You both point to the enormous range of journalism out there — and I suspect that celebrity gossip (for example) was not near the top of the list for those who drew up the WJEC declaration. Or even on it!

Covering the ‘humdrum’ is valuable experience for student reporters to lay the foundations for the ‘lofty’ (and not-so-lofty) — to learn the essentials of checking facts, using quotes, research, structuring and writing stories etc. I also find that working on local news helps students to gain a better understanding of readers’ everyday concerns — and to address these in their stories.

The questions I mentioned tend to be the priorities for editors and employers, I suggested — not necessarily the only ones. It’s certainly part of our job to foster the wider/deeper perspective, too — indeed, plenty of employers seem to appreciate this as well. (The critical reflection blog that I’ve run with students {see other posts} seems to help them with such aspects of their learning.)

Too bad you weren’t able to come to WJEC, Mindy, but great that you’ve joined the discussions online. I like the redesign of your blog, by the way. Plus the excellent content, of course! It wasn’t long before you and your blog came up in discussions about convergence etc in journalism education.

I worry that Jonathan decries the absence of the lofty in the Declaration, but seems to disconnect this from the vocational stuff and questions from editors and employers. It’s a sad day if the only questions being asked are: “are you turning out students who can do the job?” and “have they got a solid grasp of news, reporting, writing and interviewing?”.

Isn’t part of the job of a j-school to remind editors and students that there is more to journalism than this, and indeed that “the job” is unique in terms of making a difference. Perhaps not in all stories – but, depending on creative skill and critical awareness, in a good many.

It’s really tough in some countries to produce meaningful journalism education. You have some journalists who cannot teach and some academics who have never practiced journalism. You have a syllabus that emphasizes the lofty goals of righting wrongs and exposing corruption, but when the student goes out on her first internship, she will learn that no journalist in her country does those things.

So I admire the declaration as a foundation stone that everyone managed to agree on. It has a lot of the right stuff in it. It’s not too long and not too pompous. It’s a good base on which to build.