Equipping Journalists With Skills And Knowledge To Succeed In A Digital World -Sandra Ijeoma Okoye

As a Journalist, if there is anything authorities across Nigerian universities and polytechnics need to do to make mass communication a profession that would be more responsive to labour market needs, it is unarguably that of boosting the syllabus that is common to them with entrepreneurial courses in such a way that the groundbreaking content will help in supporting the employability of recent graduates, minimize skills imbalances and improve the resilience of the workforce to future changes in labour market demand.

The foregoing view cannot be said to be a misnomer as the journalistic profession has changed dramatically over the years in the face of journalism jobs becoming much different today than they were few decades ago. This is as the Internet has been the biggest disrupter of the media environment, with newspaper circulations declining and major outlets finding themselves in competition with online news platform and popular social media accounts.

Without doubt, the profession of journalism will continue to provide opportunities for people who want to enter the field, but the overt “Internetization” and treadmill-like nature of the 24-hour news cycle will be inescapable for future generations of reporters.

Over the last two decades, the changes in journalism have reached new extremes. In fact, a lot of reporting these days now covers the changes in journalism that have occurred as high-speed Internet has become widely available. It would be hard to argue that all of these changes have been for the best. This is as trust in the media has declined, and political journalism has become intensely polarized. Journalists on either side of the divide hold to mutually exclusive ideas of truth and integrity. As if the foregoing are not enough, economic pressures are by each passing day contributing to hasty reporting and embarrassing mistakes. Even the seemingly beneficial technology of the Internet has become a threat to journalistic standards.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is not an exaggeration to say that the old ways of training Journalists or mass communicators in solid methodological and theoretical knowledge is fast running out of fashion as the demand in this internet age now requires them to be equipped with digital skills, and nurtured with the ability to apply them with excellence in the field of communication, and even becoming entrepreneurs.

Analyzed from the foregoing perspective, there is no denying the fact that while most tertiary institutions in Nigeria are stuck in the past that is characterized with labyrinth of analogue contents, tertiary institutions across the world that are accredited for the training of Journalists have for long updated their course outlines to meet with prevailing digital demand.

In fact, most journalism schools in other parts of the world, particularly in America and Europe have designed lessons in the Journalism courses offered in their institutions to give a basic understanding of how to create web content as well as in-depth training in the art of being a supplier to the web.

In fact, they’ve designed their lessons with a basic introduction to the web and then deals with the basics of reportorial and editorial writing, not just with a web-centric viewpoint. Also, some law knowledge follows the specific and separate functions of the internet based freelance writer, and are covered with specific reference to how best to use social media.

In fact, the lessons that are now offered in institutions that are following the trajectory of internet-age journalism give a general overview of the Internet by describing briefly how it is structured, the specific services the public has access to and how the World Wide Web (WWW) began and developed. They also help students to understand web-based writing techniques and recognize the role played by editors online, and to know what is meant by a variety of technical and journalistic terms.

Not only that, the lessons provide students with a picture of web-based journalism today, and help them to understand how technology has changed media form and content, and how web-based stories differ from those in print. Most of the institutions that have embraced digital journalism also offer lessons that discuss the challenges faced by the media when it comes to making a profit in the internet age and the challenges by web-based journalists coupled with challenges that stand on their way as well.

Again, lessons offered in these institutions focus on how to write for the web, and also teach lessons that help students understand how people read and negotiate content online and how to write in a way that is web-friendly, and how to organize web content. Most of the lessons offered by them also deal with the ‘inverted pyramid’ form used for news stories generally, and web-based content more specifically.

In fact, for students that aspire to become media entrepreneurs, lessons taught in such institutions offer an introduction to contemporary journalism practice, and help students to understand why journalistic writing is different from other forms, the role of freelance writers and the opportunities available, along with tactics for getting published. More specifically, they help students to appreciate how best to present their stories in a way that is acceptable to editors (including ‘house style’ and avoiding common errors of grammar and punctuation).

Not only that, lessons offered by them help students to focus on writing so that they have a clearer idea of how to find appropriate markets, understand editors’ priorities and develop saleable ideas.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is expedient trainers and lecturers in mass communication departments in universities and polytechnic across the country have it at the back of their minds that the development of information and communication technology, such as internet, mobile computing and easier and wider connectivity is swiftly transforming the news industry. More so, that conventional news production practices have been disrupted and have evolved to meet the needs of a new era of digital and online journalism.

For instance, in the age of digital and non-linear journalism, the practices of newsgathering, production, distribution and consumption have changed greatly, creating challenges in journalism education. The converged newsrooms of today demand journalism graduates to have digital news production skills that allow them to easily fit into the routines of digital news production practices.

In fact, the pervasive disruption should be borne in mind, and in that light form the basis of reviewing extant syllabi across schools. Teaching of journalism has gone past the era of parochially seeing the profession as that of writing and reading news.