Reflections: Development of Australian journalism education

The global development of professional education for journalists, since the late nineteenth century, has been primarily driven by reaction to criticism of media practices from politicians and the media publics (Banning 1999 and others). The resulting emphasis on the content of pre-professional programs has tended to come at the expense of considering the ways in which students might also develop professional understanding. There has been long and vigorous debate about what prospective journalists should learn, and what they should not learn, but less attention has been paid to the way professional attitudes and efficacy are developed in students through learning programs. In fact, the major influence underpinning journalism education in Australia is still the political/industrial history of journalism as a profession “sui generis”, or like no other (Lloyd 1985). This article considers the development of journalism teaching in Australia and argues that it is time to focus on the way journalism is taught.