| Rapid developments of technology in the past decades have disrupted the traditional media role as a main informer of citizens. The changes have challenged journalism educators worldwide, pushing them to innovate and experiment. A purpose of this dissertation is to examine adoption of innovations by journalism educators in Georgia, a small post-Soviet country, with partly free media and lack of professional outlets, that has been and still is a beneficiary of solid Western aid into media development. Employing innovation diffusion theory and the network analysis perspective, this dissertation uses a census of journalism educators and journalism program leaders in Georgia to understand how much innovation is taking place in journalism programs, and examine the effects of journalism educators' professional network on adoption behavior.;The findings of this study add to the knowledge of changing journalism education in newly democratic countries and can serve as a basis for studying journalism education in other countries with similar media environment that fall under the radar of Western aid organizations. |
