Journalism Education in Canada:
Toward a Corporate Model?
Marc Edge, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Communication and Information
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
University journalism
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strictly a post-WWII phenomenon in Canada
only three programs until the mid-1970s
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all in the dominant province of Ontario
still only a handful of j-schools
U.S. j-schools awarded 38,000+ Bachelor’s and
3,000+ graduate degrees in 2001
Canadian j-schools awarded only 339 Bachelor’s
and 66 Master’s degrees in 2001
Practitioner resistance
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many express their disdain for journalism
education in no uncertain terms in Canada
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Robert Fulford: “A highly dubious enterprise. . . . an
embarrassment to many who teach it and some who
study it.”
Barbara Amiel: “I suspect the good people are good
‘in spite of’ not ‘because of’ their journalism studies.”
Allan Fotheringham: “You can’t teach journalism, any
more than you can teach sex. You’re either good at it
or you’re not.”
Following Columbia’s model
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all three original post-war j-schools practical
Western Ontario first to depart from the model
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added courses in ethics, history, law, theory, etc.
but almost fell victim to cost-cutting in 1993
now a grad school merged with library sciences
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enrolls about 60 students
Carleton University in Ottawa moved farthest
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added communication studies in 1977
Master’s program in 1991, Ph.D. in 1997
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enrolls about 500 students
Columbia of the North
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program at Ryerson Institute of Technology
began in 1948 with printing instruction
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soon re-oriented toward journalism
became a degree-granting institution in 1972
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moved to full research university status in 2001
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enrolls about 550 undergraduates
almost exclusively devoted to skills training
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thus could be ripe for reform a la Columbia
Spreading beyond Ontario
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mid-1970s Concordia University in Montreal
late 1970s King’s College in Halifax and
University of Regina in western Canada
graduate school promised in 1980 at UBC
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did not open until 1998 due to funding cutbacks
funded by Hong Kong Standard publisher
named after Sing Tao newspaper chain
changed in 2000 after circulation scandal
“Public Benefits” funding
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program conceived by CRTC in late 1980s
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millions has gone to endowed chairs, research
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portion of takeovers of media companies
eg. 2000 takeover of CTV by Bell Canada (BCE)
$2.5 million for chair in convergence at Ryerson
$3.5 million for a new Canadian Media Research
Consortium (CMRC) set up by several j-schools
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to provide “data for use in media planning”
Convergence questions
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media mergers in 2000 alarmed many
CRTC licence renewal hearings in 2001
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consumer groups wanted editorial “firewall”
academics argued against safeguards
CTV, CanWest licences renewed for 7 years
CanWest $500,000 endowment to UBC
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two months after director’s testimony at CRTC
she now describes Vancouver media (mostly
owned by CanWest) as “very competitive”
Conclusions
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watchdog role of press muted by concentration
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CMRC research in public interest?
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media critics in Canadian j-schools co-opted?
or “media planning” data for “Private Benefits?”
arm’s-length relationship from funding media
corporations required
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to ensure academic independence
and to avoid appearance of conflict of interest