A Term Paper on

JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION AS A COURSE IS A

DISCIPLINE

For partial fulfilment of the requirements of the course GNS 301

Instructor: Mr Adediran

Submitted by

name

matric

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 JOURNALISM AND MASS
COMMUNICATION AS A COURSE
IS A DISCIPLINE

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ABSTRACT

Concerning the gathering of data and sampling design, this study identifies the
following Target Population: All Journalism and Mass Communication students in the
public and private universities.

However, geographical and financial logistics as well as time constraints have

rendered it is impossible for this Research Study to cut across a cross-section of the
entire target population in order to draw out a representative sample and therefore, the
research will deal with an accessible population which is: All Journalism and Mass
Communication students at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology

The sample respondents are derived from an accessible population and include: 10
first year journalism students, 10 second year journalism students, 10 third year
journalism students, 10 fourth year journalism students at Masinde Muliro University
of Science and Technology.

I will use a questionnaire for data gathering in my research. The type of questionnaire
used will be the structured or close-ended Questionnaire. Respondents will have
autonomy of response and will be permitted to respond in their own words.

The Research Budget includes all the funds needed to procure enough questionnaires
to satisfy the sample. Since the sample has approximately 100 students, the cost of
developing questionnaires for this size of a sample would amount to: a product of the
number of pages of the questionnaires by the number of respondents.

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PAPER CONTENTS:
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
DETAILED CONTENTS
CONCLUSION
Reference

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 -CHAPTER 1-

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

“To train and produce highly skilled, versatile, innovative and accountable
professionals who are able to stimulate national and international sustainable
development” has been and is still the Masinde Muliro University of science and
Technology vision. This has motivated all the students undertaking Journalism and
Mass Communication as a course. This is a course that deals with media and
therefore is very much practical. Media as the sole instrument of communication
witnessed technical changes that modified it to become the key channel of
communication among different parties. At the moment social media has become a
technical part of our day to day lives regardless of our diverse social, economic,
political and cultural entities. Journalism is part of this social media as it is a form of
communication that tries to inform and educate the public. The idea of journalism
has evolved into a vital communications system for the public in general. Thus the
ability of journalistic work and learning to deliver carefully prepared messages to
targeted audiences has given them a major role in the current world as it is being
used all over the world.

1.2Background to the Study

Journalism and Mass Communication as a course is a discipline that equips students

with the skills and knowledge on the use of various media such as radio, television
and print to keep the public informed and updated about what happens all over the
world.

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Radio broadcasts was first aired in the early 1900s, courtesy of Reginald Fessenden.
However till 1919 radio stations began broadcasting continuously. Due to this many
stations began operating thus bringing about issues regarding management as
operating one was a significant expense. The radio industry has changed
significantly despite other media and technologies coming into place, as it holds
95% of listening audience every week as compared to other mediums. Radio
programming and advertising peaked during the 1930s and 1940s. Many of these
shows were sponsored by advertisers pushing such products as cigarettes, tires and
even coal. After World War II, radio’s popularity began to decline, and a new
medium began to gain popularity. In 1959, a television commission was appointed
under the chairmanship of commander JCR Broven to examine and report on the
benefits and disadvantages of television service in Kenya. The commission was also
to report on the ways and means of introducing a TV and its relationship to some
broadcasting service. In 1961 Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) was formed
to take over from the government controlled KBS. In 1962, Television service was
introduced and officially inaugurated in 1963.

1.3Statement of the Problem

This research keenly looks at the relevance of Journalism and Mass Communication
at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology. This is based on the fact
that the Journalism and Mass Communication students have dreams of becoming
prominent journalists who will deliver their acquired skills with an aim of using
journalism as the legitimate tool that informs, enlightens and educates the public.

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 This is driven by the overwhelming fact that most colleges are supposed to offer
relevant and practical courses that enrich students with skills other than theoretical
courses that have no relevance in journalistic fieldwork. The big question is, are
these practical courses being offered in the public universities.

Research Objectives

i. To examine the relevance of Journalism and Mass Communication

programs in universities.

ii. To examine the challenges facing journalism students in universities and

colleges.

iii. To determine the rating practical skills acquired at universities.

iv. To determine the importance of practical programs, trips and exposure to
journalism and Mass Communication students.

Limitations of the Study

a) A financial constraint since the study required a lot of writing material and
consulting various materials relevant to the topic which were quite expensive.
b) A scarcity of time. The research required a lot of time which is not readily
available since there are other projects that need my attention whereas the time
is very limited.

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 -CHAPTER 2 -

LITERATURE REVIEW

Background of Journalism

The origins of broadcasting lie far back in history. The Greek and Romans had
theories that were not examined and proved until the 19 th centaury. Radio broadcasts
was first aired in the early 1900s, courtesy of Reginald Fessenden. However till
1919 radio stations began broadcasting continuously. Due to this many stations
began operating thus bringing about issues regarding management as operating one
was a significant expense. The radio industry has changed significantly despite other
media and technologies coming into place, as it holds 95% of listening audience
every week as compared to other mediums. Radio programming and advertising
peaked during the 1930s and 1940s. Many of these shows were sponsored by
advertisers pushing such products as cigarettes, tires and even coal. After World
War II, radio’s popularity began to decline, and a new medium began to gain
popularity. In 1959, a television commission was appointed under the chairmanship
of commander JCR Broven to examine and report on the benefits and disadvantages
of television service in Kenya. The commission was also to report on the ways and
means of introducing a TV and its relationship to some broadcasting service. In
1961 Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) was formed to take over from the
government controlled KBS.

Whilst the development of radio broadcasting had been in progress, other

experiments and scientists had been looking into transmitting moving pictures as
well as sound. Nevertheless, it was successfully achieved by John Logie Baird in
England in 1925. In 1936, the first TV broadcasting system in the world was
inaugurated by the BBC in London. It was then restricted to Greater London Area

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and ceased at the outbreak of war in 1939. In 1946, TV restarted in Britain and
America. By 1959, fifty stations had at least a national TV station. In 1962,
Television service was introduced in Kenya and officially inaugurated in 1963.

The process of liberalization and democratic of the air waves in Kenya commenced
with the enactment of the KBC Act (cap 221) of 1989 which transformed the then
Voice of Kenya into a semi-autonomous legal entity that would operate on
commercial broadcast principles and thereby sustain its health in the competitive
broadcast sub-sector.

Relevance of Journalism and Mass Communication programs

This research looks into how the Journalism and Mass Communication programs
are relevant to the course and how students benefit from them. Journalism and Mass
Communication is a course that is aimed at producing highly skilled and
independent journalists who are committed to serving people. This simply and
clearly presents this course as being highly practical and student involving. By the
end of the course the students should at least be able to communicate effectively and
fluently, write news features and articles, speech presentation, know media law and
Ethics, come up with presentable adverts and even present on radio and broadcast
on Television. The programs are covered in four years. There are programs made for
first, second, third and fourth year students.

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Public Relations and Advertising.

Public Relations and Advertising is also a vital tool in journalistic work because it has
to do with setting agenda and persuading the public to do something or believe an
idea. It has a lot to do with persuasive writing and speaking. It also has to do with
promotion of products through various forms of media like radio, television,
newspapers, internet, magazines and even journals.

Here, students meet programs like Public Relations Psychology (JMC 400), Public
Relations Theory and Methods (JMC 401), Language and Public Communication
(JMC 405), Advertising to the Consumer (JMC 407), Newspaper Advertising (JMC
406), Internet and Electronic Publishing (JMC 423) and Gender and the Mass Media
(JMC 424). All this programs enrich students in public relations and advertising.

Print Media and Broadcasting.

This is the centre and backbone of journalistic work. This is where students learn how
to use the media to reach the public. At this level, students perfect their knowledge on
writing articles and news features. Students are also expected to do voice testing at
this level.

This where practical lessons are vital because the programs themselves require a lot of
practice and very minimal theory.

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Practical Journalism Programs at MMUST.

When it comes to practices, the research study looks into how the core programs are
handled in terms of practical work. This reflects the core programs as being highly
practical and need direct participation of students.

The study looks into the core programs in four perspectives: photography, radio and
television production, print media and language.

2.3.1 Language

According to the free online dictionary, language is the method of human

communication either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured
and conventional way.

Language and its use is an important aspect in field of journalism. Journalists

communicate through language to the mass. This means that during they study of a
journalism course, the learner should go through the concept of language and
understand it better. There are many practice-based programs at Masinde Muliro
University of Science and Technology when it comes to language.

When it comes to language in third year, there are quite a number of programs that
extensively cover language and its use. Such programs include, Nonverbal
Communication and Public Speaking (JMC 301), Public Speaking and Talk Show
Presentation (JMC 306), French Structure II (TOU 300) English/Kiswahili
Morphology and Syntax (JMC 312/313) and Semantics (JMC 314). Language is the
most important weapon in journalistic work and therefore journalism students need to
be well versed with the language.

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 -CHAPTER 3-

METHODOLOGY

3.1.0 Introduction

This chapter attempts in detail to describe and explain the Methodology used in this
study. Qualitative instrument is the key tool used in this research to explain the
process of sampling of the respondents who were used for the study. The key and
most important function of this chapter is to explain how the data was gathered. Here
the researcher will be mostly concerned to justify the “what” and “why” it was used
and also how the “what” will affect the findings of the study.

3.2.0 Research Design

This research being an investigative survey, the researcher chose to use qualitative
tool in the research. The researcher hopes to conduct a detailed analysis on the
relevance of Journalism and Mass Communication Programs at Public Universities.
Due to the constraints of resources and time the study could not be carried out country
wide hence confining our survey to Masinde Muliro University.

3.3.0 Sampling Approach

The population studied comprised of the students who undertake Journalism and Mass
communication as a course at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology.

This research had a target of 100 students, that is, 25 first year students, 25 second
year students, 25 third year students and 25 fourth year students. This population size
was small and the researcher chose to study it wholly.

The study of the samples was advantageous in the sense that the information obtained
was reliable since all the students gave their views: hence there was no biasness.

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3.4.0 Data source

The researcher used both primary and secondary methods to collect data which
included: use of questionnaire, personal interviews and observation.

3.4.1 Questionnaires

The questionnaires were administered to all the 100 journalism and Mass
Communication students.

The questionnaires were prepared by the researcher and distributed to the Journalism
and Mass communication. Such questionnaire were prepared in such a way that they
had introductory part/letter addressed to the respondent and the question part divided
into three sections with a set of closed ended question to enable respondents to
respond in their own style.

The introductory letter contained explanation concerning the purpose of the study as
well as the assurance to the respondents that their answers to the questions would be
kept confidential and solely used for the study.

Pre-testing exercise was undertaken before distributing the questionnaire to the

students. Some copies were given to the researcher’s colleague for comment and
subsequent correction. The 100 respondents were given the questionnaire after which
the researcher waited as they responded giving them enough time to think about the
questions before answering.

This method helped the researcher to obtain statement which were factual and also
placed less pressure on the respondent who was not required to respond immediately.
This allowed the respondent to answer question and also seek for guidance in areas
that he/she did not understand, thus giving well thought out answers to the question
hence detailed information.

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The researcher was mainly concerned with the views, opinion, perceptions and
attitude such information were best collected through the use of questionnaires
techniques

Questionnaires were used since the study was concerned mainly with variables that
can not directly be observed such as views, opinion and perception of the respondents.
This covers for the large sample size given the time constraint.

3.4.2 Interviews

Most of the Journalism and Mass Communication students were interviewed by the
researcher because they were more acquainted with the relevance of Journalism and
Mass Communication programs, hence able to give some precise information.

Before the interview, the researcher picked on different 20 respondents having 4

students from each 5 sample population and were requested to be interviewed then
issued with copies of the interviews so as to acquaint them with particulars that they
were expected to respond to. The interview schedule acted as a guide to them during
the interview process. While collecting the interview, data was recorded as the
interviewee responded.

The structured interview proved to be a useful instrument for data collection in this
study because it was a direct mode of interviewing and it allowed the researcher to
seek clarification of answers given by the interviewees. The researcher had a chance
of motivating the interviewee to respond freely and openly to question enhancing data
collection. The interview also went with observation method of data collection,
especially in obtaining the details of the respondent’s non verbal behavior. This
alerted the researcher on some areas that needed to be probed further.

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Interviews also provide the best way of data collection since it provided the researcher
with accurate and face to face information.

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 - -CHAPTER 4-

RESULTS ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the results, analyzed and discussed in conjunction with the
objectives of the study. It also highlights the responding rate of the respondents.

The findings of this study were discussed under the following main areas.

 Strengths

 Weaknesses

 The most practical and relevant programs

 The Research Objectives

4.2.0 Strengths

According to this research students of Journalism and Mass Communication at

Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology have benefited from the
existence of Journalism and Mass Communication as a course at the University.

In addition, most of the programs that are offered at the University are relevant and
practical especially those that have to do with print media and language use.

Finally, the students have the privilege to use the University radio studio, 103.9
MMUST FM, for most of the programs that are concerned with radio production.

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4.3.0 Weaknesses

Having already discussed the numerous advantages derived from the relevance of
Journalism and Mass Communication programs, there are also some drawbacks which
are associated with the course and professionalism.

To start with, there are some programs like photography which are highly practical
but students do not benefit from the practical part of it. This is because the university
does not have a studio in which students can do there practical in regard to
photography.

Moreover, there are some programs like Radio Production (JMC 412) and Television
Production (JMC 413) which are supposed to be covered early enough before the
students can go for attachments because this will give them some skills before they
enter somebody’s media house.

Finally, the university does not have enough facilkities to facilitate the learning
process like a student studio that has a Television Newsroom and photography
section. This would highly contribute to the practical part of the course.

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 -CHAPTER 5-

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1.0 Introduction

This chapter attempts to give a summary of the whole research. The researcher in this
project attempted to find out the relevance of Journalism and Mass Communication
programs in public Universities, a case study at Masinde Muliro University of Science
and Technology.

5.2.0 Summary of the findings

According to this research students of Journalism and Mass Communication at

Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology have benefited from the
existence of Journalism and Mass Communication as a course at the University. In
addition, most of the programs that are offered at the University are relevant and
practical especially those that have to do with print media and language use. The
students have the privilege to use the University radio studio, 103.9 MMUST FM, for
most of the programs that are concerned with radio production.

The findings of the study also reflect not all the relevant journalism and mass
communication programs are practical at the University. It is also clear that the timing
of some programs is scheduled before students go for attachment yet they should have
been covered before attachment because students need that knowledge for attachment.

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Lastly, the university does not have enough facilities to facilitate the learning process
like a student studio that has a Television Newsroom and photography section. This
would highly contribute to the practical part of the course.

5.3.0 Conclusion

The main issue that stood clear during the entire research is that students of
Journalism and Mass Communication at Masinde Muliro University of Science and
Technology have benefited from the existence of Journalism and Mass
Communication as a course at the University. Another issue is that, not all the relevant
journalism and mass communication programs are practical at the University

At this particular juncture, the researcher wishes to open the floor for further research
regarding this important issue of relevance of journalism and mass communication
because this is the backbone to the centre of information, journalism.

5.4.0 Recommendations

The researcher hereby recommends that more facilities should be made available in
universities that offer journalism and mass communication as a course.

The government of Kenya should be there to support public universities offering

journalism and mass communication as a course. in order to develop journalists so as
compete with other media houses from other countries. The government ought to
reduce heavy tax rates on journalism courses and universities and colleges in order to
perfect the provision of this course in many colleges.

In addition, a modern and well equipped studio should be established at Masinde

Muliro University of Science and Technology for the benefit of those students

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undertaking a bachelors degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and the
public in general.

REFERANCE

Alex. A, Jarice. H. (2001) Taking Sides: Mass Media and Society (6th ED) McGraw-
Hill/Dushkin

Aluja B.N and Chabbra S.S (2003) Introduction to radio production. Harvard
University. London

Baran Stanley (2004) Understanding Mass Communication. Burlington Publishers,

New York

Bennars and Njoroge (1986) Introduction to Mass Communication. Harvard

University. London.

David Wainwright, M.A. (1971) Journalism Made Simple. Holborn Publishers,

London.

Douglas (2001) Media and Cultural Studies Keyworks, Malden, Ma and Oxford, UK,
Blackwell Publishing.

Durham, M and Kellner Douglas (2001) Media and Cultural Studies. Key Works,
Maldon, Ma and Oxford, UK, Blackwell Publishing.

George E.B and Michael A.B, (2004) Advertising and Promotion. Mc Graw Hill.

Graham Mytton (1983) Mass Communication in Africa. Edward Arnold Publishers

Ltd, Britain.
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Khamedi, S.I.D (1992) A Concise Course in Reporting. Macmillan Publishers.
Nairobi.

McLuhan, Marshall (1964) Understanding Media: The Extension of Man, Toronto,

McGraw hill.

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