Requested journalistic competences in Europe : a comparative survey on requested competences in journalism

Background: The world of journalism is under constant change. Structural change and media convergence are big challenges for the media organisations, the journalists but also for journalism schools. Journalism schools profit on the one hand from a rise in professionalism and academisation of the profession journalist, on the other hand this also implicates increasing requirements. What demands makes the media world for journalists? Which competences do they expect a graduate of a journalism school to have? Which competences do they weight more than others? These are questions investigated in a research project with an international comparative approach. Theoretical and methodological approach: In the theoretical perspective the presented study reflects the principles of the comparative journalism research. It compares different journalistic cultures with the aim to identify and explain interdependences between variables on the micro and in the macro level (see Esser 2004: 152). With recourse to Weischenberg/Altmeppen/Löffelholz (1994: 207-222) and Dörmann/Pätzold (1998: 61-67) the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) defined in the Tartu-declaration (see EJTA 2010) fifty journalistic competences. However, it seems to be evident that journalism schools have not the resources nor to train students for all the theses competences in the same extent. They have to weight them up; they need to decide which competences are (or will be) more important than others. This is the initial position of this study proposed for presentation. In close collaboration with the EJTA the research team designed an online survey with two phases: In a first phase the heads of European journalism schools were asked to weight the fifty journalistic competences of the Tartu declaration. In a second phase the online questionnaire was spread in 16 countries in Central, Northern, Western, South Eastern and South Western Europe where 360 editors in chief from diverse media types were asked to weight the fifty journalistic competences too. Findings: The results indicate that the questioned editors in chief ranked personal competences (as being reliable, show initiative and the willing to take criticism and responsibility) under the first ten ranks. Less important to them seems to be the organizational aspects like “reflect on the future career”, “know the market conditions” or “know the rights and obligations within an organisation”. Also the competences “to cooperate with technicians” or “to organize contributions from the audience” were weighted less important than the average. Surprisingly also the competence “to have insight in the influence of journalism in society” ranked under the last 10. A more detailed look at the data shows that there are some differences between different asked groups in the survey. In the presentation the results will be differentiated between the region, the media type, the size of the media organization and also the, from the editors in chief estimated, competition degree for their medium. Moreover, the responses from the school heads and the editors in chief will be compared