Educational journalism is an emerging concept that requires clear cut definition and enunciation. But it is as vast as education and as comprehensive as journalism. Any kind of writing and editing for journals including magazines, reports, diaries, bulletins etc for newspaper radio and television concerning education and educational institutions may be called educational journalism. All the papers prepared by teachers, inspectors and administrators in the field of education are covered under this medium.
Journalism, particularly educational journalism requires special kind of writing, editing, reporting and compiling. Special techniques are required to make this media more effective.
Educational journalism in India is undergoing a gut wrenching transformation of its business model and its organisational trends. Even in ways in which news is being delivered is changing rapidly. Digital technology has fundamentally altered ways, in which news is being delivered, now people can access information via social medias, web browsers , ipads, kindles, desktop computers and the list goes on. Much of the information for which people had to pay in the past is now available for little or no money at all in this digital era. Thanks to the many digital reforms implemented by the government, the access to internet has widened to larger sections, and access has become more lucid and transparent.
Reliability of educational journalism involves reimagining ways of improving and expanding coverage, canvassing views of leaders in the field and conducting case studies of specific ventures. Educational journals have clear virtues such as immediacy, interactivity and diversity. The explosion of online media gives consumers so much choice that makes it difficult for news organisers to charge them.
The school magazine is one such example of reliable educational journal. It is the foundation of the activities of the school for the creativities of the students. It is the most effective and in depth advertisement of the school. The school management should extend their cooperation and support the publications to make it the “mirror of the school” and ‘medium of communication’ at the institutional level. The government has started many incentives for providing encouragement in this direction. With proper planning and implementation desired excellence and exuberance can be promoted in the educational journals in the country.
Besides the traditional school magazines the newer categories that have emerged in this direction are digital niche publications, social Medias, news aggregators and new content providers such as university think tanks and non profit government organisations. The rise of internet and digital media is epicentre to many of these new ventures. They provide the virtue to reach multiple numbers of people.
There has been a shift from general news to specialising in specific topics. This is particularly welcoming for the education sector which in the past had very less media coverage. In India there are several website that provide information about various insights of education ranging from the quality and affordability to information and syllabus for various graduate and under graduate courses. But in a world of speciality outlet it is difficult to reach the ‘inadvertent audience’ who is not particularly interested in education.
News aggregators synthesize existing education coverage from a variety of sources and serve as a clearinghouse for news information. This includes portals such as google, yahoo, quora etc. Some of these portals provide some original content along with synthesized ones. This sector has seen a rapid growth with the advent of digital India scheme.
Blogs, facebook and twitter has taken the educational journalism to newer levels. It has made access to school information much easier, quick and fun for both parents and students alike. It has also lessened the teacher’s burden. Administrators use social media to plan school events, explain budget decisions and so on. Education blogs has also expanded with wider coverage of topics. Many websites now provide free tuitions and classes both at school and college level. This is of particular interest since the internet is affordable even to lower sections of the society, thanks to the heartfelt efforts of both public and private sector.
As traditional content providers have cut budget and lay off employees. Thus the new content providers offer educational journals. Researchers and scholar share their works online at low or no costs or students can access the university archives to read the works. This is beneficial to both the students who are studying at the university and also outside students.’
Until people perceive education journalism as a route to long-term professional success, it will be hard to reinvigorate school related coverage. It is a great paradox. Most journalists and media entrepreneurs value the education that gave them the opportunity to do the work they love. Virtually everyone in public life acknowledges that improving education and expanding educational opportunity is central to the solution of many other problems. Yet journalism itself has never conferred on education coverage the honour and status it accords to so many other fields. Just as we undervalue the teaching profession, so do we undervalue education journalism. Our schools will not achieve as we would like them to until we give adequate respect and reward to teaching. And in the same vein, education journalism will not be what it needs to be until we give greater respect to those who cover our schools, colleges and universities.