By Kaleb Poor
Enshrined in the Constitution of the United States are the various foundations upon which our nation was built: three branches of government, each with the power to check one another against corruption, each with safeguards against tyrannical behavior.
We often forget that the founders chose to include another system of checks. This fourth entity, manifested in the First Amendment, has the power to check all three branches of national government, systems of local government, corporate interests and tech conglomerates and everything in between – even itself.
We call this fourth estate the free press.
Perhaps more powerful than any other entity in the United States, the free press was enshrined as a non-governmental system both to acts as a means of communication between government and citizenry, but also as a way that a civilian population could monitor a powerful federal government and keep it in check. It is a tool, given by the founders to the people, to safeguard against a failure of the checks and balances in the three branches.
The role of a journalist is to be a member of our society’s system of watchdogs. The role of journalism is to guard against the corruption of government, the manipulation of the people and the malpractice of those in power. Journalism is the practice of ethically distributing information to the public so that they might better understand their world and to hold a light up to things that demand public attention.
The University of Wyoming (UW) should be ashamed of what it is contributing to the field of journalism.
Here is a list of some of the things a journalism student does not have to do to graduate from UW and join the free press.
- Take a class on the First Amendment.
- Take a class on Constitutional Law.
- Take a class on ethics of any kind.
- Learn how to file a public records request.
- Learn how to file a Freedom of Information Act request.
- Learn how to protect a confidential source.
Now here is a list of the things they do have to learn to get their degree and become one of America’s watchdogs.
- Learn how to write in AP style.
- Demonstrate the ability to interview someone.
- Learn how to use social media to promote a story.
- Learn how to make eye-catching graphics.
- Take a class in communication research.
- Take a class in public speaking.
- Take a class in media law.
- Take 2 classes in a foreign language.
- Participate in some kind of internship.
This is the epitome of shameful education. A student in UW’s journalism program receives an education barely different from that of a student in the communications program, and that is a problem.
Journalists at UW are taught almost nothing about what it means to be a responsible journalist before they are released into the world and are expected to become one. The role of the fourth estate is to safeguard against a corruption of the United States’ social, economic and governmental systems – how can someone do that if the only thing they learn is how to market themselves?
In my time as a journalism student here, I have been taught almost nothing about what the fourth estate is or what it should do. Instead, I have been instructed in the noble arts of: setting up a blog page; making instagram graphics; delivering powerpoint presentations; taking photos that meet artistic standards; and, most jarringly, how to influence public perception.
Journalism students are freely encouraged to take classes in public relations and communication theory, where we are taught to manage the perceptions of our audiences. We are taught about confirmation bias without discussing, in depth, the ethical responsibility of a journalist to resist it. We are taught that every story has an audience if you can market and sell it the right way.
We are taught to misuse our positions as members of the free press for personal benefit – to make ourselves as marketable as possible at every turn because writing for a newspaper is just a job. But it is not.
Journalism and journalists are the last line of defense that the people of the United States have against a failure of checks and balances in government. Being a journalist is not just a job and not just anyone can do it. It takes dedication and a bedrock-solid commitment to responsibly helping masses of people understand large and complex issues, and UW is failing to deliver even the most basic satisfactory education to future journalists.
Change needs to be made to the Communication and Journalism department here in Laramie. To have merged those two programs is not only shortshighted, it is irresponsible and it must be corrected.
New faculty who value the integrity of the fourth estate above all else must be hired and the journalism program must stand as an independent department.
Failing that, the journalism program at UW should be scrapped altogether. It would be better that this university stop producing journalists altogether than continue providing this inadequate service. If UW cannot be bothered to responsibly educate members of the free press, it should not produce them at all.
I say this at my own peril, as I expect to graduate after the upcoming spring semester, but I must say it: a journalism degree from the University of Wyoming is little more than a certificate of participation and cannot be considered indicative of a graduate’s readiness to join the free press.
