By Enock Sithole
Rather than making journalism education obsolete, WCJ students Keletso Zwane and Jamie Ho, as well as Rejoice Kambarami, who recently finished her journalism degree at Midlands State University, argue that technological disruption has made professional training more valuable than ever.
While anyone can upload a video, publish a post or ask artificial intelligence to generate a news story, they say universities provide something technology cannot: ethical judgement, critical thinking, verification skills and a commitment to serving the public interest.
Zwane, a BA (Honours) degree student, believes journalism’s greatest strength has never been speed, but its ability to explain events accurately and responsibly.
“My passion is social media content creation, while my profession is journalism,” he said. “Bringing those two worlds together made perfect sense.”
Originally trained in Linguistics and Germanic Languages, Zwane says his fascination with language naturally led him into journalism.
“I thought journalism is a powerful tool because journalists use language as their instrument,” he explained.
His enthusiasm for digital media does not blind him to its shortcomings. While citizen journalism has widened public participation in news gathering, he believes it has also contributed to growing problems of misinformation and superficial reporting.
“There is a crisis to an extent,” Zwane said. “We need to have these conversations because there are problems that come with citizen journalism and social media when people don’t have the proper qualifications or the skills that come with being a journalist.”
According to Zwane, the distinction between trained journalists and ordinary social media users lies in asking difficult questions rather than merely documenting events.
“Citizen journalists often upload videos of events as they happen, hoping they will go viral,” he said. “A professionally trained journalist asks who, what, why, when and how. They investigate the reasons behind what has happened instead of simply recording the event.”
That investigative mindset, he argues, is developed through formal education.
“What academic training does is create an eye that allows people to scrutinise information,” he said. “An action always has a reaction. If you don’t have the necessary journalistic skills, you may overlook the causes behind what you’re reporting.”
The rapid spread of misinformation has made those skills indispensable.
“We live in a time when there is so much misinformation and disinformation,” Zwane said. “The ability to sit down, scrutinise information and verify it before broadcasting it is far more valuable than simply filming a viral moment and posting it online.”
He believes journalism schools are responding effectively to industry change by producing graduates who can write, film, edit, interview and work across multiple digital platforms.
“The training is holistic,” he said. “It prepares you for different roles within journalism because you acquire all the competencies needed to work across the profession.”
Ho, another BA (Honours) journalism student at the WCJ, shares that optimism.
Having completed an undergraduate degree in International Relations and French, Ho chose journalism because of her lifelong love of storytelling.
“I’ve always loved writing,” she said. “When I was younger, I used to write a lot. Journalism has allowed me to combine that love of storytelling with learning about the world.”
She describes her honours year as transformative.
“It has been the most fulfilling thing,” she said. “I’ve learned so much about myself, and I’ve found a space where I really love the act of storytelling and exploring different forms of storytelling.”
For Ho, the explosion of social media and AI has reinforced, not diminished, the need for professionally trained journalists.
“I think it will always be important to have the academic training of journalists,” she said. “The media space is becoming so saturated with unfiltered opinions. Anyone with a smartphone or a large online following can express an opinion, but that makes the role of journalists even more important.”
She believes journalism education safeguards the profession’s enduring principles.
“The principles that define journalism still stand true: objectivity, fairness, balance and accuracy. Those values should continue to guide journalism, whether you’re writing an article, producing a documentary or creating content for social media.”
One of the honours programme’s greatest strengths, she says, is combining classroom learning with practical newsroom experience.
“The mentorship has been one of the biggest lessons,” Ho explained. “Anyone can write a story, but learning how to approach a story critically, identify misinformation, ask important questions and connect events to broader issues is something that comes through professional training.”
She believes journalism education goes beyond teaching technical skills.
“It’s about raising questions, encouraging debate and understanding the wider context, instead of simply reporting dramatic events.”
Far from preparing students for outdated newsrooms, Ho says universities are embracing digital innovation.
She points to a recent television journalism boot camp where students produced documentaries and learned to create short-form videos for social media platforms.
“We learned how to create profile documentaries and short-form videos for social media,” she said. “We were taught how to structure videos to keep audiences engaged, beginning with a strong hook and maintaining attention throughout.”
Understanding audience behaviour on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram has become an essential newsroom skill, she says, but without sacrificing journalistic standards.
“News is becoming increasingly visual and short-form. You only have a few seconds to capture someone’s attention, so learning how to tell compelling stories in that format is extremely relevant.”
Across the border in Zimbabwe, recent Midlands State University journalism graduate Rejoice Kambarami believes journalism’s public service mission remains as relevant as ever.
She chose journalism because she had “always felt the need to inform and educate people.”
Like the Wits students, she is concerned about the dominance of citizen journalism on social media.
“It is disheartening to accept that citizen journalism is taking control of social media in delivering news,” she said. “It should be monitored strictly by the law.”
She fears the blurring of boundaries between trained journalists and ordinary social media users risks undermining professional standards.
“There should be a difference when a journalist posts a certain story versus an individual who (simply) has the advantage of a cellphone and free Wi-Fi,” she said.
For Kambarami, practical newsroom training remains central to journalism education.
She believes universities should continue strengthening videography, editing and multimedia production while introducing students to artificial intelligence as another reporting tool.
“Videography and editing skills should be ongoing practicals to prepare journalism students for the digital environment,” she said. “Learning how to use AI tools, but not to solely depend on them, should add to the skills being offered by the institutions.”
At Midlands State University, students gain hands-on experience through a campus radio station and practical broadcasting studio that simulate professional newsroom environments.
“This prepares students to work in newsrooms, while they find exactly where they fit most, be it production, reporting, news gathering or editing,” she said.
Although they come from different countries and educational backgrounds, the three students reach the same conclusion. Artificial intelligence, smartphones and social media are changing how journalism is practised, but they are not replacing the need for professionally educated journalists.
Instead, as misinformation proliferates and digital technologies evolve at unprecedented speed, university journalism programmes are becoming increasingly important in producing graduates who can verify facts, provide context, uphold ethical standards and tell stories that genuinely serve the public.
In an age when anyone can publish information with the tap of a screen, they argue, the real value of journalism lies not in being first, but in being accurate, accountable and worthy of the public’s trust.