Schools of journalism/mass communication and campus broadcasting: Patterns of cooperation

This study was designed to determine the extent of cooperation and resource sharing between accredited schools of journalism/mass communication and the broadcasting stations co-located on their campuses, particularly the "public" or Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)-qualified stations.; Questionnaires were sent to the chairs/directors of accredited schools of journalism/mass communication schools on campuses with broadcast stations licensed to their institutions. Questionnaires also were sent to the managers of the broadcast stations. These administrators were asked to determine the extent to which their units shared station resources.; A review of related literature suggested that the training mission of broadcast stations licensed to institutions of higher learning has been significantly reduced with the growth of public broadcasting. The data gathered confirmed that student training opportunities in "public" or CPB-qualified stations are substantially less available than they are in "campus" or nonqualified stations. Still, students continued to play a significant role in public broadcasting on college and university campuses.; About three-quarters of the academic administrators and the same proportion of station managers responded to the survey. The highest degree of sharing was found in student employment and programming where academic units supplied student employees and student-produced programming in exchange for station training and experience. The sharing of production studios, engineering services, and instructional personnel was less by comparison.; No single model for an exemplary relationship between an on-campus broadcasting station and a school of journalism/mass communication emerged from the data. Very simply, too much variation exists across campuses for one model of cooperation to be ideal for all relationships. However, a pattern of cooperation did emerge from which one can draw recommendations for successful sharing. The pattern included regular channels of communication, exchange of mission statements, cooperative budget structures, and internship programs. The most extensive sharing was found in administrative units that included both an academic unit and a broadcast station.