The ‘new majority’ and the academization of journalism

Abstract

The academization of journalism is reliant on the development of the field founded in scholarship demonstrated through the publication of research in peer-reviewed specialist journals. Given the profile of journalism faculty, this means inducting practitioners into a culture of critical research. In Australia at least, this cohort of neophytes is predominantly comprised of middle-aged women who were surveyed about their personal attitudes to research. They were mostly open to the idea of becoming researchers but were inclined to proceed cautiously without necessarily severing their ties with practice. There was evidence to suggest that a generally positive orientation to research was not capitalized on and that they remained uncertain about the role of research. On the other hand, they appeared not to have adopted the orthodoxy of implacable opposition to scholarly inquiry. The change in gender composition in the academy may provide, contrary to historical, but more in line with contemporary, evidence, a renewed impetus to the project of academizing the field.

Fantasy, Pragmatism and Journalistic Socialisation: UK Journalism Students’ Aspirations and Motivations

“…We might ask, then, to what extent are journalism educators perpetuating or challenging such gender preferences? Historically, journalism education has been accused of perpetuating the gender roles and disparities present in the news industry (Bromley, 2013). Future research might turn again to the contemporary gender profile of journalism departments, as well as the (often subtle) ways in which gender preferences are moulded through the curriculum.…”

Delay Journalism Practice until Academic Scholarship is Mastered

“…Journalism—as a research methodology—is not a ‘method’ listed in the textbooks used by most Australian universities. There is, however, an increasing body of literature (including this journal volume) that argues that it is a legitimate research method (Bacon, 1999 2006, 2012; Bromley, 2012, 2013, 2014; Davies, 2010a; Duffield, 2009; Lamble, 2004; Nash, 2014; Pearson, 2011; Pearson & Patching, 2010; Turner, 2011; Waller, 2012). Despite this, it is often difficult to get institutional support for submitting journalistic work as part of academic research output because faculty and university research committees doubt the legitimacy of journalism’s methodologies, scope of enquiry and contribution to ‘new’ knowledge.…”

Journalism and Academic Writing

“…Inevitably, that will be accompanied by a shift in relative value ascribed to journalistic and academic output. Journalist-academics must recognize the ‘publish or perish’ rules of the game they are now playing (Bromley, 2012). That is not always the case: a survey of journalist-academics found that only just over half thought that it was important for them to publish academic research at all (Harcup, 2011a).…”