Will Norton

Rhetoric, written and spoken language, was one of the liberal arts delineated by the ancient Greeks.

They prepared young men in the art of communication and debate in the amphitheaters of the city states of Sparta and Athens. They prepared students to present the issues of the day to their citizens, to inform, explain and persuade with clarity that which was significant for the survival of that great society.

Today journalism educators prepare young men and women to present news and commercial persuasion in print, audio and video for distribution in media. From my perspective, on university campuses today, journalism education (when properly designed and taught) is the contemporary discipline of rhetoric.

As universities were established, they continued the discipline of rhetoric. However, on most modern campuses departments of rhetoric were divided into departments of English and speech. Faculty members in departments of English focused primarily on teaching literature courses because that is where the rewards were. A professor or a visiting lecturer might teach a creative writing course and/or a poetry writing course, and graduate assistants or lecturers would teach freshman composition. Faculty in speech departments gradually developed graduate programs oriented toward the social sciences with graduate students teaching the skills (speech and debate) courses.

Meanwhile, after many years in which courses in the practice of journalism were taught at universities throughout the nation, the press association in Missouri implored the University of Missouri to create a school of journalism. Thus, the first school of journalism was established in 1908, and three years from now Dean Mills, an alumnus of the Iowa School of Journalism, will lead his school in a centennial celebration.

In the early years of journalism education, most programs, particularly those at land grant institutions, kept close ties with state press associations and with preparation for newspaper (and gradually) other media professions. Now, many journalism programs virtually ignore their state press associations because press associations tend to represent smaller newspapers and smaller newspapers do not hire many graduates and cannot afford to pay high salaries. However, journalism programs' ties with national associations continue in varying degrees.

Indeed, today newspapers are facing declining circulations, network television audiences are the smallest in history and general interest magazines are virtually non-existent. The advertising industry is dealing with major role changes. Generally, mass media and mass media markets no longer seem to exist. Clearly, graduates of journalism and mass communications programs face great challenges in pursuing careers in media. Thus, journalism and mass communications programs have a serious identity problem – indeed, a survival problem.

As graduate programs developed in journalism, the director of the M.A. program at the University of Wisconsin created a very social sciences-oriented program. Doctoral programs would follow a similar pattern. Wilbur Schramm, the first director of the Writing Workshop at the University of Iowa, returned to campus after World War II, he found that his position had been filled. Instead, he was offered the position of director of the School of Journalism and quickly created the first Ph.D. program in the nation. Because he had been so impressed by the social scientists at the Office of War Information, he created an inter-disciplinary doctoral program with a heavy emphasis in the social sciences. Public opinion polling was being developed by Dr. George Gallup, and the media were the primary distributors of that data. So the connection seemed obvious.

Other universities followed the programs at Wisconsin and Iowa. Gradually a greater and greater gap (philosophically and pedagogically) developed between graduate programs and undergraduate programs. As journalism programs increased and grew, it became more difficult to find exceptional media professionals who also were exceptional social scientists and could teach at both levels.

Today, this divided identity is the biggest issue facing programs throughout the nation as universities increasingly demand major grants and social science research at the graduate level and more intense learning in writing, editing and display of information at the undergraduate level.

This would be a useful time for journalism and mass communications education to return to its roots in rhetoric. On most university campuses, a lack of instruction in rhetoric, writing and speaking, is a major challenge for producing well-educated, articulate graduates. Therefore, because rhetoric has virtually been abandoned on most campuses, journalism and Mass Communications programs have a great opportunity. They can claim their heritage for the benefit of their universities and ultimately for their own survival.

A return to rhetoric would end the schizophrenia in most programs and would place journalism and mass communications programs at the heart of the mission of most campuses. It also would provide media corporations with graduates who are well prepared for careers in media.