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Join TSPR for a weekly conversation about media issues. News Director Rich Egger and expert panelists discuss what’s in the news about the news business.

The Challenges Facing Journalism and Broadcasting Programs

The Shop Talk panelists talk about the business of educating the next generation of journalists. The panelists said there is no longer a clear division between different skill sets -- today's reporters are often expected to know how to write for print and broadcasting plus have photojournalism skills.  And it can be a challenge for professors to learn all those skills and how to teach them.

It’s also a challenge to attract students to journalism programs at a time when wages are low and some politicians encourage hostilities toward reporters. 

This is the final Shop Talk program for Patrick Johnson. He left Western Illinois University for a position at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Indiana.  He will be an assistant professor in the school’s Communication Department.

Shop Talk is a weekly panel discussion about journalism issues.  This week’s program featured Will Buss, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and advises the student editors at the Western Courier; Patrick Johnson, who taught in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at WIU and advised Western’s student radio station WIUS/The Dog; and TSPR News Director Rich Egger.

Rich is TSPR's News Director.