Brotkrumenpfad
Journalism Studies
The Journalism Studies unit has a scientific and critical focus on the representation and reflection of journalism in society. The main goal is to offer a scientific education that helps students in their future jobs within the field of professional communication. Nevertheless hands-on projects like “MedienLabor” (AV studio, print and web laboratory), the UniRadio, the CampusRadio and the Uni-TV magazine PlugIn are offered, and also practical courses are integrated into the scientific educational program. The professional reality is further integrated trough the cooperation with the Austrian “Kuratorium für Journalistenausbildung” (Board of Trustees for Journalistic Education), media companies and lecturers from diverse media fields.
The potential employment opportunities of journalism graduates range from traditional media to the online sector, from classical news production to the steadily diversifying field of professional communication.
Teaching is designed to connect theoretical approaches and practical applications. The lectures and seminars offered in the curriculum of the unit reflect the intention to pass on scientific knowledge of journalistic theories and research techniques as well as practical journalistic working skills to our students. With this in mind, the goal is to provide an overview of the overall understanding and the scientific examination of journalism. Furthermore, the curriculum supports pluralism of methods allowing for a broad spectrum of student research in the field.
Research is essential to the Journalism Studies unit and aims at reflecting a) characteristics of persons and institutions involved in the journalistic system, b) media messages, c) political, economic and technological imperatives as well as d) basic social conditions of journalism. In the past years the job-related habitus and the job-structures of journalists in Austria and their development over time were main foci. In 2010, the study „Medienkarrieren im Umbruch?“ (Changing Media Careers?) was conducted and continued in 2011 and 2012 (“Journalismus im Wandel?”; Changing Journalism?). Our other research projects include: journalistic metaphors and narratives in the international news coverage after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and their consequences; the impact of sport-journalism on fan communities; framing-effects within media representations on national images; feasibility-study for a vocational training for freelance-journalists; foreign correspondents in Austria.
