Journalism Education for the Digital Age: Promises, Perils, and Possibilities

This book examines pressing debates concerning how and why journalism education should respond to digital changes in and around the industry, and questions market oriented ideology and civic responsibility in the field.

Surveying a broad field of discourse and research into journalism education, Creech shows how public ideals, market logics and industry concerns have come to animate discussions about digital journalism education and journalism’s future, and how academic structures and cultures are positioned as a key obstacle to attaining that future. The book examines labor conditions, critiques of journalism education as an institution, and curricular change, with reference to how conversations around race, fake news, and digital infrastructures impact the field. Creech argues for a critical pedagogy of journalism education, one that pushes beyond jobs training and instead is centred around a commitment to public and civic value via a liberal arts tradition made practicable for the digital age.

This insightful book is vital reading for journalism educators and scholars, as well as journalists and news executives, education scholars, and program officers and decision-makers at journalism-adjacent foundations and think tanks.

Brian Creech is an Associate Professor in the Journalism Department at Temple University’s Lew Klein College of Media and Communication, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the faculty in the school’s Media and Communication Ph.D. program and directs the school’s teaching hospital-style journalism capstone, PhiladelphiaNeighborhoods.com, which produces hyperlocal news for and about underserved communities in Philadelphia.