Abstract:

Journalism has evolved alongside technology, which has been key component for the search, processing and dissemination of information. The printing press, the typewriter, the telegraph, correspondence, the camera and the cinema have been tools that have accompanied journalistic work over time. The arrival of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in the professional field of journalism transformed even more the work of this profession.

The great difference that ICT brings, first of all, is the redefinition of time and space, that allows journalists to connect globally with other people, different organizations and sources of information, a task that used to take more time and effort or that was logistically impossible. Secondly, journalists have found in ICT the real possibility of working along with colleagues located in other parts of the world and carrying out collaborative research that acquires another dimension regarding the depth and scope of their proposals. A third change lies in the diversity of forms of communication that ICT has opened through hypertextual digital formats, which allows journalists to generate multimedia narratives (text, audio, video, animation, etc.). Another transformation carried out thanks to ICT is the possibility for audiences to express themselves, in an almost immediate response, to journalistic texts. Thus, from the internet, the challenge of journalism is not to get the exclusive or to obtain information, but to process a large amount of information, giving order and meaning to the audience.

Given this new situation, the question arises about the role that universities play in the training of a professional journalist who requires multiple skills in the current context. Do the universities' syllabuses contemplate the development of knowledge in the field of information and communication technologies for the practice of journalism? Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate the syllabuses of public and private universities in Mexico that teach a degree in communication, in order to detect the theoretical or practical knowledge universities should consider for the training of competent journalists at the present time.

To achieve this goal, a qualitative study was carried out, based on documentary research, systematization and data analysis on graduate profiles and syllabuses of ten public and private communication degrees that offer training in journalism.

Among the main differences observed between the syllabuses of public and private HEI (higher education institutions) are the graduate profiles, since these are where elements that distinguish the educational models are identified. The public HEI lean towards more critical and humanistic educational models and from this approach, the use of technologies. Whereas for the private HEI, what matters most is the development of pragmatic abilities that allows graduates to develop professionally.

Keywords:

Technology, university training, journalism and education.