It’s not pure science, but it stands to reason that — exceptions granted — many journalists owe their performance to the quality of the education they received.
Ergo, if you want to improve journalism, put some energy into those who train the practitioners.
This was the philosophy behind a meeting in Grahamstown this week of 21 African journalism schools, brought together by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) after being identified last year as having real potential towards excellence. They were chosen out of about 200 institutions across the continent.
I was part of the research into the African media training landscape, and I later led the consultation about what constitutes excellence in African conditions.
That process produced a model that assessed the strength of a journalism school according to three broad criteria areas.
The first is internal issues (such as relevance of curriculum and media technology available to students).
Next is the external linkages and activities of a school — for instance, providing short courses to working journalists, and contributing to media freedom in the wider society.
Third, excellence is also assessed in terms of a school’s readiness for the future — such as whether there is forward planning and partnerships with the media industry.
It was on the basis of performance in terms of these three headings that the 21 African j-schools having potential were identified.
The success of that diagnosis was evident in this week’s meeting. The journalism teachers from the 21 centres showed themselves to be acutely aware of their potential influence — and of what they needed to do to raise their impact on both internal and external fronts.
From the school at Kenya’s University of Nairobi came the point that the recent unexpected violence in that country called for training journalists about personal safety in conflict reporting.
A Mozambican j-school shared the problem that its graduates were loath to work in the rural areas — meaning that journalism training has no impact in huge swathes of the country.
My own university, Rhodes, based in the underdeveloped Eastern Cape, shared its plans around research and teaching about media, poverty and social justice.
A Cameroonian educator proposed that African journalists should be journalists first and African second — with the challenge being for j-teachers to interpret the universal in terms of the local.
Each institution outlined where it stood and what it would take for it to fire on all pistons. Unesco officials gave advice on producing effective development plans and a crash course in drafting winning project proposals.
So what did the talk-shop lead to? A renewed dedication towards excellence in African journalism education. But more than that, it also signified an emerging network among the Unesco centres, and between these centres and non-African journalism schools and donors.
For instance, journalism teachers in South Africa discovered that a Ugandan j-school, in conjunction with a United States university, is also teaching courses on reporting HIV/Aids. Presto — you get an agreement to share experience.
The Grahamstown meeting also recommended that the second-ever gathering of global journalism educators, set down for 2009 or 2010, should be held in Africa — and South Africa in particular. The debut global congress was in Singapore last year.
The idea now is to focus the attention of journalism teachers around the world on the challenges facing the ”forgotten” continent, but also on the contributions that training experience here can make to global practice.
Getting 500 international journalism educators here would affirm the importance of the vital behind-the-scenes-work they do in regard to the media. It would also enrich their craft as a whole through sharing best practice from different corners of the globe — and certainly not excluding African countries.
What African j-schools would also hope to get from such a meeting is an unleashing of support from foreign counterparts and donor groups.
This is not the usual ”begging bowl” scenario, but rather one of respectful partnerships to increase impact.
In identifying the potential of the selected j-schools in Africa, Unesco has recognised the achievements of these institutions in having risen above other schools in being qualified for this status.
So, instead of seeking charity for the hopeless, the ethos is one of investment in ”going concerns” — that already show areas of excellence — with the objective of raising the scope and effectiveness of their work. It is about support for growth, rather than hand-to-mouth survival.
It is the case that the best education can sometimes be undone in the workplace — for instance, with journalists being required by their bosses to sensationalise or produce propaganda.
On the other hand, quality journalism training for both entry-level and working journalists provides at least the base of essential knowledge and skill that is needed if Africa’s media are to achieve the potential that the continent really needs to see.