The Future Roles of Journalism: Where Does Ukraine Stand in Europe?

Abstract

The changing societal context of professional journalism has brought many challenges for 21st century journalism to the forefront. The transition from a sender-oriented mass media model to an interactive network model is still in progress, but there can be little doubt that journalism will have to adapt to the new infrastructural reality in order to avoid a deepening of the current crisis in journalism. In the news industry innovation is mainly defined in terms of technology and commerce and often the cultural component is missed. However, the transition to the network model not only requires new business models and platforms, but also a new balance in the various roles of professional journalism. Although research shows changes for the better, there are no clear-cut indications that in daily practice an ambitious restructuring of the goals of journalism has yet taken place. Instead, interesting new technologies are often used for achieving traditional ends: old journalism in new digital bottles. But journalism is of central importance to contemporary society and its future cannot be left to its current producers alone. In the process of renewing the culture of journalism, education plays a central role. Students will have to learn to master the essential routines of their future profession, but next to that it becomes more important that journalism students learn to critically reflect on the future role of journalism in society. In this article the views of Ukrainian teachers on the roles of journalism are compared to those of their colleagues in other parts of Europe. It concludes that there are similarities, but also a divide.