Contact Linda Davis, associate dean, School of Journalism, (785) 864-0613
or [email protected], or
Todd Cohen, University Relations, (785) 864-8858 or
[email protected]
Note to editors: The entire new course list is available upon request.
Example: Reporting I is now called Multimedia Reporting. Ethics class now required of all j-school students.
KU SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM ADOPTS NEW 'CONVERGENT MEDIA' CURRICULUM
LAWRENCE -The University of Kansas School of Journalism will begin the new millennium with a new curriculum that capitalizes on such technological advances as the Internet while maintaining the school's noted attention to strong editing and writing.
James K. Gentry, dean of the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications, said that the future media industry will require young professionals with excellent critical thinking skills who can communicate in an era of "convergent media."
"Convergence" is a growing trend in all forms of media. One type of convergence combines print, broadcast and Internet newsrooms into one news and information operation. Under this model, journalists are increasingly reporting for print, Internet and broadcast media simultaneously. At the same time, persuasive communicators are taking a more strategic approach to the advertising and public relations messages they develop. For all media organizations, today's environment includes changes in technology, economics and business structures.
"Universities need to reflect these changes," Gentry said. "Both journalists and those who communicate on behalf of private and public organizations must be able to work in the multimedia environment of the future. At the same time, we intend to keep the core values that have served our graduates well over the more than half a century of journalism education at KU."
The new curriculum will apply to students entering college as freshmen in the fall of 2000. Students now enrolled at KU may complete the current curriculum and take new courses as electives. The curriculum change will not delay anyone's graduation.
The new curriculum has a required core of four courses: Media and Society; Research and Writing; First Amendment and Society; and Ethics and the Media. All students will take the first two required courses in the basic core and then will choose one of two tracks of study. Students may elect to study the multimedia News and Information track or the Strategic Communication track which covers promotional careers including advertising and public relations.
The school already offers students four working media experiences -- the University Daily Kansan student newspaper, KJHK student radio, KUJH TV-14 student television and Digital Jayhawk, a student-run Internet news and information service at www.digitaljayhawk.org.
"Chancellor Robert Hemenway and I are pleased that the School of Journalism has found a way to integrate its current strengths into a forward-looking curriculum that is built on critical and creative thinking," said Provost David E. Shulenburger. "Journalists throughout the nation respect the school for its intense focus on writing and editing, and those skills remain at the core of the new courses."
The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, journalism's national accrediting body, has already praised the new curriculum. In its 1999 report that evaluated the school, the association recognized the school for "pioneering efforts to prepare students for media convergence."
"We were pleased that the accreditation team appreciated our efforts to be a leader in new curricula," Gentry said. "One member of the team told Chancellor Hemenway that students are getting as good an educational experience in our school as anywhere in the country. Our new curriculum helps ensure that that will remain true.
"This coursework will better prepare our students for the exciting changes they'll encounter," Gentry said. "We've studied the career paths of recent graduates and factored in the changes introduced by the Internet." Gentry cited books, such as "Being Digital," in which author Nicholas Negroponte of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology states what used to be newspapers, magazines, videocassettes and records "is about to become the instantaneous and inexpensive transfer of electronic data that move at the speed of light."
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