By Enock Sithole
Namibian journalism graduates are increasingly joining staff in newsrooms, public relations and government jobs. This is a departure from a scenario where newsrooms, in particular, would employ people without journalism education and would train them on the job.
Dr Hugh Ellis, senior lecturer and head of the Journalism and Media Technology department at NUST.
For Dr Hugh Ellis, senior lecturer and head of the Department of Journalism and Media Technology at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), this is an achievement which is helping improve the quality of journalism in the country.
Journalism education is alive and well, and growing in Namibia, with at least four institutions of higher learning offering various programmes in journalism and subjects related to media and communication studies. NUST has some 130 students pursuing undergraduate and master’s degrees in journalism and media technologies, said Dr Ellis.
The University of Namibia offers programmes up to PhD level in journalism and media studies. There is also the College of the Arts, which offers journalism courses in the broadcasting sphere and new media. Privately-owned Triumphant College offers education in various subjects of journalism and media studies.
For the past decade or so, it has become a norm for journalism graduates to be prioritised in media companies’ jobs, government and other sectors doing public relations work. Some 85% of NUST graduates would find jobs in the first year after graduating, he said.
Most encouraging was the fact that newsrooms in the country were happy with the work readiness of journalism graduates from the country’s universities.
“As NUST, we are a former polytechnic, so we have been trying to have a balance between the practical and theoretical training, which I think is generally appreciated. There have indeed been complaints from the industry that a lot of the training offered by some universities was too theoretical,” he said.
There were challenges with catching up with the needs of industry because of the fast pace in which technology is moving. “Even for us, there is a certain challenge with just the pace of technological changes. Newsrooms are increasingly wanting people who are equipped, not just with writing skills, not just photography skills, but also other multimedia skills.”
He said it helped that journalism academics regularly meet with industry professionals and are able to learn about their needs. However, he argued, the pace of technological innovation and the curriculum review circles kept them “playing catch up” all the time.
Another challenge of journalism education in Namibia was the fact that the medium of instruction is English in spite of the fact that journalism is practiced in most of the country’s indigenous languages. “It is a gap. In fact, a lot of the research I have read, and also personal experiences, suggest that a lot of the journalists in indigenous languages media are not necessarily employed for their media skills. Some might have a degree (in something other than journalism) but are not necessarily employed for journalism skills, but because they have skills in a particular indigenous language.”
“So, there is the feeling that a lot of the audiences, particularly in radio stations, get their broadcasts from journalists who are not trained in various aspects of journalism such as verification of information, interviewing, for example.”
He said he would push for next year’s curriculum review at NUST to include a course in indigenous languages.
Furthermore, he said, there was the concern that all the four academic institutions offering journalism or related programmes were based in the capital Windhoek, making them least accessible to prospective students from other parts of the country.
Journalism scholars in the country need to do more in the area of research, he added. NUST introduced a master’s programme in the past five years and is planning to introduce PhD studies, following in the footsteps of the University of Namibia.