"universities are not the place to train journalists"

^this was the title of an article in The Australian on Tuesday. 


Intriguing? Very.  


Geoffrey Luck writes that 60 years ago, when he trained as an ABC reporter, university was part-time. But that today, training has been 'turned on its head' and that 'the soft life of theories and critical-thinking tutorials has replaced practical newsroom slog'. 


Apparently, 'journalism is not a profession that works alongside politicians and social reformers reshaping the nation. It is a craft based on truth, objectivity and and independence, and deviance from those principles will destroy it.' 


Can journalism be taught? My opinion is that journalists need to be taught by professionals - to learn the appropriate skills. What cannot be taught, however, is the passion for writing. 


Mary Weeks writes in too. Her opinion? 


"In Hitch22, Christopher Hitchens, on his first visit to the US, describes his amazement at a someone being listed as a professor of journalism. 'Surely this was a mistake...Journalism wasn't the sort of thing that could be taught, or in which one should get an academic qualification.'"


I see the truth in this too - it's not something like science or economics, in which one needs a degree in order to work within the profession. However, university journalism allows us to expand on the skills we already have and ensure our future success.