The aim is to investigate journalism education in relation to models of journalism and professional values in Russia (M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University), Finland (University of Jyväskylä), Estonia (University of Tartu), Poland (University of Warsaw) and Sweden (Södertörn University). In the last conference of IMCR (2008) many papers were presented in the field with national or “western” basis. The new approach here is to compare countries that seldom appear in the same study and to contribute to a theory of journalism education.
Research questions: Historical background How and why were programs for journalism education originally established? Influences from political changes in respective countries?
Professional values and ideas: Who are the important actors influencing journalism education today? With what kind of ideas and – what kind of results? The organized journalists? The academy? The state? The media industry?
Teachers vs students perspectives: How do the teachers reflect on journalism education in relation to models of journalism and professional values? How do journalism students reflect on their future as professional journalists and the role of journalism in society?
Method: For the historical background secondary data will be used, earlier research. To understand the professional values and ideas in respective institution we will read official documents from the institutions, study curricula, compulsory literature and examination. We will also make interviews with representatives from the journalists organization, the academy, the ministry / state and the media industry in respective country.
For the last part a survey will be constructed and quantitative data collected from teachers and students. To facilitate the data gathering contacts are established in the different institutions. The total number of teachers will be around 60 and the total number of students around 600. Teachers and students can be expected to have different views. This in turn will tell us something about the ongoing shifts in respective country and how professional identity and values are transformed.