Practical journalism in the search for ways to improve journalism education

The relevance of the article is determined by the necessity to solve modern problems of journalism education. The research aims to analyse the attitude of media sphere practitioners to the system of journalism education, and forecast the vector of its subsequent development. The subject of the research is new requirements to the process of personnel training which came into existence due to the transformation of journalism in the digital age. The object of the research is measures for improving journalism education from the position of media industry representatives. The methodological background of the article is works by Russian and foreign researchers of media, including E.L. Vartanova, A.A. Gradyushko, N. Drok, Yu.M. Ershov, A.M. Zhusupova, M. Castells, S.G. Korkonosenko, B.N. Lozovsky, V.V. Tulupov and others. Both theoretical and empirical research methods were used in the research. The authors of the article developed a questionnaire and conducted a survey for determining the features of the development of the journalist profession, journalism and journalism education in the age of digital technologies. This provided the academic novelty of the article. The method of comparative analysis helped to study opinions of media specialists and employers on such key issues as determining the most important components of journalist's professionalism, etc. The theoretical relevance of the article lies in the clear identification of modern media processes that should be taught to journalism students. Also, a thorough description of important skills and abilities of a universal journalist, which students should form in the education process, is made. This allowed describing personal features of the future journalist, which programs for journalists' training should be targeted at, and provided for the practical relevance of the article. The results of the research are: (1) ways for improving the quality of journalists' training system were determined; (2) employers' choice of the most efficient measures for improving the system of journalism education (enhancing the practical component of the education, etc.) was presented. The main conclusion lies in the fact that efficient improving of the system of journalism education under conditions of the functional transformation of journalism as a profession requires to fully take into account the necessities of media, its requirements to a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism who should be able to work professionally in the modern digital information space.

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