Button-pushers or the Fourth Estate? Journalists in the 21st century

It should be possible to link the health of journalism with the training of journalists. Yet even with the growth of formal journalism training courses in the UK, there is no evidence to suggest that journalism is any healthier today than it was in the past. So what exactly are journalists being taught on journalism programmes? And what is the ideology which underpins journalism training? Are journalists being trained to be professionals, to serve the public, or are they being trained in a craft, to do a job? Attitudes of journalists themselves appear to have changed. The majority now believe that their occupation is a profession and that they are the equals of solicitors and university lecturers, high up on the scale of professions. Yet research shows that editors are less concerned that their new recruits have a sense of public duty or ethics and more interested in them being enthusiastic, flexible and positive. [Continues.]