Revisiting news editors’ evaluation of journalism courses and graduate employability

Abstract

This research project deployed one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with news editors in Perth, Western Australia, to evaluate journalism courses and student employability across the five Perth-based universities that teach journalism (Edith Cowan, Murdoch, Curtin, University of Western Australia [UWA] and Notre Dame universities). The 2022 interviews were undertaken with a view to compare and contrast the results to similar interviews published in 2014. The findings indicate that industry practitioners still think universities are typically the best place to teach journalism, and that students are highly competent in digital technologies. However, there is concern about the current state of graduate general and civil knowledge. Other trends include a growing sense that journalism students should be given training in public relations foundations and, additionally, that most editors would like to be involved with university curriculums. A major difference was an awareness during interviews in 2022 that tertiary staff cuts and financial pressures complicate the maintenance of high standards.