In 1976, the first journalism degree program in Germany was launched– initially accompanied by some doubts and resistance from the industry: Could theory and practice really be combined in journalism education? The program found its home under the leadership of Prof. Kurt Koszyk and with the support of Johannes Rau, then Minister of Science of North Rhine‑Westphalia, at the Ruhr University of Education (Pädagogische Hochschule Ruhr), which was incorporated into the University of Dortmund in 1980. Ever since, more than 2,000 graduates have actually effectively completed their studies at the IJ, which to this day is identified by its close interlinking of theory and practice, an incorporated traineeship, and training in the multimedia teaching newsroom.
Nathanael Liminski, Minister for Federal, and European, International Affairs and Media of the State of North Rhine‑Westphalia, highlighted in his address how important well‑trained reporters are for society. He explained that the media landscape has actually changed substantially– not least due to digital platforms on which anybody can send and receive material at any time, where sharpness is rewarded and polarization is driven forward. Added to this is the concurrence of crises, which overwhelms people and leads them to seek stability and simplification. Free journalism, he said, is for that reason likewise a service to democracy, and the two are equally reliant. The minister thanked the IJ members and alumni present for their great craftsmanship and their democratic position. Mayor Britta Gövert also applauded, at what she called Dortmund’s “biggest class reunion”, the efforts of established and ambitious reporters to categorize reality and make it understandable.
Alumni Participate in Shaping Public Discourse
TU President Prof. Manfred Bayer stated in his address: “Fifty years of journalism in Dortmund mark a special moment and an exceptional success. Numerous generations of trainees have actually currently learned their crucial and complex craft with us– and today they play a decisive function in shaping public discourse.” Among the best‑known journalists who studied in Dortmund are WDR Program Director Jörg Schönenborn, ARD Washington Correspondent Gudrun Engel, heute journal presenter Hanna Zimmermann, speaker Mona Ameziane, in addition to Maximilian Doeckel and Jonathan Focke of the podcast Quarks Science Cops. Andrea Schafarczyk, WDR Program Director and alumna, also validated in her address that one encounters IJ finishes in media companies across the nation, where they are highly valued for their outstanding training.
The Institute of Journalism, with its 8 professorships, gets more applications each year than it has places. It presently has around 500 trainees enrolled in the 4 research study tracks Journalism, Science Journalism, Music Journalism, and Economic‑Policy Journalism. Having started with 6 tape recorders and 30 typewriters, the IJ has actually established enormously over the previous years, as Managing Director Prof. Christina Elmer explained in her speech. Since 1999, the campus radio station eldoradio *, based at the institute, has actually been relaying in Dortmund. Ten years later, the television training channel NRWision– developed and still operated by the IJ– went on air. The mentor newsrooms, which were combined under the umbrella brand name KURT in 2017, are likewise a long-term element.
Conference of Academic Experts at TU Dortmund University
The Dortmund institute also sets important impulses in research study, consisting of in the fields of science interaction and information journalism/AI, in addition to through a long‑term research study on “Journalism and Democracy”. The Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism, established in 1991, supports high‑quality journalism education worldwide through numerous projects and analyzes, among other things, communication on conflict‑related subjects such as migration. At the invite of the IJ, the yearly conference of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK, German Communication Association) was held at TU Dortmund University from 18 to 20 March. Around 360 scientists from across Germany came together to analyze, versus the backdrop of democracy under pressure in many locations, the interaction between academic community and media‑mediated interaction.
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