Short courses greatly complement the college training of journalists

Continuous training has become the prerequisite for good journalism, especially since news gathering, production, distribution and consumption has changed greatly since the advent of the Digital Age and the attendant rise of non-linear journalism.

This has spawned challenges in journalism education with educators and media professionals acknowledging the need for curriculum reform to reflect the realities of the industry.

Yet, response in journalism education to changing industry needs have been slow and inadequate because of many dynamics — such as high enrolment numbers and diminishing funding to training institutions.

Competency-based training

Training institutions need to closely connect the classroom with the newsroom and sync it with the needs of the fast-changing digitally oriented media industry.  The world is moving away from academic to competency-based training that better serves the market. And as some institutions redesign media education programmes, many face challenges in transforming their curricula to address fast-changing industry needs.

This important task cannot be left to newsrooms or colleges alone. It needs us all. The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has, for instance, identified the modular curriculum approach as a key tool in ensuring higher standards of journalism training and practice in Kenya.

This has necessitated engagements between media stakeholders — including media houses and journalism colleges — to identify gaps in media training and devise interventions. These include reviewing and aligning curricula and developing short, independent units.

The integrated curriculum (modular) approach is a key road to professionalism in the media. It seeks to align media training programmes with the national Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and the Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET). It also creates room for stronger links between training and the world of work, allowing the latter to respond better to the needs of employers and other stakeholders.

Expand progression

It will also provide greater opportunities for learners to move in and out of the training ecosystem, enabling access and expanding progression yet improving competencies.

Conversely, it will not only introduce greater flexibility into journalism training but also make it attractive and, ultimately, help to combat high youth unemployment as it empowers trainees for job creation.

Yet a wholesome education must go beyond the vocational; it must include knowledge in liberal arts, which help in broadening the minds of students so they may adopt to innovations and changes.

Short courses also equip reporters in specialised areas to the extent of making them experts in their own right. This cures a key shortcoming in journalism training in Africa: A generalist approach where reporters are jacks and jills of all trades yet are expected to be experts in the areas they cover.

One of the short courses MCK has developed with partners is on climate change adaptation. Climate change is, perhaps, the single-largest global threat to humanity and environment today with frequent extreme weather conditions such as droughts and flooding, wreaking havoc on lives and livelihoods. This calls for urgent interventions not just in mitigation but also communication, which plays a key role in provoking action.

Climate change

This will train journalists with a keen interest in environment and climate change. The objective is to build the capacity of science journalists to report on climate change in a manner that can trigger adaptation and resilience. The journalists should internalise the fundamentals of climate change, as well as its underlying drivers and effects on the environment and society.

Also key is the link between agriculture and climate change, including the interactions and re-engineering agricultural practices in the advent of climate change.

The other curriculum that is ready for piloting is on child rights protection — another underserved constituency where certain sensitivities are needed in its reporting.

Mr Omwoyo is CEO, Media Council of Kenya (MCK). [email protected]