Journalism Education 2.0: Training in an Age of Radical Change

"We are not going to make it with uninspired and uninspiring teachers!" Archbishop Desmond Tutu challenged delegates in his closing address to the second World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC2) in South Africa last month. The anti-Apartheid warrior and Nobel Laureate described journalism as a "noble calling" and recounted his country's hard-fought struggle for media freedom. During the event he also signed the Table Mountain Declaration, an initiative of the World Association of Newspapers that calls for an end to insult and criminal defamation laws used to censor African media. This inspiring end to the Congress left delegates hopeful about the future of journalism education, even as the future of journalism itself remains uncertain. With the theme "Journalism Education in an Age of Radical Change," WJEC2 was staged in July at the high-tech Africa Media Matrix, home of Rhodes University's School of Journalism and Media Studies, a UNESCO Centre of Excellence.