Two events held recently focused on the future of journalism and the education of journalists:
The second World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC2) in South Africa and Journalism as News Providers: Challenges and Opportunities held in Denver.
One of the key findings from WJEC2 was that social media has become an integral part of journalism and must be included in the curriculum.
Social media sites, including blogs, are now essential items in journalists’ kitbags. They are tools for newsgathering and dissemination; for investigation and crowdsourced fact-checking. Perhaps most importantly, though, they are platforms for engagement with what NYU’s Jay Rosen famously dubbed “the people formerly known as the audience” — each one of whom is a potential source.
At the Denver meeting Eric Newton, Vice President for Journalism at the Knight Foundation, outlined “four transformational trends emerging in journalism and communication schools.”
- Expand the definition of who a journalist is and what they can do
- Be innovators in the news and content industry, experiment and teach new skills
- Teach students the open, collaborative approach to media and news
- Provide digital news and engage with the people we once called the audience
As PR people a big part of our job is media relations – understanding the current media landscape, how news is best presented, what journalists need and how best to work with them. If this is their future, it must also be ours.
Just as they need to learn to produce excellent digital content and use open, collaborative tools and methods, so do we. Social media and digital PR training should be high on your list of priorities.
Is your PR team ready to meet this challenge? What does your PR team need to get up to speed?
Image Credit: Nan Palmero, Flickr
