| Postsecondary academic programs must facilitate learning with the most current information being practiced within each field of study. One constantly changing profession is broadcast journalism, and university programs must consider how to respond to changes in the field. Prior to this study, the most recent study investigating how academic programs aligned with the best practices of the broadcast journalism industry was completed in 1997 by Duhe and Zukowski. Significant changes in the broadcast journalism profession have occurred since 1997, which suggests broadcast journalism education programs may need to address curriculum changes to better prepare students. Television (TV) news directors and broadcast journalism educators participated in this mixed methods study. The quantitative portion used a survey design that replicated portions of the 1997 study. Results indicated no significant difference among journalism educators' and TV news directors' beliefs about journalism education (chi2 (1) = 1.50, p=.22) or experience (chi 2 (1) = 1.17, p=.28). No significant differences were found among educators regarding the relationship between experience and likelihood of obtaining TV news jobs. News directors' findings do not differ in beliefs regarding the likelihood of hiring a more educated or experienced person into their station. However, unlike the 1997 study, this study indicated two significant differences among journalism educators' and TV new directors' beliefs: (a) the more educated persons were, the more likely they would be to obtain a job in broadcast journalism, and (b) the more experience persons have in TV news, the more likely the person would be a successful broadcast journalist. The qualitative portion of the study was completed by conducting interviews. The themes that emerged emphasized journalism fundamentals, new media platforms, teaching subject matter outside of standard journalism curriculum, and the need to modify the way journalism programs are structured. The findings reveal multiple changes in the broadcast journalism industry and broadcast journalism curriculum, and the study results advance the literature beyond what was learned from the 1997 study. Due to the nature of the journalism industry, and the speed at which it changes, it is recommended that a similar study be completed every 5-10 years. |
