Concerns about Journalism Education : A Content Analysis of Selected Academic Journals and Trade Publications Published in 1955, 1965, and 1975

Journalism educators must consider an automated, technical news industry and burgeoning enrollments when tey review their educational programs. Traditionally, journalism educators are devoted to endowing their graduates with a good liberal arts education, besides training them for career work in the media. However, like all industries of our modern age, the news industry today is automated and more technically complex than ever. Training students for career work has also become more complex. Qualified instructors must teach students about the new machinery of mass communication and still devote enough time to liberal arts to make them conscientious journalists. Can journalism educators meet this dual responsibility is journalism technology continues to become even more complex? To make the job of educating students more difficult, enrollments in journalism schools since 1955 have increased substantially. Twenty years ago there were about 10,000 students enrolled in journalism schools. At last count in 1975, there were over 55,000. Are journalism educators prepared for continued enrollment growth or sudden declines? Today more than ever, journalism educators must consider the future of journalism education and ascertain the best methods of educating tomorrow’s journalists. Before anyone can speculate on the future of journalism education, however a good assessment of past trends and issues of journalism education must be completed. With these things in mind. The author has undertaken this study. By examining the content of selected journalism publications in 1955, 1965, and 1975, the author hopes to decipher recognizable patterns in his data and then be able to determine past trends and issues of journalism education