WJEC 2010 launched today

5 Jul 2010

The second World Journalism Education Congress launched simultaneously this morning, 5 July 2010 with the 14th Highway Africa Conference at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. Themed, 'Journalism education in an age of radical change', the congress is a build-up on the initial event that was held in Singapore in 2007.

Over 350 journalism trainers and educators from across the globe will attend this conference from diverse countries like India, Iraq, Moldovia and Mexico.

"It's about building an international network where people know and trust each other, and actively interact around their common interest in journalism education", said Professor Guy Berger, Rhodes Journalism and Media Studies School head.

Global networking environment

This platform and incidental hosting of two journalism conferences at the same time has created a global networking environment for both the journalists and trainers. Ideas, discoveries, research and experiences will be shared.

The conference will also be available in Mandarin translations thanks to the sponsors Hanban, a Chinese cultural institute.

The WJEC event traverses language and other boundaries, while still remaining within parameters of journalism education concerns. It's a focused and object-oriented occasion with enormous productive potential, added Berger.

The conference programme is composed of syndicates which are specialised discussion groups, panel discussions and research presentations. In the initial WJEC in Singapore a statement of principles of Journalism education was adopted. These principles will be revisited and amended if there is a need in this conference.

Key thinkers in journalism education at the conference include:

Dan Gilmor, director of the Knight Centre for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and author of We The Media. (USA)
Mindy McAdams, University of Florida, author of blog 'Teaching Online Journalism'. (USA)
LI Liangrong, Fudan University, president of Chinese Communications Association.
Rosental Alves, director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, University of Texas, Austin, and president of Orbicom - the network of UNESCO chairs in communication. (USA)
Kwame Karikari, Director of the Media Foundation of West Africa and prolific scholar on African media.

Panel discussions will run parallel each other on topics ranging from educating students for workplace and relations between traditional and non traditional journalism education providers in a changing environment.

Through the auspices of UNESCO, the conference will be streamed live on the WJEC website at http://wjec.ru.ac.za/ as well as covered on radio and television by the conference media partners, SABC, Media 24 and Multichoice.

Advocate Pansy Tlakula , a special rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa delivered the opening keynote and South African Nobel Prize laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu will make the closing note.

For more information, go to http://wjec.ru.ac.za/.