The California Press Foundation, in partnership with CSU Northridge’s Journalism Department, has laid the groundwork for an innovative workforce preparedness plan aimed at sustaining the state’s journalism, news and information industries.
The Journalism Education Census project gathered and compiled data from California high school, community college and university journalism programs and their teachers/advisers in both public and private institutions to create what is envisioned to be the first-ever open-source statewide database of journalism programs and publications.
Teachers, advisors and students were surveyed on a variety of key topics, ranging from funding security and First Amendment challenges to career concerns and the outlook for adapting to the digital age.
Now that the data gathering portion of the project is complete, project leaders are in the database buildout stage of the project.
When completed, the database will list the names of the schools, publications (or other forms of news media, such as TV, radio, digital) and advisers, as well as their contact information, such as available email addresses and all other forms of communications, including social media, and any relevant notes.
Project leaders expect that once the database is up and running, it can serve as an interactive horizontal interface between the profession – supplying resources for industry internships and scholarships – and journalism education, by providing the latest studies, findings and cutting-edge techniques.
California educators have expressed support for the project by contributing data collected by their associations, such as both Southern and California scholastic journalism affiliates of the national Journalism Education Association, as well higher education-based organizations.
Among colleges and universities, the data includes more than 200 contacts across the public systems including California Community Colleges, the University of California, the CSU, and dozens among private university journalism and media programs.
The census project was conceived by California Press Foundation board members Marty Weybret, former Lodi News-Sentinel publisher; and Steve O’Donoghue, longtime scholastic journalism teacher/advocate, and a vital resource for reaching and connecting educators directly with news organizations.