenon with limited local research that identifies specific models for the dissemination of news that could be used in a South African newsroom context. Identifying best practises when using Twitter alongside a primary medium of news production is crucial to understanding how to harness the potential of this social networking site. Methods to train reporters in using Twitter as a journalism tool as well as an awareness of the ethical implications pertaining to the incorporation of Twitter in mainstream news, also need to be established. This article identifies Twitter journalism in the South African context by using a local news organisation, Eyewitness News (EWN), as case study. Self-administered questionnaires and interviews were used to collect qualitative data from reporters and senior editorial staff. Based on the findings, guidelines are provided for a localised Twitter journalism model, which could be used when developing media policies, newsroom production strategies, journalism training courses and ethical guidelines that encompass the use of social media tools as necessities in mainstream newsrooms