The Drift in Journalism Education in India vis-à-vis New Media: Use of New Media by Administrators/ Educators in Journalism Schools

Abstract

With new media becoming the mainstay of the journalism industry, there is a change in curriculum and pedagogy in journalism education. Even with Web 2.0 becoming the main source of news dissemination, journalism educators will still be required to impart skills to the next generation on writing with clarity, organizing ideas cleanly and working efficiently as a team. The change will be in the methodology, and has to be accepted by the institution at the administrative level first. Since journalism education is required to develop a rational capacity in future graduates, and help them attain all skills essential to understand the media industry with regard to new media practices and changing trends, journalism administrators and educators have to be ably equipped with the skills, only then these can be delivered to the students. The study is about private and public (government) journalism schools in India and focuses on their willingness to adopt the requisite skill set and display adaptability towards using new media. It includes interviews conducted with administrators (who are also educators) in government and private journalism institutions in the country, concerning acceptance of new media and adoption in curriculum, instruction, evaluation and feedback, and arrives at results interpretatively.