http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/27/stories/2007062751371200.htm
International UNESCO's model curricula for journalism education launched P.S. Suryanarayana N. Ram allays fears about UNESCO project creating cultural homogeneity Respect for cultural diversity one of our greatest assets: UNESCO official SINGAPORE: UNESCO's 'Model Curricula for Journalism Education for Developing Countries and Emerging Democracies' is a "valuable work in progress," and it reflects the "universal principles revolving around freedom of expression." Commending the Model Curricula in this perspective, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu N. Ram, said at a media conference here on Tuesday that there was no cause for "worry" that the UNESCO project might have been designed to create cultural homogeneity across the world. UNESCO's Model Curriculum Programme was formally launched at a joint plenary session organised by the World Journalism Education Congress and the Singapore-based Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC). Mr. Ram's mandate was to present a studied "response" to the exercise by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Answering a question during the interactive phase of the session, Mr. Ram rejected the idea of "cultural relativism" in the context of recognisable universal principles. UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information Abdul Waheed Khan, who chaired the session, held out an assurance that "no sinister design" was at work in promoting this project related to journalism education in the developing countries. "Respect for cultural diversity is one of our greatest assets at the organisation," Mr. Khan emphasised. UNESCO, he said, "is primarily responsible for developing countries, and one of its main areas of concern is the free flow of ideas and knowledge." UNESCO "is the lead U.N. agency that promotes freedom of expression and the universal access to information and knowledge." An academic professional from Canada, Michael Cobden, who played a lead-role in fashioning the Curricula, said: "Our only claim is that we simply try to develop models that, once adapted to local conditions, will lay a foundation. Journalism is an intellectually demanding occupation. We decided to organise the journalism programmes around three curricula axes: professional skills; social, cultural, political, economic, legal, and practical aspects of journalism practice; knowledge of the world." Journalism programme should prepare students to adapt themselves to technological change and would require them to take a course in online and multimedia journalism. Another key curricula designer, Gordon Stuart Adam, outlined the philosophy and structure of a bachelor's programme. Hans-Henrik Holm and Magda Abu-Fadil, two other designers, unveiled other facets of the programme such as "sensitivity training" for news coverage and online journalism. Mr. Ram noted that the internet challenge to the old news media across much of the developing world could be met. Commending the concept of OpenCourseWare website, he posed the question about "who would do webmastering." The real strength of the Model Curricula was to locate journalism education squarely within the precincts of the university. Noting the plan of the designers to focus on the undergraduate level, he underlined the "important objective" of keeping journalism education in tune with the contemporary needs and trends. Recommending an "academically rigorous and intensely practical master's programme" suited to the various streams of media, he expressed satisfaction that the Model Curricula "rules out any impression that journalism and, by extension, journalism education is the pursuit of superficiality." However, a major criticism of the Model Curricula, in the developing-country context, was that "majoring in journalism at the undergraduate level is mostly misconceived, a waste of time, talent, and resources." Another major criticism was that "requiring two types of master's programme in journalism is impractical, confusing, and too fussy." "Many students who come to journalism education can be expected to be 'digital natives' – that term must be attributed to Rupert Murdoch or one of his speech-writers. And, they are very much into blogging, for example: a superb advantage but it has its downside and challenges." Commenting on various other aspects of the Model Curriculum, ranging from course content and student-faculty ratio to course duration and media diversity, he drew attention to the eagerness of students in countries such as India and China to start working. This should be addressed as well. Mr. Ram praised the UNESCO project designers for recognising that public relations study "does not belong to a journalism school or programme." He cautioned those with contrary views that that there could be no recourse to what was clearly "the great temptation and a danger to journalism education." -- Members of the ZESTMedia list exchange news and views about the media in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan. Write to [email protected] If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTMedia by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ Get all ZESTMedia mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], OR, if you have a Yahoo! 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