Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Why UK journalism's class problem matters, and what can be done about it

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This article presents the change in the demographics of journalists as a puzzle. "They must be entering from somewhere," says Spilsbury. "But we don't fully understand where the engine for that is coming from." But we find the answer in the next paragraph. "Some 98% of new entrants to journalism have an undergraduate degree and 36% have a masters... Oxford and Cambridge function essentially as feeder schools for large tranches of the British media in London." So you can see the issue. This article came out within a few minutes of another article on WonkHE addressing a similar sort of issue, where universities are coordinating with schools. For example, "One third of the students at Aston University Engineering Academy who progress to university choose Aston University." But this sort of arrangement very much steers students toward - or away from - specific professions, without giving them much of a chance to move from the class they were born into.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 6:12 p.m.

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