The Classroom Is the Newsroom: CNA: A Wire Service Journalism Training Model to Bridge the Theory Versus Practice Dichotomy

Abstract

Although recent journalism education literature has promoted constant innovation, creative curriculum design, and the adaptation of teaching methodologies to the requirements of a fiercely competitive media marketplace, the permanent faceoff between the academy and the profession has often led to theoretical models distanced from real newsroom dynamics prompting the need for transversal projects that integrate both valid theoretical axioms and core competences. The Catalan News Agency (CNA) experiment, which obliges students to provide professionallevel English-language content for an official news agency, addresses this dichotomy and goes beyond classic simulation models as trainees must comply with academic goals and adjust to agency dynamics.

Medios de comunicación universitarios como escenarios de aprendizaje: el caso de Ecuador

“…Cozma y Hallaq (2019) señalan como alarmantes las dificultades que tienen algunos medios universitarios para adaptarse al escenario digital, lo que estaría configurando escenarios alejados de la realidad periodística, sin generar desde sus facultades modelos alternativos que contribuyan plenamente a la próxima era del periodismo, como lo demandan Mensing y Ryfe (2013). Frente a esto, algunas instituciones han roto esquemas para propiciar modelos transversales que integren los desafíos del periodismo digital, las técnicas de capacitación y las demandas de las propias empresas de medios, llegando a establecer mixturas entre centros académicos y medios, como la Universidad de Arizona con Arizona Republic, Point Park University con Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, o la Universidad Michigan State con Capital News Service (Berger y Foote, 2017;Tulloch y Mas i Manchon, 2018). En otros casos, las universidades han optado por implementar salas de redacción exclusivamente virtuales y temporales (Wall 2015).…”

“…Las redes con los actores mediáticos convencionales pueden resultar más complejas, al tener que sintonizar aspectos disímiles como agendas informativas o líneas editoriales, pero también podrían tornarse más provechosas para los estudiantes y los propios MCU, al insertarse o difundir sus contenidos en medios con un mayor alcance, dándoles más visibilidad e impacto. Estas prácticas ya se han experimentado en diferentes países y concuerdan con la tendencia creciente de que la mejor forma de adaptarse al mercado es siendo parte de este (Tulloch y Mas i Manchon, 2018).…”

S(t)imulating Journalism in the Classroom: A Structured Comparison of the Design of Pedagogical Newsrooms in Nordic Academic Journalism Training

“…In higher education professional training, there is less literature on the PNs as such, as their design and functions are intermingled with teaching models, pedagogical goals, didactics of teaching, and the outcomes of classroom learning. Studies have typically focused on the design and implementation of learning environments by using new technologies (Boud & Prosser, 2002; Davenport, Fico, & DeFleur, 2002; Osguthorpe & Graham, 2003; Wall, 2015), on organizing work to achieve certain pedagogical goals (Clark, 2015; Collins, 2017; Eberholst, Hartley, & Olsen, 2015; Harrison, Hirst, & de Wall, 2004; Parks, 2015), or on rethinking the model of journalism education within the frame of innovation and curriculum renewal (Tulloch & Mas Manchón, 2017).…”

Improving Inquiry Questions to Foster Critical Thinking and Reflective Practice in a Journalism Capstone

“…In developing a student-centered journalism program, Deuze (2001) urged the “abandonment of the theory versus practice discussion in favor of a general program toward teaching critical, self-reflection” (p. 15). Similarly, Tulloch and Mas i Manchon (2018) demonstrated a training model designed to bridge this theory–practice divide.…”