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The new challenge is convergence, the coming together of the major mass communication technologies print, television and the World Wide Web. In the past, it sufficed for journalism students, for example, to be prepared to work either for newspapers or television. That situation is changing dramatically. Future journalists will have to be as comfortable handling stories for newspapers, television news operations or the Web. Indeed, some are already doing so, at the Tampa Tribune or the Orlando Sentinel, among others. SJMC during the past year brought a number of experts from around the nation to campus to help sort out the issues. What was learned is two-fold: We must prepare our students to cope successfully with the technology of convergence, but without taking our eye off the fundamentals of journalism, advertising or public relations. In the case of journalism, for instance, that means that the emphasis needs to remain on reporting, writing, accuracy and fairness; in short, on good journalism. But it also means that our journalism graduates have to be not only verbally and numerically literate, they must also be visually literate. They must know not only how to best reach their audience through the printed word, but also through still and moving images, whether on the printed page or a television or computer monitor. That's easier said than done, especially without falling into the trap of turning out graduates who are technology nerds who do not have a solid grasp of good journalism, advertising or public relations. The SJMC faculty has begun to wrestle with this difficult issue. The only thing that is certain is that we will continue to wrestle with it for years to come. The perennial challenge that faces SJMC is the continuing dearth of minorities who work in the fields of advertising, journalism, television and public relations. However, it is a challenge that we are meeting better than most communication programs in the country. Nearly three-quarters of SJMC students have a minority background (59 percent Hispanic; 14 percent African-American). Indeed, a couple of years ago we overtook the much older and larger journalism school at the University of Texas in the number of Hispanic students that earn the bachelor's degree in communications. There are two reasons for our success. One is the large, diverse population of South Florida from which most of our students come, but because there are many fish in the sea does not mean you catch your share. SJMC has attracted and retained its share of minority students because of a commitment that has been in place for more than a dozen years. Because of that commitment, SJMC faculty go the extra mile to assure that all of our students minority or not meet rigorous academic standards needed to compete successfully with their peers graduating from other communication programs around the country. It is that commitment, for example, that caused the chair of the Department of Journalism and Broadcasting, Mike McQueen, to obtain a grant from the Gannett Foundation to help place more of our minority graduates with newspapers and television news operations outside of South Florida. It is the same commitment that has led to SJMC having a faculty that is as diverse in terms of race and gender -- as any found at other communication programs. It is a commitment by which SJMC will abide as far into the new millennium as necessary. J. Arthur Heise, Ph.D., is dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Florida International University. |
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Two
major challenges one new, one not so new face the
School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) at Florida International
University as it prepares its students and the academy for the new
millennium.
