Showing papers in "Journalism & Mass Communication Educator in 1998"

Effects of Internship Predictors on Successful Field Experience

Abstract: Internships have become a necessity for mass communication students making the transition from college to career. Researchers note this necessity: Kosicki and Becker (1995) report that 80 percent of journalism and mass communication undergraduates serve as interns. Rowland (1994) found that an internship is the "deciding factor" for most entry-level jobs, and Horowitz (1997) found that students' assessments of internship quality are significant predictors of future job satisfaction. Mass communication programs recognize this necessity with most assisting students in locating internships (Basow & Byrne,1993) and many offering academic credit. The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) recognizes the legitimacy of internship credit, allowing credit for up to 10 percent of a student's course work (ACEJMC,1997). However, there is little empirical evidence to assess the quality of internships, to provide schools with predictors of quality internships, or to determine the relative importance of various predictors in assuring successful internships. This study deals with such evidence. Its purpose is to assess the relationship between two sets of linearly related variables: predictors of internship success and outcomes of successful internships. The characteristics of advertising and public relations interns and their internships are used as predictors. Interns' evaluations of the success of their internships are used as outcomes, or criterions. Focusing on the nature and strength of the relationships between predictors and outcomes, this study seeks to determine what needs to occur during an internship in order for beneficial outcomes to be realized. Predictors Six important predictors of internship success are suggested in the literature. These include: (a) academic preparedness, (b) proactivity/aggressiveness, (c) positive attitude, (d) quality of worksite supervision, (e) organizational practices and policies, and (fl compensation. Academic preparedness. Several researchers note that successful interns are well prepared academically (Basow & Byrne, 1993; Beard, 1997; Campbell & Kovar, 1994). For many programs, academic preparation includes a specific number of completed credits, including a number of mass communication courses with an acceptable grade point average. Bourland-Davis, Graham and Fulmer (1997) note that interns should at least have "an understanding of the field, its key concepts, and basic technological skills, especially writing" (p. 27). The importance of academic preparedness is emphasized by Basow and Byrne (1993), who warn that some students should be cautioned "against attempting some internships prematurely" (p. 52). Similarly, Beard (1997) notes that one of the most significant findings from his study of interns is "that academic preparation leads to more and better opportunities on most internships" (p. 8). Proactivity/aggressiveness. The literature indicates that students are more likely to have successful internships if they demonstrate initiative (Basow & Byrne,1993; Beard,1997) and are aggressive in making their wants and needs known. Basow and Byrne, for instance, recommend that students be encouraged to be aggressive by volunteering for assignments and asking questions. Similarly, Beard (1997) notes that there is an "almost universal assumption" among interns and their supervisors that interns should demonstrate initiative by finding things to do and asking questions (p.10). Beard also found that when interns make their wants and needs known, their supervisors generally respond positively. Positive attitude. The literature suggests that students will more likely have a successful internship if they have a positive attitude toward it as both a learning and occupational experience. In his study of interns and their supervisors, Beard (1997) found that both groups emphasized the importance of interns treating almost any task as a potential learning experience. …

Photo-Elicitation Method Gives Voice and Reactions of Subjects

Abstract: Visual anthropologist John Collier Jr. 1and visual sociologists Douglas Harper,2 Jon Wagner,3 and Dona Schwartz4 have known for years the value of photo-elicitation as a research tool. More recently, some graduate students studying visual communication at the University of Missouri-Columbia have used this fieldwork technique to help them better understand their own photography and the work of others.5 Photo-elicitation is of particular interest here because of a research assignment given in a graduate course that examines the role of photography in society. Because this research tool can help students become more connected with their work, photo-elicitation can be put to use in a variety courses where photography is studied, including media ethics or mass communication and society. Method Rather than strictly relying on what the creator or critics say about a body of work, students can go straight to the source, in a manner of speaking. Photojournalists rarely take their images back to their subjects to learn what the subject thinks of the work, primarily because of the press of deadlines. However, for those interested in feedback from their subjects, the photo-elicitation method can reverse the roles of researcher (photographer) and subject, according to research.er Douglas Harper. "As the informant studies images of his or her world and then talks about what elements mean, the interview produces information that is more deeply grounded in the phenomenology of the subject. A photograph, a literal rendering of an element of the subject's world, calls forth associations, definitions, or ideas that otherwise go unnoticed," he adds.6 In the photo-elicitation method, photographic techniques rarely are at issue; instead, what often brings forth a wealth of information from the subjects are images "... that the photographer might have considered, from his or her own cultural perspective, too 'boring' or 'commonplace' even to consider using."7 For this class assignment, the actual subjects from a book are not shown the photographs (obvious logistical problems prevent this), but a person who is intimately familiar with the subject is interviewed instead. Students who elect to do this particular assignment (see Exhibit 1) are encouraged to pick a book that focuses on such delicate and sometimes explosive subjects as domestic abuse, AIDS, civil rights, homosexuality, or drug addiction.8 This assignment requires students to find people to interview who are - or were - representatives of that group (for example, finding women or men who were directly involved in domestic abuse and then showing them Donna Ferrato's Living with the Enemy). In our case, Anne-Marie Woodward, a graduate student in photojournalism, wanted to do an independent study project in which she would share Larry Clark's controversial Tulsa with three recovering drug addicts living in Atlanta, where she formerly resided. Woodward conducted separate photo elicitation sessions in late November 1997 with three individuals she met through friends and acquaintances in Atlanta. Whitney N., 34, used heroin for three years; Catherine M., 28, used IV drugs for nine months; and Adam P., 27, used IV drugs for four years. All agreed to have their interviews tape recorded.9 Students like Woodward who study the work of award-winning photojournalist Eugene Richards, author of Cocaine True, Cocaine Blue, often admire Richards' gritty realism and incredible access to the world of illegal drugs. However, few of today's students are aware that more than two decades earlier photographer Larry Clark published a raw, unflinching look at the drug use he and his friends engaged in during the 1960s. Like The Americans by reclusive EXHIBIT 1 RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT FOR PHOTOGRAPHY IN SOCIETY (EDITED FOR SPACE) During the second half of the semester, we are studying a variety of work that could be interpreted either as furthering our understanding of people outside the mainstream or as exploiting them. …

Textbooks and Teaching: A Lesson from Students

Abstract: Doctoral degrees are awarded in curriculum and instruction. Annual compendia offer strategies for improving classroom teaching performance. Methods for interacting with students, raising their interest and increasing their achievement are taught in workshops, conferences and education classes across the nation. The only element in the teaching mix that receives little attention is the backbone of almost every college course: the textbook.1 This study is an assessment of college textbooks by the second most authoritative source: the students who use them. The investigation appraises the value of college texts as perceived by a general population of students at two U.S. universities. These general findings about texts are compared with findings about mass communication textbooks from a sample of such students at a wide variety of programs across the country. The study offers a depth probe of the specific aspects of a textbook that college students say make it either a valuable learning tool or an impediment to learning. As perhaps the only study of its kind, and with a sample of 1,170 students, the findings offer some surprisingly satisfying outcomes for mass communication teachers and recommendations of what all teachers should consider before adopting a textbook. Background With so much riding on textbooks - teachers building their course content around the text and expecting students to learn from the text - it is peculiar that so few empirical studies exist about college textbooks. This review presents what is known about college textbooks and offers considerations about the content and presentation of college texts that underpin the study's hypotheses. Research studies on mass communication texts are reviewed. College textbooks. Instructors at the college level have considerable latitude in selecting a text compared with their pre-college peers,2 and the research is clear about textbooks' instructional value. They serve as effective tools in improving the quality of education and have great influence on teaching and learning.3 For college teachers, texts develop guidance to the subject and can help measure how students' motivation is influenced by the nature of academic tasks in classrooms.4 Textbooks provide uniform content for individual college students to study according to their own ability, motivate greater involvement and help instructors, especially the beginners, to design their courses.5 Students find textbooks easier to read than primary source material, which leads to higher "self-efficacy perceptions for understanding the course" and more "motivated behavior" for students. Students are most affected when texts provide clear and comprehensible information that is neither too similar nor too contradictory to their current knowledge.6 A text's readability is an important consideration even at the college level. The same readability formulas used to assess mass media are employed for textbooks with nearly the same result: debate about the formulas' ability to determine a text's grade level and whether sentence structure equates to clarity of meaning.7 Yet the text's reading level is considered extremely important to student success in a class.8 In all, the literature views college textbooks as being equally essential to students' understanding and achievement as those at pre-college levels, with the additional advantage being that teachers have more responsibility in selecting texts. Textbook content criteria. Because most college faculty do choose their own texts, what should they look for and what might students suggest about a helpful text? The content is divided into three areas: (a) the textual writing, (b) the cues that help interpret the writing, and (c) all other aspects of a textbook. Of the three content dimensions, textual writing has received the most research attention because it deals with reading skills, readability and cognitive aspects of the learning process. …

The Troubles of Journalism: A Critical Look at What's Right and Wrong with the Press

Abstract: Hachten,William A. (1998). The Troubles of Journalism: A Critical Look at What's Right and Wrong With the Press. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 188 pp. Paperback, $21.50. Hardback, $45. Soon-to-be journalists who read William Hachten's The Troubles of Journalism - as all of them should - may be forgiven for considering some other line of work-one that's less estranged from its historic ideals. Hachten, a longtime journalism educator with a background in newspapers, approaches his role as press critic with a scholar's thoroughness (he lists 123 references) and a reporter's unmincing directness. His overview of the news media today is not the equivalent of Upton Sinclair's expose of the slaughterhouse floor, but at times it's about that reassuring. Here are once-grand newspapers, now chain-owned, that have made "Faustian bargains with the devil" in order to drive up circulations and profits. Their pages choked with the kind of O.J.-Bobbitt-MenendezJonBenet garbage long celebrated in the cheesier tabloids, these dailies meanwhile are turning their backs on public-affairs reporting, sober analysis, and overseas news that were once staples of the serious press. (Hachten agrees that some great papers still provide their original, nourishing fare, but even The New York Times has added dozens of soft-serve columns including "Pop View" and, for fans of high fashion, "Runways.") Here are the once-great television networks, the erstwhile homes of Cronkite and Chancellor and Murrow, where the likes of Connie Chung could now be found "seriously interviewing Tonya Harding," where news budgets have been bled almost to death, and where talk shows spew out an endless volume of "wild theories, delicious gossip, and angry denunciations with gleeful abandon." Here are the readers who have stopped reading, the young who have never started reading, the viewers who have stopped viewing, and the mainstream Americans who have decided - with some reason - that news people by and large are biased, corrupt, cynical elitists obsessed with the negative and the trivial. Unless you're very young or out of touch with the journalism reviews and journals, you've heard most of this before. Probably there are no new observations or groundbreaking ideas in Hachten's dismaying study of the state of the media. But there's a lot to be said for a lively, provocative synthesis of material - in only 188 pages - that every student ought to face before embarking on a media career. One can imagine the book's great value, for instance, to students in mass-media survey, history, or ethics courses. …

Evaluating Service Learning in the Communication Discipline

Abstract: Educators across the country have begun to incorporate service learning into courses as varied as photography, landscape architecture, civil engineering, and philosophy. Service learning - an innovative pedagogy that takes students into the community in order to provide a needed service to organizations as well as to enhance academic learning-has witnessed a tremendous surge in popularity in recent years. Numerous disciplines have integrated service learning into their curricula, prompting academic conference sessions, an academic journal devoted to service learning, and a series of monographs (see Droge & Murphy, in press). Communication educators also have recognized that service learning and communication coursework can be a good match, offering students a chance to put communication principles into practice. For example, students in public relations courses can write news releases or public service announcements for non-profit agencies needing publicity. Students learning about communication research can conduct focus groups for a public broadcasting station. Video production students can create videos for organizations trying to attract members or raise money. Despite the "fit" between many communication courses and service learning as well as the services provided to community organizations, insufficient research has investigated student perceptions of their service learning experiences as well as actual learning outcomes. This study examined students' service learning experiences in multiple courses taught within a communication department. Service learning literature Although scholars are not in agreement on how students best learn, considerable attention in the past few decades has focused on what might be called learner-centered or learner-directed kinds of learning. such as cooperative learning, experiential learning and service learning. A common element of these pedagogies is providing students with more direct, hands-on experience with the material being learned. Although the term "service learning" is relatively new, its central tenets can be traced back to John Dewey, who strongly maintained that a primary goal of education was to help students become involved, active citizens of the democracy (see Giles & Eyler, 1994, for a discussion of the theoretical roots of service learning in Dewey). Similarly, the focus of today's service learning movement is the connection between the goals of academic learning and the goals of the community. As with many educational pedagogies, precise definitions are difficult to articulate due to the varied contexts in which they are practiced. Olney and Grande (1995) note two characteristics that commonly distinguish service learning from other forms of student involvement in the community: "(1) students engage in active reflection on their community experience, and (2) community learning is linked to academic learning" (p. 43). This study uses a definition of service learning condensed from the National Community Service and Trust Act of 1993, and adopted by American Association of Higher Education: Service learning means a method under which students learn and develop a thoughtfully organized service that: is conducted in and meets the needs of a community and is coordinated with an institution of higher education and with the community; helps foster civic responsibility; is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students enrolled; and includes structured time for the students to reflect on the service experience. An important distinction noted by scholars between "volunteering" and established service learning programs is the potential for service learning to be more fully integrated into existing curricula. Wutzdorff and Giles (1997) viewed integration as a primary strength of institutionalized service learning and expressed optimism that "so many solid programs grow from well-intentioned volunteerism to closely integrated components of institutional curricula" (p. …

The Impact of IMC on Advertising and Public Relations Education

Abstract: Advertising and public relations graduates often question their preparedness for employment. For its part, the two industies are often vocal in their assertion that educators are somehow failing to train effective, job-ready communicators. Many critics point to a growing practice in the advertising industry -- integrated marketing communications (IMC) - as the solution for bringing current advertising and public relations curricula up-to-date. According to practitioners sold on IMC, what is good for business is good for the classroom. Conceptually, IMC suggests that advertising and public relations efforts achieve their greatest impact when coupled together and with other marketing elements such as direct marketing and sales promotion to communicate with consumers through multiple channels. In practice, IMC rejects past mass-media strategies by citing the increasingly segmented audiences of today (Schultz, Tannenbaum and Lauterborn, 1993). As more advertising and public relations educators examine IMC and evaluate its applicability in reshaping curricula, the need for attitudinal research among this population becomes vital. Although some insist that IMC is the new framework by which course sequences shouldbe redrawn and developed, others charge that an IMCbased curriculum will undermine the educator's ability to provide in-depth instruction, thus leaving students ill-prepared for their careers. To date, IMC in education has been addressed using a macro perspective, relying primarily on anecdotal information, on general studies of communication teachers, and on testimonials of IMC advocates. While helpful in providing insights on IMC's role in instruction, these perspectives provide no specific examination of attitudes held by advertising and public relations educators. The present study is meant to supplement the contemporary literature on IMC. We report on a survey designed to ascertain the perceptions and opinions of advertising and public relations faculty members with regard to IMC and its impact on current curricula. The IMC phenomenon With most advertising industry publications herald.ing IMC as the wave of the future, it can be argued that many practitioners welcome the concept. But it seems that more discussion is focused on where and when IMC is best employed than whether or not it is a good idea. And those responsible for defining IMC as it relates to advertising and public relations education have yet to agree on its meaning within their own ranks. What is new about IMC? One view suggests that the mass media of the 1950s met their match in the 1980s, when "technology collided with society and human wants and needs" (Schultz, Tannenbaum & Lauterborn, 1993). This "demassification" of the population was actually a splintering of the mass market into highly specialized groups according to lifestyle, ethnicity, education and other variables. The capacity for technology to deliver more information in new and different ways made consumers more difficult to reach as their media options increased. Markets once accessible by a single advertising strategy now demand a multi-level, multi-channel campaign aimed from different directions at the same target. Current industry wisdom dictates that marketers "speak with one voice not only to consumers but also to all those who influence their purchase decisions" (Harris, 1993, p.15). Thus, it is generally agreed that IMC is a strategic joining of communication functions used by marketers. The major communication functions are used in concert to yield a result "greater than if each functional area had selected its own targets, chosen its own message strategy, and set its own media schedule and timing" (Duncan & Everett, 1993, p.32). This dynamic is commonly referred to as synergy. But exactly how the practice influences campaigns and benefits clients is not as easy to determine or explain. While many businesses will agree that an IMC approach can be successful in executing a campaign, some point out that the approach is not universally necessary or applicable to every communication task. …

Global Media: The New Missionaries of Corporate Capitalism

Abstract: * Herman, Edward S., and Robert W. McChesney (1997). Global Media: The New Missionaries of Corporate Capitalism. London and Washington: Cassell. 262 pp. Paperback, $24.95. This is a provocative book for a graduate seminar or junior-senior class in international communication. Herman and McChesney are not the first to decry the spread of the "Western" media model around the globe. Tunstall's The Media Are American did it two decades ago. These authors carry the argument further, however, arguing that the commercial model rapidly taking control of global media messages represents a "clear and present danger" to democracy around the world. Herman is an emeritus finance professor from Pennsylvania's Wharton School and McChesney is a University of WisconsinMadison journalism professor. They keep intellectual company with Karle Nordenstreng and Herbert Schiller. A Noam Chomsky quotation calling for change is the last sentence in the book. Herman and McChesney are interested in all media, but see television as more important than all the rest. They do not see the Internet developing commercially, but if it does the dominant TNCs (Transnational Corporations) will take it over just as they have international television. The authors start with the accepted premise that democracy depends on an informed public. Media inform the public through "public sphere" programming: news, commentary, and political discussion. The authors argue, the TNCs want only cartoons, sitcoms, game shows and sports. This is both vastly profitable and politically safe: TV fare for satellites beamed at Russia, China, the United States and all the philosophies in between. The TNCs see such operations as the BBC and PBS, not as alternatives for interested citizens, but as a direct threat to their profit margins and political neutrality. The authors see the TNC media diet shaping citizens into "docile consumers and passive spectators." Not only do the programs fail to nourish democracy, but they add up to an incessant indoctrination in commercial values. And the authors reject the argument that "this is what the world wants." They, like other researchers, believe this commercial media model was imposed on the world after World War II. That's when the United States pressured UNESCO and the world to accept a "free flow of information" doctrine that allowed the rapid spread of the U.S. media model overseas. The intellectual punch of the book comes in the first two chapters. …

The Public Opinion Process: How the People Speak

Abstract: Crespi, Irving (1997). The Public Opinion Process: How the People Speak. Mahwah, NJ.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 190 pp. Paperback, $19.95. Hardback, $45. In this eight-chapter text, Irving Crespi builds on established theory and research in the social sciences, as well as 40 years of professional experience, to advance a model of public opinion that includes three interactive dimensions. He suggests that, "Public opinion on particular issues emerges, expresses itself, and wanes as part of a threedimensional process in which individual opinions are formed and changed, these individual opinions are aroused and mobilized into a collective force expressive of collective judgments, and that force is integrated into the governance of a people." These dimensions, Crespi explains, should not he considered a sequence of causally linked stages, but rather should he assumed to interact with one another as part of a dynamic multidimensional process. Though limited to issues in which there is considerable disagreement with regard to resolution, this model moves beyond a unidirectional approach to research and allows scholars to see a larger picture. Crespi describes some important considerations for studying the opinion process. Scholars should remember, for instance, that collective opinion is not simply the aggregate of individual opinions, but is more like the output of a musical group; that is, its sum may be greater than its parts. He does a nice job of explaining that while opinions may be limited at the individual level, they can emerge as a strong force collectively. In addition, Crespi explains, opinions often cannot be predicted from beliefs alone, and scholars should be careful not to blur the line between opinions and attitudes, for such a mistake contributes to the ongoing uncertainty as to what the term "public opinion" actually means. The author also provides an interesting review of collective opinion in authoritarian and totalitarian states, where it exists for little more than propaganda. He then contrasts it with how collective opinion functions in a democracy, covering both populist and elitist conceptions. Logically, this section precedes one on opinion polls in both democratic and non-democratic societies. If any part of the book could be improved, it's probably the last section. The discussion of polls in a democracy seems pretty cursory, and given their proliferation during election campaigns, in particular, a more thorough discussion would strengthen the book. …

Journalism's Status in Academia: A Candidate for Elimination?.

Abstract: In 1983, Dennis warned that journalism education "appears to be on the ragged edge of being so hopelessly outdated that its usefulness may soon be severely questioned. "1Since then, other authors have asked whether journalism education is becoming "an endangered species."2 The question arises because journalism and mass communication (JMC) programs are experiencing a multitude of problems. At the same time, severe financial pressures have forced colleges and universities to cut back, even to eliminate some programs and faculty members.3 To learn more about JMC's ability to survive in an era of retrenchment, the authors surveyed more than 600 academicians from all disciplines and all types of colleges and universities. The authors asked the respondents about cutbacks at their institutions, about problems that might justify a program's elimination, and about which programs they would eliminate. The results reveal more about JMC's status in academia, the reasons for some of its problems, and the support it can expect from colleagues in other fields. The era of retrenchment. Beginning in about 1990, huge deficits and a myriad of new demands forced legislatures to reexamine their priorities and to insist that every state agency, including colleges and universities, increase their accountability and productivity. Private institutions, too, experienced cutbacks. By 1996, Newsweek estimated that only 20 percent of the nation's colleges and universities were healthy financially, and that 60 percent were struggling to adjust.4 Colleges increased their productivity by increasing teaching loads and class sizes, freezing or eliminating some positions, and - in extreme cases -- eliminating entire departments. Examples include: The University of Virginia's 15-campus system eliminated 49 degree programs and hundreds of faculty members. The president of Northwestern eliminated programs in geography, nursing, and evolutionary biology "after deciding they could never be first-rate."5 The University of Rochester announced plans to reduce its student body by 20 percent and faculty by 10 percent.6 The University of Pennsylvania eliminated the departments of American civilization and regional science. A third department, religious studies, was also threatened.7 Problems and status. Journalism and mass communication programs face serious internal problems, including low budgets; large enrollments; a scarcity of jobs for their graduates; technological changes that require expensive new equipment; and professionals who, at times, seem impossible to satisfy.8Some critics also dislike JMC's structure. Traditionally, programs have offered sequences in reporting, broadcasting, advertising, public relations, photojournalism, magazines, etc. Blanchard and Christ warn that universities with limited resources will no longer tolerate duplicating specializations with separate courses such as writing for television, writing for newspapers, writing for public relations, and writing for advertising. Blanchard and Christ add that the communications revolution (the media's convergence and related trends) is making traditional sequences obsolete.9 Other critics, especially media professionals, dislike journalism and mass communication's emphasis on Ph.D.s and research. Many want schools to hire only experienced practitioners and to place more emphasis on skills courses.10 Some faculty members, on the other hand, warn that JMC's status in academia is dangerously low, and that efforts to implement the professionals' demands may aggravate the problem. To survive and prosper, McCall believes, journalism and mass communication must become "a more active partner, even an intellectual leader in the university." McCall explains that universities expect every field to contribute to the academic environment of the entire campus, and that, "Typical J-school skills courses directed at vocational preparation can hardly meet this challenge. …

Recommendations for Curricula That Stress Reflective Thinking

Abstract: The expectation in the United States and most Western democracies is that journalists will provide information the public needs to carry out the duties of citizenship and that the media will provide a forum for the circulation of ideas and opinions. Klaidman and Beauchamp Th' newspaper ... comforts th' afflicted, afflicts th' comfortable ... Finley Peter Dunne These quotations are gospels of journalism. From Klaidman and Beauchamp is drawn the theoretical ideal of the mission of the press as expressed in liberal democratic theory. From Dunne is drawn the ethic of what working journalists on deadline in a newsroom have traditionally believed they actually should be doing. But in a postmodern era of increasing media conglomeration, infotainment, ambush interviews, subservience to the need to produce ideal demographics to advertisers, the remaking of journalists as celebrities, sources as manipulators, "news" dictated by marketing surveys, private lives as public fodder, journalists as paratroopers invading the site of a story, and entertainment masquerading as news, journalism has witnessed an increase in thoughtlessness and a decline in thoughtfulness. Some might argue that journalism has lost its traditional moral compass, that it no longer afflicts the comfortable but rather afflicts those who need comfort. It is a journalism in which Hard Copy, the National Enquirer, and Inside Edition are becoming exemplars rather than aberrations. In this journalism, critical thinking and reflection are absent. How can they be restored? This article offers criticism of journalism as a professional practice of doing rather than thinking, briefly surveys scholarship on infusing journalism curriculum with critical thinking instruction, and offers a higher standard through the notion of reflective judgment. It also makes specific recommendations for curriculum additions to increase undergraduates' performance as critical thinkers and creators of reflective judgments that help readers and viewers understand the social, cultural, economic, and political worlds they inhabit. Curriculum correctives Criticisms from various quarters impugning the abilities of the press to fulfill both theoretical and traditional roles suggest correctives of some sort are needed in the professional practice of journalism. Several correctives could be considered: (a) Adjusting journalistic practices themselves within their current social, cultural, and professional contexts; (b) Taking no action at all; (c) Abandoning the practice of journalism as a principal conduit of information to the public; and (d) Redefining the nature of journalism itself. Both reasonable and unreasonable critics of journalistic performance would undoubtedly argue that a no-action alternative is unacceptable. Yet from whatever point on the political, social, and cultural spectrum these critics flay journalistic practices and performance, the arguments would suggest that the press as currently constituted ill serves society. Surgical removal of journalism from a commingling of social practices that constitute western society and culture would also be unthinkable. The role of the press is deeply imbedded in liberal democratic theory and praxis to the extent that any such attempt would require reconstitution of relationships among those same social practices. That leaves two plausible and possible alternatives -- either adjusting journalistic practices or redefining the nature of journalism itself (The latter would require redefining the role that the press as an institution serves among other social, political, cultural, and economic institutions, to say nothing of redefining the presspublic relationship). Curriculum reform cannot be ignored in attempts to regenerate journalism as a productive means of providing information necessary and sufficient to bring the public to that point at which it may take a well-considered action or reach a sound judgment on matters of public policy. …

PR Educators and Practitioners Identify Professional Standards

Abstract: What do public relations educators think about professional standards in their field? What do they think their educator peers think about professional standards in public relations? And what do educators think practitioners in the field think? This study seeks to answer these questions by using a coorientation approach in a national survey of public relations educators. It is based on the view that both educators and practitioners in public relations must look inward and define standards of specific performance - and, borrowing from social projection theory, that professionals in the field must come to consensus on these standards - to ultimately achieve and maintain professionalism in the field. Professional standards Criteria for classification of an activity as "professional" are remarkably similar across numerous disciplines and are found in both trade (Australia,1993; Bovet, 1994; Fenton,1977; Marston,1968; McKee, Nayman, & Lattimore,1975; Ranney,1977; St. Helen, 1992; Warner, 1993) and academic writing (Gitter & Jaspers,1982; Judd, 1989; RentnerB Ryan,1986; Wright 1978, 1981). Professional criteria include requirements for: (a) a well-defined body of scholarly knowledge; (b) completion of some standardized and prescribed course of study; (c) examination and certification by a state; (d) oversight by a state agency which has disciplinary powers over practitioners' behaviors; (e) membership in professional organizations; and (f) development of technical skills (Nelson, 1994; Wylie, 1994). Other criteria include intellectualism, and existence of an ethical code, a self-governing body, and an orientation on public service over self-interests (like profits) (Wright, 1981). Prescriptions for professionalism in public relations in the trade and research literature take more of a topical focus, arguing for or against licensing (Baxter, 1986; Bernays, 1983, 1992, 1993; Forbes, 1986; Lesly,1986), accreditation and education (Hainsworth, 1993; Wylie, 1994), ethics and social responsibility (Bivins, 1992; Judd, 1989; Ryan,1986; Sharpe,1986; Cameron, Sallot, & Weaver-Lariscy,1996). Drawing on this literature and 200 hours of interviews with 60 practitioners, Cameron, Sallot, and Weaver-Lariscy (1996) developed a battery of 24 attributes of professionalism in public relations and the 45 items that operationalize professional behavior. Using this instrument, the authors have conducted national surveys in the United States of public relations practitioners and educators. Practitioners self-reported that ethical guidelines, accreditation and writing/editing skills enjoy well established standards. Licensing, location of public relations on the organizational chart and inclusion of public relations in the dominant coalition were viewed as most lacking in a standard of professional performance (Cameron, Sallot, & WeaverLariscy, 1996). Focusing on justice and equity issues in the 1996 data set, WeaverLariscy, Sallot, and Cameron (1996) argued that men "see" more justice and equity in the system than women experience, precluding women from viewing "just and equitable" standards in the field. Employing coorientational analysis (Chaffee & McLeod, 1968; Kim, 1986), Sallot, Cameron, and Weaver-Lariscy (1998) found that public relations professionals across the nation tend to underestimate the current state of professional standards in the field. This state of pluralistic ignorance (Glynn, Ostman, & McDonald, 1995) was partly attributed to the third-person effect (Davison, 1983). While some research have investigated educators' views on professional news values and journalistic behaviors in public relations (see, for example, Habermann, Kopenhaver, & Martinson, 1988), only one previous study examined public relations educators' views on professional standards per se. Sallot, Cameron, and Weaver-Lariscy (1997) surveyed 127 educators across the U.S. with their battery of 24 professional standards items. …

The Search for Non-Existent Facts in the Reporting of Disasters

Abstract: In a brief section in his reporting text called, Building the Disaster Story, William Metz starts with the following advice: One of the first things a reporter does after arriving on the scene is to compile a casualty list that includes the names, ages, addresses (or hometowns) and occupations.1 Metz's advice might be appropriate for an accident, but it does not fit the definition of a disaster. Accidents, like train wrecks and plane crashes, usually occur at one specific location. However, in a disaster, there usually is no specific site. The impact area can extend for blocks or hundreds of miles. In an accident, especially one in a controlled location such as an airport, emergency agencies are heavily involved in initial responses. In a disaster that covers a wide area, it is not emergency personnel but survivors who do most initial response and provide initial transport to hospital; and no one is keeping track of casualty lists. Even when emergency agencies do get involved, especially if there are casualties, they do not keep very good records because there is too much to do.2 3 4 Also, in a disaster some injured don't go for treatment because they feel others are in greater need. No one could possibly assemble a list of casualties much less acquire names, ages, addresses, occupations or hometowns. Over the past few decades, social scientists have learned a lot about disasters. They have learned, for example, that disasters are not simply large accidents but different kinds of events. They have learned that individuals perform well in disasters but organizations have difficulty. They have learned that there are many false beliefs about disasters and that the media are partly responsible for that. A review of journalism textbooks suggests that the authors who deal with disaster coverage often state as fact what social scientists have shown to be inaccurate. Perhaps that explains why myths about disasters are perpetuated in the media. Most likely, the students who used these texts were influenced by the inaccurate representation of disasters when they became reporters. Disaster research There is a lot we know about human and organizational behavior in disasters. Disaster experts know people are reluctant to believe warnings unless they are very specific and come from all possible sources. Disaster victims often put aside their own concerns to help others, panic is not a concern it's easier to cope with stark truth than vague information, and that while looting may be commonplace in riots, it is extremely rare in disasters. Riots occur because communities are divided on issues: Disasters usually pull people together (Quarantelli and Dynes (1972); Quarantelli (1984); (Drabek (1986); Scanlon (1992a); Scanlon (1992b). Logically, these findings make sense. When a tornado, earthquake or hurricane causes widespread destruction, survivors can see what needs to be done. Their family, neighbors, or co-workers need help. Organizations have more trouble responding effectively, because disasters overload or destroy communications and disrupt transportation. They have trouble finding out what happened and difficulty responding when they find out. Even when they know what has happened, they have to make difficult choices because there is too much to do. Most important, accidents and disasters are different kinds of events. Collapsed Buildings, train derailments or air crashes occur at one location and they don't threaten a community or disrupt its ability to respond. Disasters disrupt communities and the systems that make them work. It may be hours, days, weeks, or months before those systems are back in place. For example, in Kobe in 1995, the expressway between Osaka and Kobe collapsed in five places and there were 36 breaks in the 90-kilometer line for the bullet train.5 Many people have false beliefs about disasters. They believe warnings cause panic. They believe victims will be in shock, unable to help themselves let alone others. …

New Media and the Introductory Mass Communication Course

Abstract: The use of new media communication tools within the college classroom has become widespread and will continue to grow. A recent survey of college computing services reveals that one in four college courses use electronic mail (e-mail) and the usage of other communication tools such as computer simulations, multimedia materials, CD-ROMs, the Internet, and the World-Wide Web (WWW) is on the rise (Deloughry, 1996). The influence of new communication media on the quality of learning and teaching is undeniable. Kussmaul, Dunn, Bagly and Watnik (1996) suggest that as teachers, "we need to be aware of possible and probable uses of technology, so we can identify techniques and methods that further our educational goals" (p. 123). Underscoring the important link between new communication technologies and higher education, Lyman (1995) argues that "liberal education is incomplete if it does not prepare educated people to address the presence of technology - and more importantly, the presence of the information products of technology in the modern world-in an informed and critical way" (p. 4). Within the last few years, articles about the integration of new media technologies within the classroom have appeared in various scholarly journals and across disciplines. Massy and Zemsky (1995) and others suggest that the use of new media technologies in education benefits students and teachers by providing access to enormous quantities of information available through the Internet and various on-line databases, easing the limits of time and space for educational activities, increasing access to more and better information resources, improving studentteacher and student-student interaction, enabling students to be active within the learning process, accommodating different learning styles, and enhancing the ability of institutions to stimulate experimentation and innovation (see Baily and Cotlar, 1994; Niemi and Gooler, 1987; and Rudensteine, 1997). Researchers from various disciplines have begun to investigate the effects of the use of new media technologies in their classrooms. For instance, there has been a plethora of information published concerning the use of e-mail. Several studies suggest that the use of e-mail in the classroom leads to greater collaborative efforts and I cohesion among students (see Cohen,1994; Poling 1994; and Zack, 1995), allows for students to work independently at their own pace (see Coulehan, Williams, and Naiser, 1995; Krooneberg, 1995; and McComb, 1994), increases student performance on exams, (see Beauvois, 1995; Elasmer and Carter, 1996; McCollum, 1997), and enhances the perceived quality of the course and the effectiveness of the instructor (see Guardo and Rivinius, 1995 and Zack, 1995). Hunter and Allen (1992) and Schmitz and Fulk (1991) also found that user satisfaction and frequency of use of email can be predicted by the "media richness" model. Information concerning the integration of new media technologies in the journalism and mass communication discipline is growing. In fact, it is predicted that the "Internet is bound to become an integral part of mass communication teaching before the turn of the century" (Guanaratne and Lee, 1995, p. p. 34). Singer et al. (1996) assessed the attitudes of journalism and mass communication students and faculty members about new technology and concluded that journalism programs play a vital role in shaping the attitudes students have about new media technologies. Comparing student satisfaction levels of a media law course delivered in the traditional manner (i.e., lecture and discussion format meeting once a week) with those receiving the course through a variety of new media tools (i.e., e-mail, on-line bulletin boards, and on-line discussion areas), Smith (1994) found "mixed results on the measures of satisfaction with computer-mediated communication version of the course ... While most students ultimately concluded that the new technology `helped,' a substantial minority hoped never to be subjected to it again" (p. …

Faculty's Degrees, Experience and Research Vary with Specialty.

Abstract: For as long as colleges have offered courses in journalism - more than 100 years -- professionals have insisted that faculty members need some professional experience. 1 Increasingly, however, the debate seems to oversimplify the issue. Increasingly, some demands seem to be based on considerations and situations from the past - considerations that may no longer be relevant. For example: only 10.2 percent of the students in journalism and mass communication (JMC) programs are now enrolled in traditional news/editorial sequences, and some may spend their lives working online rather than in older newsroom roles. Critics often suggest that faculty members need a minimum of 10 years of professional experience, but rarely present any evidence to justify that figure-or acknowledge the possibility that different faculty members with different specialties may benefit from different types of experience. Yet faculty members who teach communication law may benefit more from three years in a law school than from 10 in a newsroom.2 Similarly, faculty members in some of journalism and mass communication's other specialties may also benefit more from other types of training and experience. Critics seem to be primarily concerned with the faculty members who teach journalism's skills courses, such as reporting, editing, and photography. Yet few studies have isolated those faculty members, examining their characteristics or comparing them to other faculty members. Similarly, critics condemn universities' emphasis on Ph.D.s and research but never define "research." In view of the field's increasing diversity, this study separates and compares the faculty members in journalism and mass communication's largest specialties. This study also examines the charge that universities require every faculty member to have a Ph.D. and to conduct scholarly research. Most previous studies have found that faculty members have, on average, many years of professional experience. The studies and their findings include: 1. A 1982 survey by the American Society of Journalism School Administrators (ASJSA) found that faculty members had a mean of 7.4 years of newspaper experience, with a range of 5.9 for those with a doctorate to 8.5 for those without a doctorate. 1 2. Also in 1982, Fedler and Counts surveyed 200 assistant professors, 200 associate professors, and 200 professors, and found that the average respondent had 12.5 years of professional experience.' 3. In 1988. Weaver and Wilhoit found that only 13 of the 893 faculty members they surveyed (1.5%) had no media experience. The range in years of experience was from 1 to 50, with a median of 7 and mean of 9.3. "For those holding the Ph.D.," Weaver and Wilhoit said, "the mean numher of years of media experience was 6.5, compared to 12 for those without the Ph.D., offering no support for the often-heard charge that Ph.D.s in our field have little or no media experience."3 Only the ASJSA study separated and compared the faculty members in journalism and mass communication's different specialties. The ASJSA study found that fewer than 40 percent of the faculty members with doctorates listed "skills" courses as their primary teaching areas. More than 60 percent listed non-skills or concept areas such as law, history, and theory. 6 Critics, however, continue to insist that every faculty member needs significant professional experience,often 10 years or more - and that many of today's faculty members have little or no experience: 1. In 1982, MacDougall complained that in some places it is easier for a "Ph.D. communicologist" with no experience to get a job than it is for an experienced journalism professional.7 2. In 1990, Bagdikian said: "Another endemic journalism education problem is irrationality in faculty appointments. The demand that a senior appointment for teaching journalism be a Ph.D. is silly, but common. …

Content and Strategy in the Entry-Level Advertising Portfolio

Abstract: There is no question that general advertising education has for some time been a topic of discussion by both industryl and academe.2 Recently, however, attention has been directed increasingly to creative programs at universities and their relevance to the profession (Kendrick, Slayden & Broyles, 1996a, 1996b; Morrison, 1994; Otnes, Spooner and Treise,1993; Otnes, Oviatt, and Triese, 1995; Robbs,1996; Walker, 1992a, 1992b). Such attention to the overall elements of a successful creative program differs from the bulk of earlier research that focused on techniques for successful teaching of creative in the classroom (Alvey, 1994; Avery, Johnson, Keding, Siltanen and Sweeney, 1991; Feasley, 1983; Keding, 1988; Marra, 1992; McAdams and Sweeney, 1987; Moriarty, 1983; Moriarty and Rohe, 1992; Pearce, 1989; Sweeney, 1988; Vance, 1982; Whitlow, 1986). While such research has consistently stressed the central role that the entry-level portfolio plays in the hiring process, relatively little discussion has been given over to the specifics of the portfolio's content: For example, what should be in it, and what should not? How many pieces and their consideration for presentation, and different expectations for art directors and copywriters. What is needed is to move from the general context in the existing literature to the specific - both qualifying and quantifying the range of advice given about putting a book together for an entry-level job as a creative in advertising. Unlike the "how-to" pieces sometimes found in the trade press, which talk directly and often inspirationally to the prospective hire (see, for example, Brandalise & Deschenes, 1996; Paetro, 1990), our audience is the college professor currently teaching, or planning to teach, creative and/or portfolio classes. With the exception of Barry's (1990) The Advertising Portfolio, advertising texts tend to mention the portfolio more or less in passing (Bovee & Arens, 1989; Patti & Frazer, 1988; Wells, Burnett & Moriarty, 1992), indicating that it is necessary to have one, suggesting briefly the type and number of pieces to include, and advising that these pieces be "good" rather than "bad." While Barry's book offers more detailed information, it suffers from the problem any book-length prescription will confront: it becomes rapidly dated or, at best, one doesn't know what advice remains relevant. To avoid this problem, texts written for the teaching of creative classes (Albright, 1992; Bendinger, 1990; Jewler, 1995) must often follow their sound advice about the making of ads by offering general recommendations about the contents and presentation of the portfolio, recommendations which, in an industry perennially driven by the new and improved, may or may not have been qualified by recent trends, cross-national alliances, and technological innovation. Awareness of the implications of recent developments (and their effect on the contents of an entry-level book) shapes the Portfolio Center's (1995) statement in a recent promotional piece (Follow the Leaders...): "In addition to the Portfolio Center Advisory Board, Portfolio Center conducts a national survey annually, to continually address industry trends, industry developments, new technology and creative innovation." The necessity of timeliness perhaps also accounts for the paucity of scholarly articles specifically addressing the content and presentation of the entry-level portfolio. As mentioned above, this condition is slowly changing with recent research addressing, at least in part, what comprises the entrylevel portfolio. The work of Otnes et al. tapped the experience of both new and experienced creatives (Otnes, Spooner and Treise, 1993; Otnes, Oviatt, and Triese, 1995). Robbs (1996) draws from those studies, but employs a much larger sample of 132 creatives who reviewed the portfolios of entry-level job candidates. One of Robbs's questions about a university's curriculum specifically addresses portfolio content. …

Assessing Faculty Attitudes toward the Teaching of Writing

Abstract: Journalism educators have long agreed on the problem: poor language and writing skills of students. Complaints have targeted the decline in students' critical thinking, their weak news judgment and story structure, their lack of clarity and conciseness, and their excessive grammatical and style errors. Although consensus may exist on the problem, faculty who teach writing courses often differ on suggesting appropriate solutions (i.e., approaches necessary to improve student performance). Given the personal and creative nature of writing, there appears to be little agreement among journalism educators on the best methodologies for teaching writing (Wolf and Thomason, 1986). Elbow (1983) speaks of the two conflicting mentalities needed for good teaching, which stem from the two conflicting obligations inherent in the job - an obligation to nurture creativity in students and an obligation to add to knowledge and society (e.g., upholding professional standards). In the field of English composition during the last 30 years, writing instruction has been examined as a sort of pitched battle between proponents of the "intangible" process versus the "tangible" product. Writing studies have focused on such comparisons using a variety of pedagogical terms: innovative versus traditional; recursive versus linear; descriptive versus prescriptive; experiential versus expository; expressionistic versus formalistic; inner-directed versus outer-directed; creative versus critical; coaching versus editing. In our Q methodology study, the widely used terms process and product have been employed. Composition scholars have long debated the merits of such competing approaches. D'Eloia (1977) discussed the "uses and limits of grammar" in teaching writing. Pianko (1979) recommended that teachers focus on process, not product. Friedman (1983) criticized teaching methods that were error-based, that attempted to remedy grammatical or mechanical problems by showing how not to write. Graves (1980) described the shift in writing research as a focus on process (versus product). Yet Greenberg (1982) urged composition teachers to become involved in creating tests to measure minimum writing ability. Where Moran (1984) called for teachers to serve as in-process editors, Murray (1981) claimed that teachers should not interpret students' drafts but allow students to work toward their own meaning. Similarly, Spear (1983) wrote that writing instruction was more beneficial if it rested upon theories of sequential cognitive development to better address needs of students. In exploring the role of writing centers on campus, North (1984) stated that misunderstandings about these centers reveal an emphasis on product (e.g., fix-it shops) rather than on process (e.g., nurturing student-centered writing). In the mid-1980s, a growing number of theorists began a search for a new integrated paradigm in the teaching of writing. The emphasis was on exploring how opposite mentalities or processes could complement rather than interfere with each other- such as writing assignments that began with exploratory invention and ended with critical revising (Elbow, 1983). While Hairston (1983) implored educators to do the "hard thing" by examining the intangible process of student writing, she noted that it was important to preserve the best parts of earlier methods for teaching writing: the concern for style and the preservation of high standards for the written product. Journalism education has long been dominated by the traditionalists who stress the mechanics and fundamentals of writing, concentrating on the quality of the finished written product that students generate. These educators define themselves largely as editors. They favor a teacher-centered (based) classroom, where lectures are regularly given, and where papers receive detailed critiques and severe penalties for grammatical errors. However, in the last decade journalism faculty have emerged who view writing more as a student-centered cognitive process. …

A Computer-Based Graphics Course and Students' Cognitive Skills.

Abstract: This article began as I struggled with a phenomenon I could not understand, a delightful educational outcome that caught me unprepared. In the spring of 1993, after two and a half years of teaching visual communications and graphic design with old fashioned cutand-paste methods, I taught a design course in a computerized classroom for the first time. The students' projects were far beyond my expectations. While there were problems and imperfections, their design projects struck me as creative, risk-taking, and visually sophisticated. They went far beyond the level of previous students in non-computerized courses, and not merely in terms of the slickness of the laser-printed, color products. Since then, I have tried to discover why this and subsequent work was so good that it actually excites me. I have also tried to understand what kind of learning was going on in the minds of my students. Obviously, the computer was a variable, but I wanted to determine if there were other essential parts of the equation. In attempting to answer this question for myself, I have surveyed students in the course, reviewed the literature on computerbased education in journalism and mass communication, and - most fruitfully, for my own understanding and teaching practices - I have turned to three theoretical perspectives from educational psychology. While most of the literature on computerized pedagogy in journalism and mass communications comes from the social science perspective, this paper is an attempt to turn the discussion in the direction of educational theory in the belief that it has something valuable to say to both opponents and proponents of computerized instruction. It synthesizes my five years of experience in computerized instruction with three major theories: the seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education (Chickering & Gamson, 1991), the cognitive apprenticeship model (Collins, 1987), and Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives (1956). While much of the discussion of computers has seen them as new technologies replacing older ones - word processors for type writers, spread sheets for calculators, pixel manipulators for wet darkrooms - this article will consider them as tools for teaching and learning. It will argue that a complete integration of carefully designed computer experiences into a course - when coupled with sound educational theory and practice-engages students at the level of the higher cognitive skills. Research results A review of the research published in Journalism and Mass Communication Educator during the past 12 years reveals there is no consensus on either the value of, or the proper role for, computer technologies in our discipline. In more than 57 articles published between Winter 1986 and Spring 1998, the authors' assessment, of the value of computers ranged from mild enthusiasm to begrudging tolerance to disapproving skepticism. These were not simply opinionated commentaries or personal reports based on anecdotal evidence. Most of the articles were based on quantitative studies. They produced results that appear to be diametrically opposed. Several authors argued that computer technologies did not increase learning outcomes. Renfro and Maittlen-Harris (1986) found that increasing the time on the computer did not improve the writing of beginning journalism students. A study at Texas Tech University (Oates, 1987) concluded that "word processing does not, in and of itself, encourage student writers to revise more extensively, especially the macrostructure of a text." Using a pretest-posttest design, Fischer and Grusin (1993) found writing performance was not increased by the use of grammar-checking software in a beginning news writing class. In a study of how effective a computer-mediated communication system was in supplementing a media law course, Smith (1994) found no significant difference in the final exam scores of students in on-line and traditional sections. …

Language Exams and Entrance Requirements: A 20-Year Update

Abstract: Twenty years ago, requiring a language skills exam or similar testing tool for journalism and mass communication majors was a relatively new and popular idea. In a 1977 survey for the AEJ President's Committee on Journalism Language Skills, the authors found that about one in four responding journalism and mass communication programs (50 of 188; 27%) required students to take a language skills exam or similar testing tool, and 52 other programs predicted back then that they soon would be adding such a requirement.' It did not happen in such dramatic numbers. In this 1997 update by the same authors, 31 percent of responding journalism and mass communication programs (57 of 183) reported that they currently require a language skills exam for majors. Another 7 percent (13 of 183) once had such a requirement but no longer do. More than 60 percent of responding programs (113 of 183) have never required a language exam for majors. Instead, the use of a GPA entrance requirement has grown tenfold in popularity within two decades, with a minimum 2.5 GPA on a 4-point scale the most common stipulation. Currently, about four in 10 responding journalism and mass communication programs (72 of 183; 39%) have a GPA entrance requirement in place, compared to four in 100 two decades ago (7 of 188; 4%). Background The concept of a language exam for journalism and mass communication majors became a topic of public discussion a quarter of a century ago. In 1973, an article in Journalism Educator warned that programs should not assume that high school and college composition courses adequately prepare students in the basics of grammar.2 That same year, the School of Journalism at the University of North Carolina started a program to identify students who needed remedial work in grammar and spelling. The school required students in their first writing course to score at least 70 percent on a standardized test of writing skills; students who scored below 70 percent could repeat the test after doing remedial work.3 Remedial courses in journalism and mass communication programs arose in conjunction with language skills exams. In one experiment at New Mexico State, students who scored low in a language pretest received remedial training and showed significant improvement in post-test scores.4 The 1977 survey by the AEJ President's Committee found that only seven journalism and mass communication programs had a language exam before 1973. The peak expansion years were 197576, when 11 programs added such a requirement, and 1976-77 when another 18 did so.5 The committee later reviewed commercial tests and found that none were wholly satisfactory, suggesting that journalism and mass communication schools may need to develop their own exams. In 1990, the Liberal Arts and Sciences Task Force of ASJMC called for journalism and mass communication programs to develop systems for making sure their students have "a strong command of the rules of English grammar and usage."7 As Moberg noted the next year, language exams often are not intended to predict success in classes, but rather to "weed out under-prepared students in a crowded, popular program."" These concerns led to the authors' decision to update their 1977 survey of language skills. A questionnaire was mailed to 411 degree-granting colleges and universities with courses organized under journalism or mass communications, as provided in AEJMC's 1996-97 Directory. One hundred eighty-three programs (45%) responded to the single mailing that went not only to the 104 journalism and mass communication programs accredited at the time, but also to hundreds of small programs tucked into English and communications departments. Survey findings Key findings from the 1997 survey are that the use of language skills exams has increased only marginally in the past 20 years, while the use of grade point average entrance requirements has escalated dramatically. …

Bright College Years: Inside the American Campus Today

Abstract: * Matthews, Anne (1997). Bright College Years: Inside the American Campus Today. New York: Simon & Schuster. 288 pp. Hardback, $23. Like a hugely knowledgeable tour-bus guide, Anne Matthews conducts us along the avenues, byways, and back alleys of academe today, pointing out the sights with familiarity and wit. On your left, the wild and crazy student party at Arizona State "where the carpets squish with beer and some 60 guests dance with cans in hand, downing whole Coorses in one long practiced gurgle." On your right, the snooty faculty superstar "who can compose a gracious memorial for a deceased colleague, snipe at rivals' junk degrees, usher students out of the office in under two minutes." Around the next turn, a band of mathematicians on their way to a conference "all men, generically disheveled in plaid shirts and glasses mended with black electricians' tape." And straight ahead, the genial college president, who, in the 10-yard walk to his car, "hand-pumps six people, waves to the undergraduate daughter of Strom Thurmond, demands an update on calculus class from a passing sophomore, then detours to embrace three black, food-service ladies." By turns affectionate, wickedly observant, respectful, and sardonic toward her subject matter, Matthews is also ambitious in her reportorial scheme. The sweeping title, Bright College Years: Inside the Am erican Campus Today, is our first clue that the author is going for the big picture. This isn't "Inside Student Life" on U.S. campuses, or "Inside the Faculty Club." It's inside the entire social, cultural, intellectual, and economic universe of higher education in 1990s America. And Matthews does cover an amazing amount of ground, not only through ample statistics (did you know that 29 percent of today's entering freshmen require remedial courses?) but through countless, intimate details. A chapter sketching the origins of universities in America includes a droll history of the robes and "color-coded" hoods and stoles worn at ceremonies. Another chapter, exposing the horrific data on binge drinking on campus, compounds the shock by giving us a peek into a typical dormitory bathroom after a night's revelry. (The squeamish are advised to skip pages 87 and 88.) The sum of all this - bathroom scene aside - is a swift and entertaining read, enhanced by the fact that Matthews speaks as an insider. She was born to an academic family at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, growing up in a world "both bucolic and bohemian." She has taught at Princeton and Rutgers, been a research fellow at Columbia, and these days is teaching in New York University's graduate journalism program. On top of that, she's a meticulous reporter whose research included some 400 campus interviews. And she writes with an easy elegance that often touches the epigrammatic. For example in analyzing the tenure controversy, she offers this marvel of witty succinctness: "Tenure protects innovators from academics. …

A Media Buying Simulation Game Using the Internet

Abstract: Successful team work and group decision making resulted from an experiment between two universities to introduce a media buying simulation game into our media planning courses. The simulation was designed to: (a) integrate a buying component into the courses which was manageable in terms of time; (b) give students hands-on experience in the art of negotiating and buying media; (c) familiarize students with using e-mail in business negotiations; (d) help improve students' written communication skills in a mock business setting; (e) give students practice calculating and applying formulas used in media planning (e.g., cost-perpoint and target rating points); and (f) utilize the Internet in classroom exercises. Several reasons existed for creating the simulation. First, our media planning courses did not incorporate a significant buying component. Instead, the focus was on strategic and evaluative techniques for choosing media types to deliver advertising messages, and instruction in various sources used in media planning (e.g., where to find cost/ratings data for selected media types or competitive media expenditure data). Our discussions with colleagues at other universities which offer an advertising media course lead us to believe that most media courses are taught with a similar emphasis: While students are often required to do a media plan from start to finish, they do not generally get the opportunity to see what it is like to actually execute a media buy. Research suggests that this emphasis on planning at the expense of buying can be detrimental to students wishing to obtain a job in media. In a survey of 300 media directors, 46 percent identified media buying as the most likely entry position for job candidates who do not have professional experience; only 22 percent responded that such positions would be planning related (Phelps, 1995). Another study, conducted among human resource directors at the top 100 advertising agencies (in terms of U.S. billings) on how to get an entry-level job, also suggested that media buying skills are important for new graduates. Planning or buying positions accounted for 42 percent of all entry-level hires (Donnelly, 1994). Second, the university environment offers students a unique opportunity to familiarize themselves with technologies such as e-mail and the World Wide Web. Bolding (1996) found that 66 percent of the university programs reported in a survey on research skills instruction that students could get computer accounts with access to the Internet through their colleges or universities. Students can receive both email and Internet access as part of their tuition and fees at our universities. Hence, the situation existed where all students in both universities had e-mail available to them at no extra charge. Most students in the media classes, however, were not regular e-mail users. Both e-mail communication and the World Wide Web are gaining importance in the business world. Gunaratne and Byung (1996) note, "As society moves into the electronic age, more people are communicating in cyberspace and using cyberspace to access information (p. 25)." Familiarity with Internet-related resources, such as e-mail, gives students an edge in the job market. The importance of introducing students to e-mail reflects the technology's increased role as a form of business communication (Elasmar and Carter, 1996). Further, advertising on the Internet (and specifically the World Wide Web) is a growth area and one that offers potential employment for advertising graduates. Graduates recognize the edge that experience with new technologies gives them; focus groups conducted among recent graduates of one of our advertising programs indicated a desire for more exposure to computers, using the Internet and e-mail while in school. Hence, mastery of written communication skills in this medium was identified as a useful skill for students. Third, we were looking for opportunities for our students to improve their communication skills and their familiarity with some of the terms and calculations used in media buying and planning. …

Journalism Student Performance on Advanced Placement Exams

Abstract: In the wake of various state and federal educational reform movements, the role journalism plays in schools continues to be questioned. But the reforms of the past 15 years have also stimulated programs- and accompanying tests that measure the worth of those programs- that link newspaper reading, journalistic study and other media use with widely accepted educational objectives found in elementary, middle school, junior high school, high school and even collegiate curricula. This study examines high school student performance on Advanced Placement English Language and Composition Examinations from 1989 through 1997. Specifically, it analyzes students who have taken an intensive journalistic writing course as preparation for the AP examination and compares their performance with those who have prepared for the same test by taking AP English composition or some other advanced high school English course. First, however, it seems appropriate to review some tendencies in the area of journalism versus non-journalism student performance. The literature is growing in this area, and the results described in this study are not inconsistent with the positive performance of students in other studies who have had at least some of their formal language arts education taught from a journalistic perspective. Background In a Florida public school district, 17 teachers were trained in Newspaper in Education methods, and their junior high and senior high school students received newspapers from a local daily three times a week for a total of 55 days (Palmer, Fletcher & Shapley, 1994). Standardized tests in vocabulary and reading by Science Research Associates were scored by SRA; writing samples were derived from The Official GED Practice Tests and The Official Teacher's Guide to the Tests of General Development and were graded holistically and without bias at the Florida Department of Education. The Florida experiment compared three groups from pretest to posttest: Newspapers used as part of the instruction in language arts; newspapers available for students but with no formal instruction; and control groups in which no newspapers were delivered. Both middle- and senior-high students using newspapers improved more on all measures of reading and writing than did students taught with traditional materials (Palmer, Fletcher and Shapley, 1994). Research by Blinn (1982) has shown comparisons of advanced placement and senior honors composition classes with journalism students of similar ability. In the study involving senior high school students in 12 Ohio schools, data analysis showed that journalism writers made fewer errors in most of the writing skill criteria than did non-journalism students. And they scored significantly higher than nonjournalism students in all four criteria selected as measures of information presentation and selection judgment: information omission, opening sentence, editorializing and errors in fact. Also, Blinn found journalism students made significantly fewer errors in word context, spelling, redundancy, punctuation and agreement. A 1988 study of college freshmen divided them into four groups based on ACT English Assessment scores in an effort to equalize abilities in language arts competencies. Those with high school newspaper or yearbook experience had higher writing scores than did non-publications students in 13 of 16 test comparisons. All essays were graded by English professors under the guidance of ACT personnel (Dvorak, 1988). And in another study students who had completed one year of college and who had been on the staff of a high school yearbook or newspaper, in 10 of 12 statistical academic comparisons, journalism students earned significantly higher scores than their non-publications counterparts: cumulative freshman college grade point average; first collegiate English course; ACT Composite score; ACT English score; ACT Social Studies score; mean score of the final four high school courses taken prior to the ACT Assessments in English, social studies, mathematics and natural science; final high school English grade; final high school social studies grade; final high school mathematics grade; and final high school natural science grade. …

When a Few Disruptive Students Challenge an Instructor's Plan.

Abstract: Constructive questioning and destructive behavior Max insists that he likes coming to mass media law class, but he drifts off to sleep during lectures and sneaks away sometimes shortly after I take the roll. When I asked him why he doses, he said he can't stay awake for lectures. He prefers videos with lots of action in them and no "talking heads". Not surprisingly, his dismal performance dooms him to a failing grade. He replies that his grades are his business and refuses to drop the class. Like Max, Barry also nods off sometimes. But, Barry's problem stems from medication he takes to help him breathe. He will fight to stay awake. Talks with both young men reveal the difference between turned-off students and physically challenged students. Max declares nothing will keep him awake when professors lecture. Barry took my advice. He now sits in the back of the class. When he feels groggy, he slips out unobtrusively to the vending machine. The walk down the hall and a cup of coffee revive him. I could help Barry by bending my classroom policies, but until Max changes his attitude, I can't help him. In fact, Max is one of many disenchanted students who want to graduate without having to do tasks that they consider boring but normally are associated with getting a degree. Openenrollment policies and the popularity of the Internet are bringing students into communication classrooms who, a few years ago, probably would have pursued careers in blue-collar occupations. Like Max, who surfs the Web to avoid going to the library homepage, most of these disinterested individuals wander from course to course like the lost souls that poets lament. For many reasons, some adults do not know how to interact positively in an academic setting. Recently, at a conference on college teaching, I lead a discussion about communicating effectively with disenchanted students. My own experiences with these students have reflected the themes I found in the pedagogical research on the subject. For more than ten years I've taught reporting, communication history, ethics and other courses. Most of my students have made me glad I was there exchanging ideas with them; however, a few have turned class days into Halloween. When I first began teaching, I blamed them entirely. Then, for a while, I blamed myself. Now, I realize that negative experiences arise for a variety of reasons. Each instance is different. Sometimes, I am at fault. Sometimes, the student is wrong. But, ultimately, the question of who erred isn't nearly as crucial as changing the situation. Recently, a young man in my mass communication law class clicked his pen, made negative remarks, and refused to cooperate in group work. A few years ago, I would have couched my private discussions with him in stern, angry semi-threats. I have learned that the drill-sergeant routine doesn't work most of the time. Instead, I've found that asking what I can do to change the climate sometimes inspires thought and a willingness to try to conform to class policies. His comment that I wasn't as good a professor as the one who had failed him the prior semester told me that some of his resentment towards me was fueled by being forced to repeat the class. He also pointed out that certain group exercises were too repetitive of the book. That point was worth hearing. He began to participate in discussions. For decades, educators have studied classroom dynamics to understand the interpersonal exchanges between teachers and their classes. Gerald Amada wrote a how-to book for communicating with disenchanted students, Coping with the Disruptive College Student: A Practical Model. Patricia Kearney, Timothy G. Plax, Ellis R. Hays, and Marilyn J. Ivey analyzed "College Teacher Misbehaviors: What Student's Don't Like About What Teachers Say and Do" for Communication Quarterly (Fall 1991). Two papers available through ERIC also offer insights into reaching perpetually bored students: "Voices of the Disinvited: The Dream and Reality of Invitational Education for Underachieving and Apathetic Students," by Melvin Lang [ED296654] and "Addressing Campus-Wide Communication Incivility in the Basic Course: A Case Study," by Robert L. …

Revolutionizing the Teaching of Magazine Design

Abstract: Radicalization, nourished by a critical spirit, is always creative. - Paulo Freire Teaching magazine design in a department of journalism presents unique pedagogical challenges, in large part due to the need to grapple with the ideological underpinnings of the graphic design process. Recent critical scholarship indicates that consumer magazine design, in particular, perpetuates hegemonies of race, class and gender in its portrayal of marginalized societal groups; and prominent public controversies-regarding, for example, the photo-illustrations of O.J. Simpson that appeared concomitantly on the covers of Time and Newsweek in 1995 - reflect these concerns. With a view to addressing these important dimensions of design, in this article I outline a new approach to teaching magazine design that incorporates radical pedagogical theories with contemporary issues in visual communication. Scholars of visual communication have recently attempted to develop pedagogical strategies that incorporate a consideration of ethics and culture into the teaching of design. Lester (1995), for example, discusses the symbolic content of images via a framework for analysis that alerts students to the powerful sociopolitical implications of the design process. Lester's approach is significant; an understanding of the politics of design must be the point of departure for teaching design to journalists. We have entered an era in which design can no longer be presented in the classroom as a purely mechanical act, and most teachers of magazine design are aware that the traditional fine-arts focus on aesthetic principles and computer applications must not deflect attention from the ideologically charged and politically significant aspects of designing journalistic publications. But while consciousness-raising is important, it is meaningless unless it can be connected to praxis. This is where current pedagogies of design fall short. Even the newest approaches to the teaching of design do not include radical interventions that would infuse a progressive politics into the conceptualization of publication design, a politics that would combat the hegemonic constructions currently at work in most mainstream consumer magazines. Is there a need for such interventions? In this article, I use the emancipatory theories of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire to argue that there is. Admittedly, Freire's philosophies developed from his work with peasants in desperately impoverished circumstances, yet his approach to education has a great deal of resonance in contemporary middle-class America, where oppression exists but is masked and mediated through cultural texts. As Shaull (1994) points out: At first sight, Paulo Freire's method of teaching illiterates in Latin America seems to belong to a different world from that in which we find ourselves in this country ... But there are certain parallels in the two situations that should not be overlooked. Our advanced technological society is rapidly making objects of most of us and subtly programming us into conformity to the logic of its system ... Education either functions as an instrument that is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes `the practice of freedom,' the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world. (pp. 15-16) Magazine designers transform the symbolic world, and critical methods of teaching must be incorporated into the magazine design curriculum in order to develop students' ownership of the sociopolitical potential of their work. This article presents a theoretical and practical framework for developing such a pedagogical practice. After defining the frame via Freire's theoretical principles, I turn to Sandra Harding's concept of standpoint epistemology to develop a teaching method that incorporates social change into the practice of magazine design. …

Creating Metaphors to Analyze Media and Apply Mass Communication Theory

Abstract: Professors tackling undergraduate theory courses recognize that when teaching theory, they may well be having to teach students how to think beyond mere recitation of lists and facts. In mass communication theory courses, instructors not only ask students to recognize and comprehend, but also to move on through the higher levels of Bloom's (1956) taxonomy of learning. To reach higher levels of learning, students must apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate. A mass communication theory class requires students to abstract themselves from something that has been part of their entire lives and to impartially assess media in their culture. Professors also emphasize how they try to encourage students to bring theory to life through the student's own personal experience (Baran & Davis,1995; Ramsey, 1993). In effect, students must participate and observe what they study, and as such, they become at least informal participant observers in that they "elicit from people their definitions of reality and the organizing constructs of their world" (Goetz & LeCompte, 1984, pp. 109-110). This is especially true in classes requiring discussion and/or journal entries. The professor acts as an "arbiter" of these observations, guiding students in helping to understand their field notes and trying to find theory to develop explanations. To develop critical thinking skills and to obtain a vista into how students creatively define mass media in their own lives, students can be assigned to create metaphors of their own relationship with the mass media. The following highlights some of the literature in the field related to critical thinking and teaching methods, describes the application of the metaphor in an undergraduate mass communication theory class, and overviews the results in one particular case. Literature review According to Ruminski and Hanks (1995) in their survey of AEJMC members, most respondents indicated they valued critical thinking skills but lacked consensus as to its definition. The most common element in definitions offered was the inclusion of the word "analysis," with about half the respondents using it. These steps are essentially Dewey's Reflective Thinking process (1933) offered, for example, as a way to enhance criticalthinking skills and, thus, decision-making abilities in a media-planning class (Strohm & Baukus , 1995). The authors felt the application of such thinking abilities in class was imperative to helping students deal with ambiguity, be flexible and adapt to a changing work environment. "Reflective observation" was one of four experimental steps identified by Ramsey (1993) in a model for instructional design. The model, itself, forwards reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, active experimentation and concrete experience as the steps for more active classroom learning. In an example for a mass communication history course, Ramsey suggests that the Concrete Experience might be reviewing media coverage of a war. The Reflective Observation would follow with student papers discussing media coverage of global conflicts. A subsequent lecture and class discussion developing public reactions to global discussion helps students develop Abstract Conceptualization. While students then follow up with reaction papers applying class concepts to more recent global conflict in the Active Experimentation step. Such experimental activities have been incorporated into mass communication classes, such as Dardenne's (1994) description of "Student Musings on Life Without Mass Media." Based on diary reports from students in several mass communication classes, he identified key themes elicited such as companionship, easing routine tasks, addiction, antidote to silence, alternative activities, fear of thought and resolutions. And in a survey of public relations educators, nearly every respondent indicated he or she very often incorporated active learning exercises in the classroom (Lubbers & Gorcyca, 1996). …

A New Instrument to Measure Diversity in the Curriculum

Abstract: In the summer of 1967,150 cities in the United States -- North and South erupted in racial violence. The disturbances ranged from relatively minor skirmishes between police and (mostly young) ghetto dwellers to deadly riots. ' It was neither the first nor the last of the racial disturbances during the decade. The bloody summer of 1964 left parts of the South scarred, and the Watts riots of 1965 meant the rest of the nation would not be immune. In April 1968, following the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., there was as much racial violence in that one month as had taken place during the entire year of 1967.2 The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (better known as the Kerner Commission), appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the causes of the racial disturbances, identified many social problems that fostered this situation. One of the factors was the journalism profession, which had been "shockingly backward" in recruiting, training and promoting African-Americans. That, in turn, affected how the press covered the nation's minority communities.' Ten years later, the American Society of Newspaper Editors announced a goal for the year 2000: hiring the same percentage of minorities in the newsroom as existed in the nation's population.' In 1982, the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications committed itself to fostering diversity in the student body, faculty, and curriculum when it adopted Standard 12 5: Units must make effective efforts to recruit, advise, and retain minority students and minority and women faculty for their intended career paths. They also must include in their courses information about the major contributions made by minorities and women to the disciplines covered in the unit.6 In 1992, the standard was expanded to include the following paragraph: In course offerings across the curriculum units must help prepare students to understand, cover, communicate with and relate to a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, and otherwise diverse society.7 A new revision, which took effect in September 1997, commits accredited programs to diversity and inclusivity in the student and faculty populations as well as fostering a "learning environment that exsented 8.5 percent of the full-time faculty (up from 7.3 percent in 1992); Hispanics made up 2.7 percent (up from 2.1% in 1992); Asian Pacific Islanders were 2.3 percent (up from 1.7% in 1992). Native Americans lost ground on journalism/ mass communication faculty nationwide, going from 1.3 percent in 1992 to 0.8 percent in 1995. Minorities also are more likely to hold the lower, instructor/assistant professor ranks. 14 Charting diversity in the journalism/mass communication curriculum has been more difficult. Some of the earliest investigations into this area looked at specific journalism/mass communication courses focusing solely on minorities. DeMott and Adams found that one in six administrators responding to a 1978 survey of the American Society of Journalism School Administrators reported that their programs offered a course about minorities. 15 Kern reported similar results in 1982 when she found that 15 percent of the journalism programs offered a course in minorities and the media. She also suggested that organizations addressing the needs of multi-cultural students would improve the quality of the education these students receive. 16 In a 1991 update of that study, KernFoxworth and Miller found that there had been little or no progress made in journalism programs with regard to multi-cultural education. There had been little progress in the recruitment and retention of multicultural students or faculty. The researchers called for intensifying efforts in "curricula that encourage cultural sensitivity and awareness and that discuss the lifestyles, contributions and accomplishments of all multi-ethnic groups in journalism. …