Beyond the byline: the diffusion of convergence curriculum at journalism schools

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Some journalism schools at colleges and universities are reforming their curriculum to include convergence - teaching students to tell the news in more than one style of media (though there is no general agreement in the definition), but in a survey of accredited journalism schools, most respondents do not have a formal program. Studies have shown that the majority of news editors and TV news directors report working in more than one media (online, as well as print or television). The literature also shows that reporters and others that produce content need the basic skills of journalism, but also need to know skills across media boundaries. This paper will show that although most survey respondents agreed that the future of journalism is in multimedia, or convergence, the majority of schools do not have a formal convergence program. The thesis and related survey illustrate the diffusion of innovation theory, which is: an innovation communicated through certain channels over time among members of a social system (Rogers, 1976). This paper will show that journalism schools are in the lower-end of the S-curve that diffusion researchers created, meaning that the innovation is still in the adoption process.