| Description |
Journalism educators must make critical decisions about their undergraduate curricula, determining how to best prepare their students for professional careers. Present scholarship indicates that a disconnect exists in what journalism students think they ought to know and/or be able to do upon graduation, what educators think they must teach their students, and what current practitioners identify and value in entry-level journalists. This case study addresses a void in scholarship, as it explores what constitutes adequate preparation in a local context: via perceptions of journalism students and educators at the University of Utah as well as journalism practitioners who work in the Salt Lake Valley. Multiple methods-focused interviews, descriptive surveys, and direct observations-illuminated students', educators', and practitioners' perceptions of preparation and revealed, contrary to other researchers' findings, overall agreement among these three communities. Entry-level journalists, according to the data, must have stellar reporting and writing skills, exercise critical-thinking skills, remain curious about the world around them, understand basic governmental processes and protocols, and practice their craft-on their own and in professional opportunities as they emerge. Eight specific suggestions resulted from the data that may improve the existing undergraduate journalism curriculum at the University of Utah. |
