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abstract / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This creative project presents the first three modules of a proposed fifteen-module textbook on copy editing. The three modules contain college-level instruction and practice in the elements of copy editing, the tools of the profession, basic line editing, and guides for attribution of news sources and the editing of biased news copy. At the end of each module, there are lists of important terms contained in the text and a series of three editing exercises concentrating on subject matter in the text.The creative project also includes an up-to-date examination of modern newspaper technology and how it affects the copy editor. This examination explores video display terminals, optical character recognition and pagination, including examples of how the editing process is conducted in the computer age.

This thesis has studied the attitudes of high school and college newspaper advisers and high school newspaper editors concerning their approach to language usage that would be appropriate in a student newspaper. In order to discover these attitudes, a questionnaire on language usage was sent to 225 school journalists (75 to each group) with an enclosed stamped self-addressed envelope which allowed the form to be returned. The returns netted 149 questionnaires (49 from each of the adviser groups and 51 from the editors). It was found that the school journalists were much more conservative toward acceptance of language usage than published linguistic data had suggested likely. Also it was found that the student editors were much less liberal than the two groups of advisers had suspected they would be. The three groups contradicted themselves to a certain degree in their negative reactions to certain rules of usage and their positive reactions to certain specific grammatical examples illustrating the rules of usage.

Economic retrenchment, social shifts, and technological changes endanger journalism's democratic role. Journalism education faces parallel threats. I review the state of journalism and education, linking the crisis to society's loss of story, framed philosophically by the Dewey-critical theory split over journalism and power. I explore the potential for renewing journalism and education with Carey's ritual model and Postman's restoration of storytelling. I then summarize existing major academic programs and suggest a new interdisciplinary curriculum for environmental journalism, a specialty well suited to experimental, democracy-centered education. The curriculum uses as pedagogy active and conversational learning and reflection. A graduate introductory course is detailed, followed by additional suggested classes that could form the basis of a graduate certificate program or, with further expansion, a graduate degree concentration.

The purpose of this study was to identify and compare the job performance expectations of recent journalism graduates as perceived by selected managing editors and journalism educators in Standard Federal Region Six (the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas). The survey instrument consisted primarily of statements dealing with the topics of five research questions on the value of journalism education to success on newspapers, the value of newspaper experience to teaching journalism, the language skills of recent graduates, the value of academic research to the improvement of newspapers, and the "gap" between journalism education and journalism practice.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study deals with the relationship between university-based journalism education and journalism as a social practice. It is argued that the construction of this relationship can be better understood in context of its location within the history different conceptions of social knowledge. The purpose was to gain insight into how this relationship was shaped by the location of journalism education within global and local histories of such knowledge. This goal was pursued through an exploration of the international development of university-based journalism education and a more detailed consideration of the South African example. The study consists, firstly, of a literature review which demonstrates how the construction of the relationship between journalism education and journalism as practice has been implicated in the history of different conceptualisations of authoritative knowledge. The review traces the role played by Mass Communication Studies and Cultural Studies in shaping this relationship. It is concluded that the way in which these two fields have located themselves within the politics of authoritative knowledge has contributed to the marginalisation, within journalism education, of critical engagement between academic knowledge and knowledge of journalistic practice. The review also teases out how South African journalism education has positioned itself within the broader history of universitybased journalism education. It is concluded that although the marginalisation of critical education is reproduced within the South African example, a close study of journalism education in this country reveals the potential for a more critical engaged approach to teaching. The study includes an empirical research component focusing on South African journalism education. This serves as a more detailed exploration of the themes emerging from the literature review, pursued in context of an examination of a historically situated example of university-based journalism education. A central aim of this empirical component of the study was to explore the potential for the realisation of a critically engaged tradition in journalism education in South Africa. The study drew, for this purpose, on interviews with individuals who have experience both of working as journalists and of studying and teaching in university environments in South Africa. One conclusion drawn from these interviews is that journalism education, as it exists in this country, has primarily defined itself in relation to a mainstream and ‘liberal’ understanding of authoritative journalistic knowledge. It is demonstrated that it becomes possible to imagine a more critically engaged and transformative relationship with journalism practice if teaching acknowledges the existence, in the South African context, of alternative approaches to authoritative journalistic knowledge. It is also shown that within existing traditions of critical education, the relationship with practice tends to be one of the ‘deconstruction’ of the liberal conceptualisation of journalistic knowledge. The study proposes that ‘critical engagement’ needs, instead, to be reconceptualised as a relationship of ‘supportive critique’ with historically situated examples of journalistic practice. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die geskiedenis van die verhouding tussen universiteits-gebaseerde joernalistieke onderrig en joernalistiek as ‘n sosiale praktyk. Die studie voer aan dat die ontwikkeling van hierdie verhouding beter begryp kan word deur dit te kontekstualiseer binne die geskiedenis van sosiale kennis. Die bedoeling was om insig te verkry in hoe die verhouding tussen universiteitsgebaseerde joernalistieke onderrig en joernalistiek as ‘n sosiale praktyk gevorm is deur ontwikkelinge in internasionale sowel as in die plaaslike Suid-Afrikaanse verband. Met die oog hierop word ‘n oorsig van die internasionale ontwikkeling van universiteits-gebaseerde joernalistieke onderrig verskaf sowel as ‘n nadere ondersoek van die Suid-Afrikaanse geval. Die studie bestaan, eerstens, uit ‘n literatuuroorsig wat demonstreer hoe die uitbou van ’n verhouding tussen joernalistieke onderrig en joernalistiek in die praktyk ingebed was in die vestiging van gesaghebbende sosiale kennis. Die literatuur-oorsig beklemtoon die invloed van onderskeidelik Massa Kommunikasie Studies en Kulturele Studies op die ontwikkeling van hierdie verhouding. Een gevolgtrekking is dat die rol wat dié twee studievelde gespeel het binne die politiek van sosiale kennis bygedra het tot marginalisering van ‘n kritiese verhouding tussen akademiese kennis en kennis van joernalistieke praktyk. Die ontwikkeling en rol van joernalistieke onderrig in Suid-Afrika word ook ondersoek binne die breër geskiedenis van universiteits-gebaseerde joernalistieke onderrig. Dit word bevind dat hoewel kritiese onderrig ook in Suid-Afrika gemarginaliseer is, ‘n nadere studie aantoon dat daar wel potensiaal is vir ‘n meer kritiese benadering in joernalistieke onderrig. Die studie sluit ‘n empiriese navorsingsprojek in van joernalistieke onderrig in Suid-Afrika. Die temas wat as deel van die literatuuroorsig bespreek is word sodoende in hierdie besondere historiese konteks ondersoek. ‘n Belangrike doelstelling van hierdie empiriese komponent van die studie was om die potensiaal vir ‘n meer krities-betrokke tradisie in joernalistieke onderrig in Suid- Afrika te ondersoek. Onderhoude is gevoer met individue wat ondervinding het van joernalistiek in die praktyk sowel as van joernalistieke onderrig. Een gevolgtrekking uit hierdie onderhoude is dat Suid-Afrikaanse joernalistieke onderrig tot dusver sigself in eerste instansie defineer het in relasie tot die hoofstroom van joernalistieke praktyk en deur middel van ‘n ‘liberale’ konsepsie van gesaghebbende joernalistieke kennis. Die navorser voer aan dat ‘n meer kritiese en transformerende verhouding tussen joernalistieke onderrig en die praktyk van joernalistiek wel moontlik word as die bestaan van alternatiewe benaderings tot gesaghebbende joernalistieke kennis binne die Suid Afrikaanse konteks erken word. Binne bestaande tradisies van kritiese onderwys word die verhouding met die praktyk dikwels gedefinieer as ‘dekonstruksie’ van die liberale konseptualisering van joernalistieke kennis. Hierdie studie stel voor dat ‘n kritiese benadering tot onderrig in joernalistiek eerder gebaseer moet word op ‘ondersteunende kritiek’ wat gebruik maak van histories gekontekstualiseerde voorbeelde van joernalistieke praktyk.

In the absence of qualitative research in the field of American journalism education, a case study of a Duke University affiliated documentary tradition program is blended with a Scholarly Personal Narrative to answer the call for innovative journalism education models and to address the decades old debate related to teacher qualifications in journalism education. By blending the study of a particular type of journalism with a particular type of journalism educator, a new model for journalism education is offered for consideration by the journalism education community. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

Insufficient research has addressed communication apprehension (CA) as it relates explicitly to the journalism and public relations disciplines. The purpose of this study was to measure the CA levels of undergraduate journalism and public relations interns after participating in communication events with their immediate supervisors during their internship experiences.A total of 55 male and female undergraduate students, who had completed internships in the four semesters prior to this study, chose to participate. McCroskey's Personal Report of Communication Apprehension 24 (PRCA-24) scale (McCroskey 1984b) was administered to each participant to measure CA in four contexts: group discussions, meetings, interpersonal communication, and public speaking. The two hypotheses predicted significant differences in CA levels based on the age differences and sex differences between interns and their immediate supervisors. The results showed no significance for either hypothesis. Limitations and implications for future research were discussed in the final chapter. / Department of Journalism

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe elements that may influence the effective planning and implementation of writing coach programs at small newspapers.Writing coaching at newspapers is becoming increasingly popular as a way to improve the writing abilities of reporters, to improve newsroom morale, to improve the relationship between reporters and editors, and to better serve newspaper readers. This study examined newspaper writing coach programs from an adult and continuing education program planning perspective.This study was qualitative, and was not intended to be generalized to any population. It was intended to provide information that may help the management and staff at small newspapers plan and implement writing coach programs effectively.Two techniques were used to obtain information: 1) telephone interviews with writing coaches, and 2) mini case study site visits to top editors at small newspapers.Ten writing coaches, located throughout the United States, were interviewed by telephone. The coaches selected for interviews were recommended by their peers as being among the most effective coaches in the country. Domain and taxonomic analyses were conducted of the interview transcripts. The study resulted in information relevant to eight areas related to planning and implementing newspaper writing coach programs: benefits, reasons, barriers, budgets, organizational climate, strengths and weaknesses, structure, and evaluation.Site visits were made to seven small newspapers. Before the visits, the top editors at the seven papers were sent a summary of the information gathered in the writing coach interviews. The editors were asked to react to the interview summary and to share their thoughts on planning and implementing writing coach programs at their newspapers. The site visits resulted in seven mini case studies, each containing a narrative section and a conclusions section.Following the interviews and site visits, a general model was recommended for planning and implementing effective writing coach programs at small newspapers. The Coaching Way of Life Model describes assumptions upon which a coaching program should be based, and describes the role of a coaching facilitator at a small newspaper. / Department of Educational Leadership