Journalism Education as Scientific Education: Research University Students’ Engagement with Knowledge

ABSTRACT

This study analyses the scientific character of journalism education at two Finnish research universities by investigating students’ engagement with knowledge. The journalism degrees of these universities involve scientific modules but clearly have a more practical profile than most research university degrees in Finland. This study draws on two influential concepts of university education: powerful knowledge emphasising a coherent theoretical knowledge structure, and expertise emphasising reflective integration of theoretical knowledge with other modes of knowledge. Fourteen students at the end of their bachelor’s and master’s studies were interviewed. The students’ social commitments, theoretical knowledge, integrative knowledge, and reflective knowledge were analysed using situational analysis. The results show that the journalism students’ engagement with disciplinary content knowledge was sporadic. The students’ interviews did not indicate a coherent knowledge structure. At the same time, the students demonstrated a robust capability to apply the scientific research process as an ethical method in journalistic work. Furthermore, the students demonstrated the ability to integrate diverse modes of knowledge. This study brings journalism education into ongoing international scholarly discussions on university education and offers conceptual tools that can be used to critically analyse and develop the scientific character of journalism degree programmes.

KEYWORDS:

• Expertise
• higher education
• journalism degree programmes
• powerful knowledge
• research
• scientific thinking

Introduction

The scientific character of journalism education at universities remains an underinvestigated research topic. Even though most journalists worldwide receive education in tertiary journalism programmes (Josephi 2020, 55), recent studies analysing journalism education have continued to emphasise the vocational and professional, rather than the scientific, orientation of university studies (Drok 2019; Goodman and Steyn 2017; Hovden, Nygren, and Zilliacus-Tikkanen 2016; Josephi 2019; Nordenstreng 2017; Theodosiadou et al. 2021; Vasilendiuc and Sutu 2021). Often highlighting national or regional characteristics, these studies largely ignored international scholarly debates on how conceptual understanding of scientific education should inform teaching and learning in university degree programmes.

However, the topic is far from irrelevant to the survival of journalism programmes in academia. Organisational structures are increasingly unstable at universities, contributing to the pressure to fuse disciplines into joint programmes or even to cut down entire programmes and faculties. University programmes in journalism additionally face external comparison and competition, as polytechnics, vocational schools, and popular education institutions also provide degrees or courses in journalism (Drok 2019; Hovden, Nygren, and Zilliacus-Tikkanen 2016). Due to national and international coordination and regulation, there is an expectation in many countries for research university programmes to provide scientifically profiled degrees (Council of the European Union 2017; Finnish national qualifications framework [FiNQF] 2017). In Finland, a legal structural division exists between research universities that conduct independent academic research and universities of applied sciences that educate professional experts based on the requirements of the world of work and its development (Universities Act 2009; Universities of Applied Sciences Act 2014). Both types of universities provide research-based higher education, but the educational programmes provided by the two types of universities are assumed to reflect the distinct premises defined by law. The situation, in Finland and internationally, in which research university journalism programmes also partly compromise the scientific nature of journalism degrees to adapt to developments and expectations of the journalism industry (Deuze 2001; Drok 2019; Josephi 2019; 2020), may drive journalism programmes towards increasing inconsistency at increasingly regulated research universities.

Therefore, there is a clear need to focus precisely on the scientific character of journalism degrees at research universities. In this article, we analyse journalism education through two currently influential concepts of scientific education: (1) the concept of powerful knowledge (Ashwin 2020; Muller and Young 2019; Wheelahan 2010) and (2) the concept of expertise (Kallio 2020; Quincy et al. 2017; Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen 2020). Through these concepts, scholars have shown that the emphasis on labour market–related skills, such as journalistic skills, undermines the most valuable dimension of university education: access to abstract, conceptual, cumulative knowledge (Ashwin 2020; Biesta 2014; Maton and Moore 2009; Muller and Young 2019; Shay 2013; Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen 2020; Wheelahan 2010; Young 2008). Although the two concepts represent different ontological approaches and argue for partly distinct emphases on university teaching and learning, both concepts emphasise theoretical knowledge as the cornerstone of university education. This point of departure informs our study throughout.

The context of this study is journalism programmes at two Finnish research universities. As with all research university degrees in Finland, the journalism degrees that were analysed contain modules on theoretical knowledge, research methods, and scientific thinking at both bachelor’s (BA) and master’s (MA) levels. Students learn to conduct all stages of the scientific research process. In contrast to most degrees in Finnish research universities, these journalism degrees also contain extensive compulsory practical modules. Disciplinary studies are thus more practice-oriented in journalism programmes than in most other types of research university programmes in Finland.

In congruence with international research, studies investigating journalism education in Finnish universities have emphasised journalistic skills instead of the scientific content of studies. For example, the large Hovdabrekka survey of journalism students in the Nordic countries in 2005, 2008, and 2012 found that Finnish respondents rated source criticism, journalistic genres, language, and spelling skills as the most important subject areas of their education (Zilliacus-Tikkanen, Hujanen, and Jaakkola 2016, 132). The surveys did not emphasise the scientific character of students’ studies nor students’ relationship with theoretical knowledge.

Against this conceptual and contextual background, qualitative data were gathered for our study. Intensive interviews were conducted with journalism students at the end of their BA and MA studies at two Finnish research universities. To investigate the scientific character of the analysed journalism programmes, as the research question, we asked what type of engagement with knowledge journalism students developed in their studies. Our study addresses the general lack of empirical research on journalism education at universities (Hanusch 2013) and the lack of methodologies, especially qualitative methodologies (Hanusch et al. 2015). Overall, our study addresses a topic that has been marginal in journalism research thus far.

The article first discusses the concepts of powerful knowledge and expertise. After introducing the analysed journalism programmes, data, and methods, the article proceeds to the analysis, results, and conclusions.

Two Views on University Education: The Concepts of Powerful Knowledge and Expertise

In this section, we bring the tendency of journalism degrees to prioritise journalistic skills, even in research universities, into dialogue with two concepts of university education: the concept of powerful knowledge and the concept of expertise. Scholars have elaborated the concepts in recent years to articulate the value of knowledge among other functions of university education. The concept of powerful knowledge (Maton and Moore 2009; Muller and Young 2019; Young 2008) addresses head-on the usual expectation that journalism programmes should follow constantly updating journalism practices and innovate the field of journalism in an agile manner (Drok 2019, 5–6; Josephi 2020, 62–64). The concept of powerful knowledge sees abstract, cumulative knowledge as a method – indeed, the most important method for investigating and analysing society. Therefore, learning to understand “the interrelated structure of knowledge” within a discipline or professional area is the most critical factor in university studies (Ashwin 2020, 65–79) and leads to the possession of the “inner dynamic property” of a discipline (Muller and Young 2019, 206).

Cumulatively organised abstract knowledge prompts the advancement of comprehension processes in students. According to Ashwin (2020, 67), at the beginning of their studies, students characteristically consider disciplinary knowledge to enable them to express opinions and make arguments about social issues. In the context of journalism, this means expressing opinions and making arguments about the performance of journalism. As they proceed in their studies, students gradually begin to see their disciplinary knowledge as a field of research, which nevertheless at this stage remains largely external to their own conduct. In the final stage, students’ relationship with disciplinary knowledge develops into an internalised epistemic “power”.

Seeing abstract, conceptual knowledge as a method of inquiry reflects social realism, according to which “there exists a reality beyond our symbolic realm” (Maton and Moore 2009, 4). Wheelahan (2010, 9–10) argues that the learning of theoretical knowledge is necessary to access reality, i.e., the fallible and work-in-progress truth of the world. According to Wheelahan (2010, 1–17, pp. 67–69), theoretical knowledge, understood as the pursuit of truth, the social production of knowledge on the objective world, is necessary for students to participate in conversations on society with judgement and the capability to advance democracy and social justice. This argument is not lightly bypassed in journalism education, the aim of which is to teach students to investigate society and organise societal conversations. If theoretical knowledge is seen as the most important method for executing these tasks, it is irrelevant to keep hesitating over whether journalism studies constitute a coherent body of knowledge (Hallin 1997, 244–246; Waisbord 2019). To educate students in research university programmes requires us, as educators, to define such a body of knowledge.

Whereas powerful knowledge is mainly used by scholars as an academic concept, expertise is far more widely used. For example, the steering documents of the Council of the European Union make use of the basic idea of expertise. The documents suggest that university programmes should articulate degree studies in terms of usability and employability (Council of the European Union 2017). Indeed, the research-based, pedagogical concept of expertise refers precisely to the capability of graduates to use disciplinary knowledge in society and in a profession (Quincy et al. 2017). Researchers thus address the same broad topic highlighted by policymakers and industry. However, researchers insist that expertise rests on abstract, conceptual knowledge (Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen 2020; Quincy et al. 2017). It is necessary for students to learn conceptual knowledge, but university studies should go further and support students in integrating conceptual knowledge with other forms of knowledge (Kallio 2020; Quincy et al. 2017; Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen 2020). Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen (2020, 166–169) distinguish between (1) theoretical and conceptual knowledge; (2) technical and procedural knowledge; (3) reflective, practical ethical knowledge that is needed to regulate and reflect upon one’s actions; and (4) sociocultural, contextual knowledge that is needed to act in a critical and emancipatory manner in context. Integration results in an increasingly encompassing expert knowledge.

This categorisation by Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen (2020) makes sense in research university journalism programmes and in journalistic work that occurs at the intersection of diverse fields of specialised knowledge and layperson knowledge. Journalism programmes often employ integrative approaches that bring diverse modes of knowledge together in course modules. For example, theoretical, practical, and contextual learning objectives have been conjoined into work-integrated learning (WIL) in authentic or simulated journalistic environments (Jones 2016; Woolley 2018). Furthermore, theoretical, practical, reflective, and contextual learning objectives have been conjoined to enhance the capability of journalism students to critically reflect on the established practices of journalism. This approach is captured by the notion of a reflective practitioner (Deuze 2006, 27; Josephi 2020, 63; Schön 1983; Theodosiadou et al. 2021, 278). The concept of expertise has one more pedagogical turn: from the theoretically informed reflective practice back to theoretical knowledge so that the gained practical experience and reflection are used to enhance students’ theoretical understanding (Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen 2020, 160–161; Quincy et al. 2017). The concept of expertise thus illuminates that theoretical knowledge is both the point of departure and the outcome of learning.

To conclude, as concepts of university education, both the concept of powerful knowledge and the concept of expertise put much more emphasis on knowledge than does the recent research on journalism education at universities (Drok 2019; Goodman and Steyn 2017; Hovden, Nygren, and Zilliacus-Tikkanen 2016; Josephi 2019; Nordenstreng 2017; Theodosiadou et al. 2021; Vasilendiuc and Sutu 2021).

Journalism Degrees at Research Universities in Finland

Finnish universities have provided journalism education since the 1960s (Hovden, Nygren, and Zilliacus-Tikkanen 2016). Programmes in journalism are firmly rooted in the two universities involved in this study. A detailed structure of the studies is described in Appendix 1, and the learning outcomes are described in Appendix 2.

A BA degree (180 European Credit Transfer System [ECTS] credits) in journalism aims to achieve the vocational skills needed to work as a journalist, but the explicated learning outcomes also include research-based content knowledge as well as knowledge and skills on research process. Basic studies are mostly theoretical and multidisciplinary, while intermediate studies are fully focused on journalism as a practice and a discipline. Students rehearse on university premises during practical modules, producing magazines and radio programmes and working in television studios and simulated newsrooms. Studies also include project work and a four-month internship. All students produce a BA thesis that is a small-scale research project (10 ECTS credits) in which they (1) design a research question; (2) write the theoretical background; (3) determine empirical material and a method; (4) conduct the analysis, articulating results and conclusions in the context of the theoretical approach; and (5) reflect upon the research ethics and credibility of their study. According to the curricula, the development of students’ scientific thinking is supported throughout their studies; however, no evidence on whether and how this materialises in teaching has been issued so far.

An MA degree is valued in Finnish working life and indeed is often expected by employers in knowledge-based professions. Most journalism students continue to the MA programme in journalism. The MA degrees (120 ECTS credits) consist of advanced studies in journalism and volitional studies (titled “other studies” in curricula). According to the explicated learning outcomes, students specialise in different genres and competency areas of journalism in their MA studies. Specialisation studies make up approximately half of their studies. In these courses, theoretical frameworks are integrated with professional competence-building to support students in adopting a developmental approach to journalism practice. The other half of the MA studies consist of research modules and an extensive MA thesis (30–35 ECTS credits). During the MA thesis process, every student has a senior researcher supervisor who advises their thesis project during one academic year. This indicates that departments invest extensive time and money in guaranteeing the foundations of researcher education for students. An MA degree provides qualifications for doctoral studies.

Compared to most other BA and MA degrees in Finnish research universities, journalism degrees clearly have a more practical nature. Journalism students receive abundant contact with the labour market. Students are entitled to membership to the Union of Journalists in Finland, and after their internship period during the BA degree, they commonly obtain summer or part-time jobs in the media during the rest of their studies. However, the relationship between students and working life is often precarious: employment depends on economic cycles and fixed-term or freelance-based contracts.

Materials and Methods

The data were collected by interviewing journalism students individually in spring and summer 2021. The students were either writing or had just completed their BA or MA theses at the time of the interviews, and they were in the final stage of their degrees. All BA-level interviewees were planning to carry on to MA studies.

The interviews were planned in the project group consisting of several researchers and conducted by a researcher who worked for the project at that time. Research ethics principles were carefully followed throughout the process (Finnish National Board on Research Integrity 2019), and the integrity of the research subjects was respected. To recruit volunteer interviewees, students were contacted through their thesis seminar instructors and email lists. Substantial information was provided about the purpose of the study in the first contact email, e.g., collection, analysis, data management, initial plans for publication and use of results, and funding of the study. The confidentiality and voluntary nature of participation were emphasised, and no pressure was placed on the students to participate. The students’ studies were not impacted by participation (or a choice not to participate). The students who volunteered contacted the interviewer privately to schedule an interview. The written consent of each participant was obtained at the beginning of the interviews, following the guidelines of the General Data Protection Regulation (Council Regulation 2016/679 2016). Background information gathered from the participants included their names and email addresses. Sensitive personal data were not collected. The students were not profiled, and the variation in the interviewee group was not highlighted nor the variation between the two universities. These choices reflected the ethical aim of respecting the integrity of the interviewed students and personnel alike in small departments.

The interviews were conducted using the Zoom video conferencing tool. The interviewer and interviewees kept their microphones and cameras on, but only the audio data were stored and used for the study. Fourteen journalism students were interviewed (six at BA level and eight at MA level; eight from University #1 and six from University #2). The semistructured composition contained several questions on knowledge, scientific thinking, discipline, and profession. Time was given to ponder the topics thoroughly. The interviews verged on in-depth interviews and resulted in coherent, internally consistent, and rich data. The length of the interviews ranged from 58 minutes to 1 hour and 37 minutes. The total duration of all interview data was 19 hours and 25 minutes. The interviews were transcribed verbatim (212 pages, font Verdana, font size 8, line spacing 1) and pseudonymised. Only after this process did the first author of this article access the data for analysis.

The analysis followed the outline of situational analysis (SA) (Clarke 2005; Clarke, Friese, and Washburn 2017). Despite a strong kinship with the constructivist approach of grounded theory (Strauss 1987; Charmaz 2014), SA is an independent method for constructing an understanding of the “social” in the situation at hand (Clarke, Friese, and Washburn 2017, 40). The situation in journalism programmes consists of two social worlds: journalism practice and journalism research. SA provided the insight in this study that to investigate the journalism students’ engagement with knowledge, the analysis had to address the interplay of these two coexisting social worlds.

The first author chose a theory-driven coding to conduct the analysis and coded the entire interview material in the ATLAS.ti qualitative research and data analysis software. The focused codes (see Charmaz 2014) of powerful knowledge, theoretical knowledge, procedural knowledge, integrative knowledge, and reflective knowledge were used to obtain results on students’ engagement with knowledge. As the interview speech was always meandering, the codes were not exclusive; therefore, the same segment may have been coded using several different codes. The codes of powerful knowledge related to the concept of powerful knowledge and thus to interviewee’s references to internalised abstract, disciplinary knowledge (Ashwin 2020; Maton and Moore 2009; Muller and Young 2019; Young 2008). The codes of theoretical knowledge, procedural knowledge, and reflective knowledge followed the modes of knowledge addressed by the concept of expertise (Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen 2020). Sociocultural, contextual knowledge, which is additionally addressed by Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen (2020), was not coded separately. The code of integrative knowledge was created to observe how journalism students integrated diverse modes of knowledge – including sociocultural, contextual knowledge. Following the SA outline, situational codes of who and what are in the situation, what makes a difference in the situation, and social commitment (Clarke, Friese, and Washburn 2017, 134–162) were used to produce observations of situational aspects and social worlds in the journalism programmes’ learning environment.

In total, 701 speech sequences were coded in the 212-page-long transcribed material. The numerical distribution of coded quotations showed that the explicit occurrence of powerful knowledge was relatively marginal in the students’ speech. Similarly clear was the wealth of references to integrative knowledge and reflective knowledge. Of the situational codes, the code of social commitment in particular provided analytically relevant information. These initial observations led to the decision to use the following codes in the first round of qualitative analysis: powerful knowledge, theoretical knowledge, integrative knowledge, reflective knowledge, and social commitment. The first author, who conducted the analysis, kept a separate memo in an Excel file about the outlines of each student’s narrative to prevent living individuals from being reduced to mere coded quotations.

Once the coded quotations had been exported from the ATLAS.ti software, the first author defined the core content of each quotation, which resulted in a condensed list of findings (Clarke, Friese, and Washburn 2017, 134–162). The author then arranged the findings into data-driven categories.

The first round of the qualitative analysis strengthened the initial numerical observations from the ATLAS.ti export reports, in that the powerful knowledge quotations were not key to understanding the engagement of the interviewees with knowledge. The interviewees did not speak in the way suggested by the concept: articulating internalised abstract, disciplinary knowledge. In what follows, the results are presented across the four codes that were found to answer the research question of the students’ engagement with knowledge: social commitment, theoretical knowledge, integrative knowledge, and reflective knowledge.

Results

Social Commitment to Journalism Practice and Scientific Research

Social commitment was operationalised in the coding stage to refer to sequences in which an interviewee spoke about socially shared ideals, identities, ideologies, discourses, and values regarding their studies and programmes (Clarke, Friese, and Washburn 2017, 149–162). Social commitments were addressed to clarify how the coexistence of the two social worlds of journalism practice and scientific research influenced the scientific character of the analysed journalism programmes. As Clarke (2005, 110) explains, “individuals become social beings over and over again through their commitment to social worlds and their participation in those worlds’ activities”. The speech of the interviewees contained extensive social commitments to the two social worlds.

Table 1 shows the categories of social commitment found in the data.

Table 1. Social commitment in the students’ speech.

CATEGORY OF SOCIAL COMMITMENT	CONTENT IN THE STUDENTS’ SPEECH
Commitment to journalism ethics	Collective guidelines for journalists in Finland Objectivity Public service Pursuit of truth Rights of interviewees Watchdog vs journalistic exercise of power
Commitment to the operational environment of journalism	Capability to act in a troubled and developing field Commitment to journalistic ideals amid the hard realities of the industry Commitment to the legacy of journalism
Commitment to the principal value of scientific research	Scientific research is considered to provide a larger framework than journalism Scientific research is considered to bear an important role in society Scientific thinking is considered a valuable skill
Commitment to the practice of scientific research	Argumentation Research process Research ethics Scientific knowledge
Commitment to socially esteemed dispositions	E.g. courage, critical attitude, curiosity, swiftness, thoroughness The esteemed dispositions are considered to often apply to both journalism practice and scientific research
Commitment to society	Knowledge of social realities is considered critically important to journalists Social realities are seen as targets of investigation for journalists and researchers alike

The students’ speech was more detailed in the journalism practice categories, especially in the category of journalism ethics, than in the scientific research categories. The students’ speech revealed broader access to journalism and more versatile personal experiences of journalism than scientific research. For example, the students had applied journalism ethics more often and in more diverse situations than research ethics. Knowledge of journalism ethics and participation in the operational environment of journalism seemed to function as entry points into the journalism profession. Although the studies also provided students with an introduction to scientific research, the students communicated less confidence in the domain of research. The interviews further suggested that students interpreted the domain of scientific research as being less socially appealing in the programmes and even less socially esteemed than the domain of journalism practice. MA student 5-1, University #1, said, “The assumption [in the programme] is always that one is becoming a journalist, usually even a writing journalist”. Some students did not find enough time in the syllabus to study even the compulsory scientific course modules:

Practical courses overlapped with […] [the course module] Journalism as a Discipline, so we just rattled through [the scientific course module] and tried to survive. I remember nothing. [If I had to] describe the research orientations of journalism research, I couldn’t describe them. (BA student 4-3, University #1)

However, the socially esteemed dispositions that were found, such as critical attitude, curiosity, and thoroughness, apply largely to both journalism practice and research practice. The social commitment to understanding society that was found similarly applies to journalism and research alike. The interviewed students acknowledged the connection between journalism and research in these aspects, which may also help them to identify themselves socially in the domain of scientific research.

Theoretical Knowledge

Theoretical knowledge was operationalised in the coding stage to refer to sequences in which an interviewee spoke about the content, research, or disciplinary nature of their major subject. The students mainly described journalism as a discipline by identifying research themes. The students also mentioned established concepts and characteristic methods of journalism research. The themes, grouped from the data by the first author, and the mentioned concepts and methods are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Theoretical knowledge in the students’ speech.

CATEGORY OF THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE	CONTENT IN THE STUDENTS’ SPEECH
Research themes	Digitalisation Future of journalism History of journalism, Ideals of journalism Innovations in journalism Journalistic genres Journalistic work Journalistic products Journalists Media concepts and formats Media economy Norms of journalism Platforms Social media Technology Transformation of journalism Values of journalism
Established concepts	Affect Agenda-setting Audience Discourse Effects Frame Mediatisation Message Objectivity Reception Representation Transmission The public sphere and democracy were mentioned once
Methods	Autoethnography Discourse analyses Interviews Surveys Text analyses Theoretical research

As shown in Table 2, the students’ speech seemed to contain notions of theoretical, research-related knowledge extensively. However, the students typically compared their major subject studies with their minor subject studies and the major subject studies of their friends, often observing that something was lacking content-wise in the journalism curriculum. The students said that their discipline was much more practical than other disciplines they knew about. They thought journalism research characteristically began with practical issues, challenges, and novel developments in the field of journalism. Concepts or theories were then introduced to explain the situation in the field and often aimed at advancing journalistic innovations. Some students concluded that theory-intensive research that aimed at abstract frameworks hardly existed in the discipline. The students perceived journalism research as a relatively new and flexible field. To summarise, there was a clear emphasis in the interviewees’ speech on the rather concrete aspects of journalism research. The interviewed students considered journalism research to be tightly intertwined with journalism practice as it currently manifests itself.

Instead of perceiving cumulative theoretical knowledge-building during their studies, students perceived a loose combination of singular courses. Students at both universities referred to one course that had developed their understanding of journalism as a scholarly discipline. BA and MA theses were also critically important content-wise for students. The interviewees appeared to question whether studies in journalism were built into an organised, cumulative knowledge structure: MA student 5-1, University #1, said, “The amount of […] publications or articles or books that have been assigned to me […] is very small really and very narrow, so I would like much more [reading in the degree studies]”. Similarly, MA student 6-2, University #1, said, “Maybe [the degree studies] need some consistency […] like ‘these are now the key concepts that you should know to perceive the overall picture’. I have a fragmented picture of the degree studies”.

There were even students who could hardly describe what their major was as a discipline, even for some at the end of their MA degree:

Journalism is largely a practice […] but as a discipline maybe something more theoretical and not just practical work. So, what I have understood during my studies about journalism as a discipline is that journalism is quite a vacillating discipline […] Journalism is seen so strongly as a practice that it is not considered to have scientific or theoretical ground […] You can completely forget the scientific side of journalism and still practice journalism. I don’t know whether journalism is a discipline or not. (MA student 5-4, University #1)

Although the interviewed students were not requested to compare the practical and theoretical parts of their curricula, several decided to say that the theoretical emphasis should be more robust in their degrees. Enduring theoretical corpora and influential intellectual schools were missing from the students’ speech. Awareness of these might anchor the topical themes in the permanently present disciplinary foundations and provide access to academic identity and intellectual legacy for students.

Integrative Knowledge

Integrative knowledge was operationalised in the coding stage to refer to sequences in which an interviewee linked diverse forms of knowledge related to their studies to each other. The code of integrative knowledge thus extended the concept of knowledge in this study from theoretical and conceptual knowledge to other forms of knowledge presented by Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen (2020, 166–169): technical and procedural knowledge, practical ethical knowledge, and sociocultural, contextual knowledge. The integration of diverse forms of knowledge appeared in the material whenever students crossed the boundaries and combined elements of content knowledge, professional practice, and experiences. Table 3 shows the large data-driven categories that were determined.

Table 3. Integrative knowledge in the students’ speech.

CATEGORY OF INTEGRATIVE KNOWLEDGE	CONTENT IN THE STUDENTS’ SPEECH
Bridging diverse domains in studies	Bridging theoretical and practical course modules in journalism Bridging the major subject (journalism) and minor subjects Bridging course modules, informal encounters inside and outside the university, and work experience in media houses
Considering theoretical knowledge in journalistic contexts	Considering journalistic ideals and their fallibility in journalistic work Considering ideological contradictions in journalism, such as the pursuit of truth versus commercial market logic Considering journalistic work in large social contexts
Applying the scientific research process to journalistic work	Applying the scientific research process to journalistic processes, such as ideation, narrowing, and obtaining background knowledge Applying the scientific research process to the pursuit of salient journalistic ideals, such as objectivity and critical attitude Applying the scientific research process generally to journalistic work to think and deliberate in wider contexts and from diverse perspectives

The category of bridging diverse domains in studies revealed that the analysed journalism programmes constituted rich learning environments. The interviewed students inhabited a stimulating environment in which a constant feed of perspectives, encounters, experiences, and challenges were provided, and students indeed fused them in their learning. The category of considering theoretical knowledge in journalistic contexts was sporadic but addressed important journalistic realities. The students were deeply aware of the fallibility of journalistic ideals and of the ideological contradictions in journalism. These topics initiated extensive reflection on the students’ own conduct as journalists. The students generally perceived that their studies had facilitated them in locating journalistic work in more extensive contexts and in more profound ways than mere work experience would.

The category of applying the scientific research process to journalistic work was the most specific category of the integrative knowledge categories. The material in this category revealed in a detailed manner the importance of studies in a research university programme to journalistic work. The students’ speech contained insightful applications of the scientific research process in journalistic processes, in pursuit of journalistic ideals, and in thinking, deliberation, and judgement generally:

Critical Discourse Analysis taught me to look for implicitly present values and invisible choices. For example, journalism strives for objectivity, but there is always an emphasis on a particular issue, a certain point of view. Some other views are always left out. So, I know how to evaluate it. And in addition to evaluating [the choices by] my sources, I maybe can evaluate my own choices. So that when I read my story in the morning at the meeting table […] [I may see that] there is this kind of perspective here. That way I can improve my own stories perhaps. (BA student 4-2, University #2)

In summary, the students showed the ability to integrate diverse forms of knowledge extensively. They demonstrated insight, especially in integrating the scientific research process into journalistic work.

Reflective Knowledge

Reflective knowledge was operationalised in the coding stage to refer to sequences in which an interviewee described monitoring their own action in authentic situations. This form of knowledge refers primarily to practical ethical knowledge and sociocultural, contextual knowledge (Tynjälä, Kallio, and Heikkinen 2020, 166–169). Table 4 shows the categories found in the data.

Table 4. Reflective knowledge in the students’ speech.

CATEGORY OF REFLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE	CONTENT IN THE STUDENTS’ SPEECH
Ethical reflection in large social contexts	Reflecting upon journalism ethics in large social contexts, e.g., the viability of quality journalism and the collective pursuit of truth in a knowledge-driven society
Evaluative reflection on the journalistic process	Evaluating one’s own standpoints as well as standpoints of informants and sources Evaluating contradictory pieces of information or opinions Verifying knowledge claims Identifying manipulation efforts by diverse actors
Increasingly reflective journalistic self	Receiving, even looking for, critique and feedback without a sense of failure Exposing oneself to widening diversity and pluralism Growing in journalistic responsibility
Lesser reflective strategies regarding scientific content knowledge	Rather careless knowledge searching strategies regarding research results

The category of ethical reflection in large social contexts demonstrated reflection that built on learned knowledge of society. Working ethically did not mean listing ethical principles from rote memory. Even dealing competently with established journalistic procedures was not enough. Ethical conduct meant judgement in large social contexts and evaluation of the far-reaching implications of the conduct of individual journalists:

It is important to understand the place of journalism in this world […] and the ethical and, also, perhaps legal matters involved […] Of course, ethical guidelines are easy to read […] [university studies in journalism enable] to really understand why the ethical and legal issues matter not only for individual interviewees and their rights but for the trust in journalism and the continuity of journalism [in society]. (MA student 5-3, University #2)

In the category of evaluative reflection on the journalistic process, the students used their understanding of the scientific research process as a reflective method in journalistic work. Every interviewee had conducted all stages of the research process, at least on the small scale of a BA thesis. Conducting research had turned the abstract scientific principles into a tangible process that students now knew. The switching between scientific processes and journalistic processes during studies had illuminated for the students the specific quality of knowledge obtained from scientific research processes. The students used this understanding to evaluate journalistic knowledge construction processes and the reliability of obtained knowledge amid diverse or contradictory sources and deliberately misleading messages. The interview speech showed that students recognised, as a result of the learning of the scientific research process, a qualitative change in their journalistic conduct:

It is perhaps the biggest difference between scientific and other content that in a scientific text and scientific thinking, you also explicate the weak points of your own research. You must honestly evaluate your own research. We learned that in the bachelor’s thesis. Take a politician or a celebrity or whoever, and they pretty seldom highlight the weak points [of their arguments]. (BA student 4-2, University #2)

[Before the university studies], I knew in general the way science works; that science is cumulative and corrects itself. But I didn’t know how to evaluate the weaknesses of scientific studies […] Maybe there was a little bit naive and childish idea that scientific research achieves the truth […] I did not think that all studies also have their weaknesses and that studies seldom prove something. Studies rather indicate something or confirm previous studies. (MA student 5-3, University #2)

However, while the interview material was abundant with the students’ descriptions of how the scientific research process supported them as reflective journalists, the switching between university studies and journalism did not seem to guarantee a solid reflective capability regarding scientific content knowledge. Several students searched research results by googling and reading Wikipedia, newspapers, magazines, and even popular tabloids. The extract below illustrates this case:

Interviewer. Where and from whom do you get scientific knowledge?

MA student 5-3, University #1. Mainly through papers. Papers write about scientific articles or post texts that are based on scientific articles, and I read them; that’s it. And then there are guys; I have a few friends who are deeply involved in academia. I hear them referring to studies.

Interviewer. [By papers,] do you mean scientific journals?

MA student 5-3, University #1. All papers. Take the [Magazine], it is a quality publication; they refer to new research, it’s their style. But then also the [Popular Tabloid] posts about studies every other week, so you could surely get [scientific knowledge] from there as well.

The above interviewee was one of the students who read scientific articles and books when required but tended not to read them without external requirements. These students also seemed to restrict scientific content knowledge to university-related tasks in their lives, such as writing essays or theses. Considering that there is less emphasis on reading-intensive modules in journalism degrees than in most other university degrees, the overall exposure of these students to scientific texts might be very limited.

Discussion

In this study, we investigated the scientific character of journalism education at two research universities in Finland by analysing the students’ engagement with knowledge. It was shown across the four sub-analyses of social commitment, theoretical knowledge, integrative knowledge, and reflective knowledge that the scientific character of journalism education was labelled by the intensive presence of journalism practice in the degree studies in two major ways.

As the first major finding, we found throughout all sub-analyses that the interviewed journalism students’ engagement with disciplinary content knowledge was occasional and sporadic. The interviewed students communicated an applied rather than research-intensive concept of disciplinary knowledge.

According to the analysis by Ashwin (2020, 68) discussed at the beginning of this article, university students develop their relationship with disciplinary knowledge through three stages. In the first stage, disciplinary knowledge provides students with the capability to take stances on acute talking points related to their profession or society more generally. Students learn to perceive their discipline as a scholarly field and begin understanding its characteristic disciplinary nature in the second stage. The analysed material suggested that several interviewees negotiated their relationship with journalism research, representing the second stage of the model proposed by Ashwin (2020). The material suggested that not all students had reached the second stage at the end of their MA studies and that there might not be progression to the third and final stage of internalised disciplinary knowledge during their studies.

As the second major finding, we found that despite the fragility of disciplinary knowledge in terms of substance content, the students demonstrated a robust capability to apply the scientific research process as a tangible, ethical method in journalistic work. Studies in a research university programme, including the requirement to conduct an entire research process under supervision, had provided students with a clear understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge construction. This seemed to have developed their ability to evaluate how knowledge is constructed in newsrooms, leading to a qualitative change in the journalistic conduct and reflective capability of the students. The students similarly demonstrated insight in and ease with integrating diverse forms of knowledge. Considering that the construction of knowledge is at the core of journalistic work and contains large social and political implications, the students seemed to have learned significant “inner dynamic property” (see Muller and Young 2019, 206) and “epistemic power” (Ashwin 2020, 67) of their discipline.

Limitations

Critically self-evaluating this study, we acknowledge that the number of students who volunteered to participate in the study was limited. The variation in the interviewee group was not highlighted in this study nor the variation between the two universities. These factors can and should be addressed in further studies using more extensive data. A larger number of informants and universities would enable more detailed profiling without the risk of exposing students, personnel, and programmes to an overly sensitive public inspection.

Conclusions

This study contributes to journalism studies by offering clear results on the scientific character of journalism education, which has been an underinvestigated topic thus far. Unlike previous studies that largely took for granted the vocational and professional orientation of journalism programmes at universities (Drok 2019; Goodman and Steyn 2017; Hovden, Nygren, and Zilliacus-Tikkanen 2016; Nordenstreng 2017; Theodosiadou et al. 2021; Vasilendiuc and Sutu 2021), our study brings journalism programmes into influential international scholarly discussions on university education.

Our conclusions contain theoretical and practical dimensions. First, journalism programmes at research universities need syllabi that enable students to develop a coherent disciplinary knowledge structure. Without such syllabi, the programmes risk failing the knowledge-related expectations for university education by the scholarly community, national and international regulation of degrees, and students themselves.

Second, towards that end, the scientific process of constructing knowledge and the reflective integration of diverse forms of knowledge could be conceived to constitute topics of disciplinary substance content in journalism programmes. Instead of being conceived as generic skills and thus as side products from any university degree, these topics could be elevated onto the research agenda of journalism studies and included in syllabi as research-based themes that journalism researchers themselves explore and elaborate.

Finally, while our study shows that students learn the research process effectively, the research process is empty if disciplinary content knowledge is missing. Scientific knowledge is integral to any research-related activity. We suggest that it may be necessary to clearly reserve more space for scientific knowledge in journalism syllabi at research universities. The results of our study can be used in curriculum work to guarantee cumulative knowledge-building in degree studies from early on.

Acknowledgements

We thank Heikki Heikkilä for discussions and comments concerning the first version of the manuscript, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

The data set is stored by Tampere University. However, due to the ethical principles concerning the consent of the participants, the data set is not available for external users.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation under Grant 202000187.

APPENDIX 1:

Degree structures

Table

	University #1	University #2
BACHELOR’S DEGREE
Basic studies (25 ECTS credits)Completed during the first year	Joint basic studied with other communication and media programmes including contents from these research areasAn introductory course to research skills and methods (5 cr.)	Joint basic studies with communication students, e.g., Ethics and Norms of Communication and Journalism, Transitions in Media, Communication and PersuasionIncludes an introduction to scientific thinking included in the orientation course.
Intermediate studies(70/60 ECTS credits)Completed during years 1–3	Practical courses (50 cr.), e.g., news journalism, visual journalism; a course on visual analyses and a course aiming at integrating professional and scientific approaches to journalism.Internship (5 cr.) integrated with a lecture course on the journalism profession (5 cr.)Research studies (15 cr.): “Introduction to journalism research”, Bachelor seminar and thesis	Practical courses (30 cr.), e.g., news journalism, video & audio journalism, and feature journalismInternship (5 cr.)Research studies (15 cr.):“Research methods”, Bachelor seminar and thesis“Theories in Media and Journalism” (5 cr.)
Other studies in BA DegreeCompleted during years 1–3	Other studies according to one’s own choice: one study module (20 cr.) of a minor subject is required.	Internationalisation studies (10 cr.): student exchange or courses on intercultural communicationOther studies according to one’s own choice: one study module (min. 20 cr.) of a minor subject is required
Common studies(20 cr. /17 cr.)Completed during years 1–3	Language studies, digital skills and basics in statistics, orientation to scientific thinking	Language studies and writing skills
MASTER’S DEGREE
Advanced studies(85 cr./76 cr.)	Journalism workshops: specialising studies, developing journalistic workTheoretical groundings (10 cr.)Professional projects (5 cr.)Research studies (50 cr.): “Methods in journalism studies” (5 cr.), Master’s seminar (10 cr.), and Master’s thesis (35 cr.)	Obligatory courses in journalistic writing and journalistic media professionalism (10 cr.)Specialisation courses (25 cr.), e.g., investigative journalism and data journalism, drone journalism, cross-media practicesResearch studies (41 cr.), “Advanced Approach to Methods” (6 cr.), Master’s seminar (5 cr.), and Master’s thesis (30 cr.)
Other studies	Other studies according to one’s own choice	Other studies according to one’s own choice

Appendix 2:

Learning Outcomes

Notice that in University #1, the learning outcomes are written for the degree. In University #2, they are for the study entity.

After completing a BA degree at University #1, student:

• knows the basics and pivotal concepts of their field and knows how to apply them;

• knows the most pivotal research orientations of their field and how to follow the development of their field;

• perceives the different stages of the research project and is able to plan and conduct a confined study according to the responsible conduct of research;

• knows the principles of scientific thinking and practices;

• understands the principles of the ethics of the science and research;

• knows how to obtain scientific knowledge, evaluate it critically, and apply it in solving research questions in their field;

• knows how to write scientific text and scientifically report findings of a study, reasoning it at the appropriate level of generalisation, ergo, knows how to produce a thesis in their own field under supervision;

• knows how to use Finnish and Swedish at the level required according to the first moment of the sixth section of the Act on the Knowledge of Languages Required of Personnel in Public Bodies (424/2003) in the position of bilingual public authority, which is needed in their field;

• knows how to use a foreign language at the level required to enable the development of their field and work in an international environment;

• knows the principles of teamwork and knows how to act in a group.

• After completing MA degree at University #1, student:

• is able to work independently and knows how to apply scientific knowledge and methods in their work;

• is able to work as an expert in their area;

• knows how to work in different (working life) teams and projects;

• is able to solve emerging and complex problems in their work and other actions;

• is able to identify the limitations of their competence and knows how to complete their expertise independently;

• is able to plan, develop, and report an independent scientific study and knows how to utilise earlier research literature critically and respectfully;

• broadly manages the methods used in their discipline and is able to demonstrate dependable reasoning and argumentation;

• has the knowledge and skills to continue to doctoral studies.

• After completing intermediate studies at University #2, student:

• has the knowledge and skills to act in journalistic work and projects in multimedia environments;

• is able to analytically search, evaluate, and create knowledge;

• knows how to make ethical considerations in journalistic work;

• knows the basics and pivotal methods of media, journalism, and communication research;

• is able to do research on journalism and media;

• has the knowledge and skills to act in international environments.

• After completing advanced studies at University #2, student:

• manages the pivotal contents and methods and has deepened their expertise in one or more areas of specialisation;

• knows how to create new knowledge and act as a societally responsible developer in their field;

• knows how to use ethical considerations in tasks requiring expertise;

• knows how to evaluate ethical questions throughout the research process;

• manages versatile project work and communication skills;

• appreciates and knows how to develop collaboration in multilingual and multicultural environments;

• recognises the strengths of their competence and has adopted the idea of lifelong learning;

• knows how to analyse their competence concerning their employment goals and has the knowledge and skills to continue to doctoral studies.