Green Eyeshades vs. Chi Squares Revisited: Editors' and JMC Administrators' Perceptions of Major Issues in Journalism Education.

The question of whether there is a chasm between the newspaper profession and journalism education is not a new one. In a 1967 article titled "Green Eyeshades vs. Chi-Squares," Jake Highton indicated that journalists looked at journalism research as obscure and irrelevant. The study described in this paper investigated the extent of the gap between the attitudes of administrators of academic journalism programs and those of newspaper editors concerning what sort of content journalism schools should be providing their graduates. Subjects, 271 (of 388) heads of journalism/mass communication programs at colleges and universities, responded to a survey instrument similar to one returned by 381 newspaper editors in late 1989. Results indicated that: (1) a statistically significant difference was found between editors and journalism/mass communication administrators concerning the importance of key issues facing journalism education; (2) the perception of administrators differed based upon their area of specialization; (3) editors favored the more practical aspects of journalism as a priority in the journalism curriculum, while administrators favored the more theoretical aspects of mass communication. Findings suggest that a chasm does exist between journalism education and the newspaper profession and that it is a wide one. (Six tables of data are included; 53 references are attached.) (RS)