Comparison Of Journalism Education In Nigeria Between The Polytechnic And University

This study examined the comparison of journalism education in Nigeria between the polytechnic and university, using Osun State Polytechnic Iree and Lagos State University as case study. In carrying out this study, the survey research method was used. With stratified sampling technique, the higher institutions in Nigeria were divided into two: Polytechnic and University. The research relied on questionnaires, observation and interviews to generate primary data while the secondary data was gotten from existing text. The population of study was the students and lecturers working journalist in the selected Universities. The study found that some universities award B.A. degree in Journalism while some award B.Sc. degree.

Also, the nomenclature of the degrees influenced the designing of the training programmes offered by the University and Polytechnic. For instance those that award B.Sc. emphasize credit passes in Mathematics with less emphasis on Literature while those that award B.A lay more emphasis to Literature and less to Mathematics. Generally, the training programmes in the selected tertiary institutions are of a high quality in scope and contact although more emphasis should be given to practical training than to theory. Based on these findings, the work went ahead to recommend that all Universities offering training programmes in Journalism should have functional studios and as a matter of fact they should apply for license to operate their own campus Broadcast outfit. They should also sustain and strengthen the media attachment course in their programmes

Introduction

1.1 Background To The Study

Debates on the superiority or inferiority of university-trained versus polytechnic-trained journalists have been rife among stakeholders in the Nigerian media environment. Although the debates have remained largely on the informal plane of social discourse, the views of the various parties have been as loud as though there are empirical facts to supporttheir claims. This study is an empirical investigation of the subject.

In this study, we present the result of a comprehensive comparative analysis of study programmes or curriculum of tertiary institutions in Nigeria train journalists. My decision to study this aspect is borne out of my experience in media training in Nigeria Universities. I vehemently believe that the level of enlightenment and quality of entertainment the society gets from the media depends on the quality of training that those at package media software received. A survey of global literature will reveal various terms used to describe the press - like watch dog, the voice the voiceless, etc. (Daramola, 1990:28).

It is also known as the 4th estate of the realm" after the executive, judiciary and legislature (Denneberg; 1976:18). All these expressions no doubt, depict the sociological value of the media in society. It is no secret at a lot of people depend on the media for further education on contemporary social issues. According to Njoku (2002:14) before the journalists can properly inform the public, they must first be properly informed. And being well informed here hinges on the quality of training and education received by this crop of men and women, who cross the land everyday to ensure that the society is well-informed, entertained and educated. One wonders the kind of education one gets from a half educated man. This study hopes to realistically picture the kind of journalistic training available in Nigeria today.

However, fortunately or unfortunately, there had been no formula for automatically producing successful journalists. No amount of reading,attending lectures, or practicing can ensure automatic success. Success comes through proper adaptation and combination of the above factors together with the various human qualities. In general, there are two schools of thought on the subject of training Mass Communicators - one emphasizes mechanics or technicalities or literary ingenuity Hyde (1976:24). The other largely ignores mechanics and substitutes a strong emphasis on communicating ideas, regardless of skills Flesch (1972:86). Since good journalism has resulted from both approaches, this study will look at the possibilities of combining both.

In general, the term mass media refers to institutions that are in business to educate, inform, persuade and entertain large numbers of people. The largest of mass media fields are newspapers, television, radio, magazines, book, film, advertising agencies, public relation firms, wire services, freelance photography, graphic arts, the internet and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) (Baran, 2004:65). Universities in Nigeria frequently use journalism to label departments or schools that specialize in preparing students for jobs in various mass media fields. These programmes can offer training in the practical aspects of communicating as well as courses on the theories and psychology of human communication, from simple conversation to worldwide networks.

A student majoring in Journalism is required to take several courses, which cover the basics of Journalism. A 1990 study conducted for the Dew Jones Newspaper Fund in America found that 75%percent of journalists hired are Journalism majors Ghiglione, 1992:13). In Nigeria, the National Universities Commission (NUC) that accredits University and Polytechnic programs requires universities to ensure that graduates have taken a total of 163 credits before graduating (NUC: 2003: 54).

1.2 Statement Of The Problem

By virtue of their level of influence on society, mass communicators are supposed to be one of the best-trained professionals. But unfortunately, practical evidence shows that they are not. Journalism is a very highly essential and sensitive service to the society that training should be the best and the concern of all in the society. It is one profession that Practitioners cannot hide from the glare of the society. The society relies on it for further education, continuous and continual information and entertainment (Daramola, 1990:30). While it will be redundant to ask other professional groups what they studied, such question is far from being obvious in the case of journalism in Nigeria. The continuing dilemma for those pushing for professional status for journalism to note that it has no single set of procedure or requirement for certifying its practitioners. Moreover, as we shall see later on, there is little agreement among those current practitioners and the training institutions as to how specifically to go about becoming a mass communicator. The statement of the problem is that intending journalist do not have the training they need to function effectively and training programmes in universities appear not to be adequate to give them the necessary exposure they need.

1.3. Purpose Of The Study

The study is basically to evaluate the level of comparison of Journalism education in Nigeria between the Polytechnics and Universities and to proffer solution to the problem of Journalism education in Nigeria. The following are the specific objectives of the study:

To examine the adequacy of the present curriculum in Journalism and training in both Nigerian Universities and Polytechnics?

What is the ratio between theoretical and practical training the institutional programmes?

What are the personality traits expected of trainee mass communicators?

What areas would students of Journalism in both Nigerian Universities and Polytechnics be encouraged to take elective from?

Which aspects of the training need more emphasis to ensure smooth transition from the classroom to the newsroom?

1.4. Significance Of The Study

The significant of this research work is to know the level of comparison of Journalism education in Nigeria between polytechnics and Universities.

The importance of a study on how the occupational group most directly responsible for the day-to-day information needs of our society is trained cannot be over-emphasized. The study provided accurate information on the nature of journalistic training in contemporary Nigeria. As Johnstone (1976:65) puts it, news-media journalists are the occupational group currently very much in the public eye. Therefore, an insight into how they are trained is of great significance to the society.

Furthermore, the significance can be seen in the fact that there will be an addition to a body of relevant literature in journalism practice that would be a reference point for reading and research.

Also one of the problems that most potential Journalism students face is the issue of which the Nigerian universities are offering the programme. So the study provides them with information on these universities that will help them make wise choices. In addition, practicing mass communicators will be informed on how and where they can get themselves trained and retrained for their job in this 21st century.

1.5.Research Questions

How adequate is the present curriculum in Journalism and training in both Nigerian Universities and Polytechnics?

What is the ratio between theoretical and practical training the institutional programmes?

What are the personality traits expected of trainee mass communicators?

What areas would students of Journalism in both Nigerian Universities and Polytechnics be encouraged to take elective from?

Which aspects of the training need more emphasis to ensure smooth transition from the classroom to the newsroom?

1.6 Theoretical Framework

The field of educational psychology is loaded with a lot of theories that have to do with learning processes. Educational psychology is concerned with learning and adjustment in schools. It makes recommendations on educational placement and work on educational planning team. It does research on teaching and learning Santrock (2001:124). It is therefore not out of place for this researcher to immerse himself in educational psychology in the task of coming up with an appropriate theoretical framework for the research work. Several of these theories under educational psychology have emphasized different factors responsible for attitude formation and attitude change. And education and training that is the crust of this work has as its objective attitude formation and change. For the purpose of this study, the researcher intends to use two theories for our theoretical framework to support the drive towards ensuring that our media practitioners are welltrained.

Observational Learning Theory

These are the observational theory. This theory also called imitation or modeling, is learning that occurs when a person (student) observes and imitates someone"s (lecturer) behavior. Bandura (1986:18) described four main processes that are involved in observational learning: attention, retention, motor reproduction and reinforcement. From this theory, it means that for learning or teaching or intellectual exchange to effectively take place in our universities that teach Journalism, should first attract the attention of the students. In order to reproduce a teacher"s action, the student must attend to what the teacher is saying or doing, which calls for concentration. The attention to the model/teacher is influenced by a host of characteristics like warm, powerful typical people command more attention than do cold, weak typical people. If journalism imbibes the principles of this theory, our teaching learning is likely to produce permanent change in behaviour. Commenting further on this theory, Bandura (2000:73) believes that if we learn only in such a trial-and- error fashion, learning would be exceedingly tedious and at times hazardous. Although we can also acquire knowledge, skills, rules, strategies, beliefs and attitudes through observation.

Gardner"s Theory Of Eight Intelligence.

Another working theory is Gardner"s theory of eight intelligence. Gardner (2002:93) believes there are eight types of intelligence. They are described below:

1. Verbal skill

The ability to think in words and to use language to express meaning. Occupations: Journalism,authors.

2. Mathematical skills

The ability to carry out mathematical operations.

3. Spatial skills

The ability to think three-dimensionally. Occupations: architects, artists,sailors.

4. Bodily Kinesthetic skills

The ability to manipulate objects and be physically adaptive. Occupations: surgeons, crafts people, dancers,athletes.

5. Musical skill

Sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm and tone. Occupation: composers, musicians and sensitive listeners.

6. Interpersonal skills

The ability to understand and effectively interact with others. Occupation: teachers, mental health professionals.

7. Interpersonal skills

The ability to understand oneself. Occupation: theologians,psychologists.

8. Naturalist skills

The ability to observe pattern in nature and understand natural human-made systems. Occupations: farmers, botanists, ecologists, landscapers.

Gardner believes that each of the eight intelligences can be destroyed by poor training. That each involves unique cognitive skills and that each shows up in instructional classes in which the teacher lectures and gives objective tests. Such arrangement often considers as smart students with good grades. Students who are high in creative intelligence often are not in the top rung of their class. (Sternberg 1999:104) says that many teachers have expectations about how to assess students. Students who are high in creative intelligence often are not in the top rung because they don"t give expected answers but unconditional although correct answers. Also, students who are practically intelligent often do not relate well to the demands of school. However, these students frequently do well outside of the classroom walls. Sternberg (1999:100) believes that a few tasks are purely analytic, creative or practical. Most tasks require some combination of these skills.

This theory was adopted because as we can see above, it can stimulate journalism educator to think more broadly about what makes up people"s intelligence and competence. And it is more appropriate here because Journalism is a practical-skill-oriented profession. This theory will motivate educators to develop programmes that instruct students in different domains.

1.7 Definition Of Basic Concepts

Comparative Assessment:

This is an attempt at bringing out the areas of common ground in the academic training programmes of some government owned universities on one hand the privately owned ones on the other and. Apart from the common grounds in the training programmes, this comparative assessment will also bring out areas of disparity. The target is to identify the SWOT (Strength, weakness, opportunity and treats) of each programme. These will enable for a proactive policy that will encourage and support the identified positive virtues and discourage or downplay the negative ones. To assess is to determine the usefulness or otherwise of something based on the inherent virtues and the needs that it is suppose to serve. And that is why assessment is not judgmental but seeks to bring out the inherent features of these training programmes without making any value judgment statement.

Journalism:

In this work, journalism is used synchronously with journalism. And we defined it as the institutionalized running record of a society, and the day-to-day representation of ongoing social process as filtered through the apparatus of the journalistic manpower.

Furthermore, journalism is seen as a social force that informs, entertains, delight, annoy and educate the public by moving their emotions, challenging their intellects, insulting their intelligence and help define and shape public relations (Baran: 2004:4).

Journalism Manpower:

It is important for our readers to have an idea of what journalism manpower is, since no profession is better than its empower. Here it is defined as all-news media personnel who have editorial responsibility for the preparation or transmission of new stories or other basic information. This edition embracing those whose principal responsibilities lie in news gathering, news, processing and editing; or supervisors and managers of news operation (Johnstone 1976:4). This journalistic manpower of our dream requires the following skill- ability, to talk or speak, write, listen,etc.

Education Training:

Education or training can be defined as a process that leads to the transformation of an individual. It involves passing through stages, that will lead to the acquisition of a skill that is not available to the person before the training started. Here we recognize two types of education or training, viz: formal and informal. Training is formal when it is acquired at the four walls ofthe classroom and going through detailed stages and with a minimum entry point requirement. This kind of education leads to what is called training-for-one"s job. Informal education occurs when in the process of working or interacting with people in society, the person acquires some skills that are necessary for ones continued existence. Here there is no procedure or formal states or entry requirements. This kind of education leads to what is called training on the-job.

In Nigeria we have about 48 public and private universities; and almost all of them offer training in journalism. The university is at the apex of the educational structure in Nigeria.

Public Universities:

In Nigeria, public universities are those owned and operated by either the Federal Government like the University Nigeria, Nsukka or those owned and operated by the State Government Delta State University, Abraka. These universities are under the direct control of the Ministry of Education. They are usually established by the tax-payers money; and that is why they are called public, because no one individual lays claim to its ownership. And trade unionism is tolerated in public universities and prominent among the trade unions are ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities), where incessant strikes almost led to the collapse of the public universities and greatly contributed to the growth of the private universities.

Private Universities:

These universities are private concerns, purely owned and operated by private citizens individually or in association. Prominent examples of such universities are lgbinedion University, Okada, Benson Idahosa University, Madonna University, Okija, The owners of these universities are usually the chancellors and no of trade unionism is allowed. And job security here is very low as any person can be thrown out any time. The profile and number of these universities is increasing and one interesting thing is that so far all of them have training programmes for journalism.

• Mass Communication Project Topics and Materials