Diagnosis, Problems, and Alternatives for College Journalism Education in South Korea

This study reviewed the programs of college journalism education in South Korea. The review on journalism education programs in ten universities showed that journalism education models in South Korea are different from both the American model that emphasizes field practices and the European model that emphasizes contextual knowledge for journalism. College journalism education in South Korea can be characterized as “the department store model of journalism education,” which focuses on various media and communication theories, with a small number of journalism courses. Journalism education programs in South Korea do not provide a systematic curriculum for practical skills required in the field. Only small proportion of faculty members was found to dedicate themselves to journalism-related courses. There are few journalism-related courses and instructors for the digital media environment. Goals of journalism education are found to be rather abstract and ambiguous, aiming at both the practical skills and theories. New models of journalism education for the new media and digital environment are discussed.