JOURNALISM EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES

When it comes to journalism programs, there has been an ongoing debate regarding the relationship between theory and practice, about whom and how should teach journalism, about practical versus scientific approach, about the form and the content of the curriculum (bachelor or graduate level, specific media courses or interdisciplinary ones and so on). Journalism schools around the world are nowadays facing the challenges of the late technological, economic and cultural changes that produce significant effects in professional communication and media production, distribution and media consumption. All these highlight the necessity that media educational programs should focus on the interdisciplinary and multicultural approaches for designing the curriculum. In the beginning, the article briefly refers to the current challenges that media industry is facing, exploring previous academic research conducted on the topic. Furthermore, the proposed study continues with an analysis of the UNESCO model curricula for journalism education that has been adopted by more than seventy journalism programs worldwide in diverse linguistic, social and cultural contexts, followed by their latest model of journalism syllabus developed in 2013. And, finally, the paper explores the role of media educators and the profile of journalism programs - between the old news values and the impact of digital techniques.