The Essential Contributions of Mass Communication Programs

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The future of mass communication programs should depend on the educational contributions they make. But other circumstances arise, such as budget worries. When the axe recently fell on several programs, the AEJMC president asked: "Are journalism/mass communication programs becoming an endangered species?"(1) As journalism educators, we have an abiding concern for program content and quality, but we can not be blind to our place in higher education. We must ask ourselves some searching questions.

We have gone from schools of journalism to schools of journalism and mass communication--sometimes to schools of communication that embrace us along with speech and drama. We have also …