Reports on a meeting of agriculture and journalism deans to examine agricultural journalism curricula. They hear calls for courses and curricula that encompass not only "micro" skills (e.g., writing and broadcasting techniques) but also "macro" aspects such as international communications, rural-urban issues and national food and agricultural policy concerns.
Author reports that Kansas State has offered a news writing course for agricultural students for more than a decade, and with good results.. Believes a course in news writing should not be a universal requirement in the agricultural college curriculum, but emphasizes skills in English.
Friedman, Sharon M. (author / Department of Journalism and Communication, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015)
Format:
Conference paper
Publication Date:
1994
Published:
USA
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 98 Document Number: C08035
Notes:
James F. Evans Collection, Mimeographed, 1994. 21 p. Paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Convention in Atlanta, GA, August 10-13, 1994., This paper reviews changes in the field of environmental journalism education both in academia and continuing education within the last five years. Based on a mail survey of educators and a telephone survey of selected environmental journalists, it shows that environmental journalism education is a field that is growing and maturing. In academia, there are new courses, new programs and new endowed chairs. In continuing education for professionals, there are many more programs available under major media and foundation sponsorship. Although it is maturing, the education field is still faced with problems such as lack of appropriate texts, mixed backgrounds for students and fiscal constraints. The professional field of environmental journalism faces a number of problems discussed from both the perspective of educators and journalists. The latter information is derived from a telephone survey of selected leading environmental journalists as well as a poll by American Opinion Research of more than 500 journalists. Advice is offered from both educators and environmental journalists for improvements in environmental journalism and needed developments in environmental journalism education. (original)
