In 1976, the very first journalism degree program in Germany was released– initially accompanied by some doubts and resistance from the market: Could theory and practice genuinely be integrated in journalism education? The program discovered its home under the management 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 effectively finished their studies at the IJ, which to this day is characterized 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, stressed in his address how essential well‑trained reporters are for society. He mentioned that the media landscape has actually altered substantially– not least due to digital platforms on which anybody can send and receive content at any time, where sharpness is rewarded and polarization is driven forward. Contributed to this is the concurrence of crises, which overwhelms individuals and leads them to seek stability and simplification. Free journalism, he stated, is for that reason likewise a service to democracy, and the 2 are mutually reliant. The minister thanked the IJ members and alumni present for their excellent workmanship and their democratic stance. Mayor Britta Gövert also applauded, at what she called Dortmund’s “largest class reunion”, the efforts of recognized and ambitious reporters to classify reality and make it comprehensible.
Alumni Take Part In Shaping Public Discourse
TU President Prof. Manfred Bayer stated in his address: “Fifty years of journalism in Dortmund mark an unique minute and an impressive success. Many generations of students have already learned their important and multifaceted craft with us– and today they play a decisive function in forming public discourse.” Amongst the best‑known journalists who studied in Dortmund are WDR Program Director Jörg Schönenborn, ARD Washington Reporter Gudrun Engel, heute journal presenter Hanna Zimmermann, presenter Mona Ameziane, in addition to Maximilian Doeckel and Jonathan Focke of the podcast Quarks Science Cops. Andrea Schafarczyk, WDR Program Director and alumna, likewise validated in her address that one encounters IJ finishes in media organizations across the country, where they are highly valued for their outstanding training.
The Institute of Journalism, with its eight professorships, receives more applications each year than it has places. It presently has around 500 students enrolled in the 4 research study tracks Journalism, Science Journalism, Music Journalism, and Economic‑Policy Journalism. Having begun with six tape recorders and 30 typewriters, the IJ has developed enormously over the previous decades, as Managing Director Prof. Christina Elmer discussed in her speech. Considering that 1999, the campus radio station eldoradio *, based at the institute, has actually been relaying in Dortmund. Ten years later, the TV training channel NRWision– industrialized and still run by the IJ– went on air. The teaching newsrooms, which were consolidated under the umbrella brand KURT in 2017, are likewise a permanent part.
Conference of Academic Specialists at TU Dortmund University
The Dortmund institute likewise sets essential impulses in research study, including in the fields of science interaction and information journalism/AI, as well as through a long‑term research study on “Journalism and Democracy”. The Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism, founded in 1991, supports high‑quality journalism education worldwide through various jobs and evaluates, to name a few things, communication on conflict‑related topics such as migration. At the invitation of the IJ, the annual conference of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft (DGPuK, German Interaction Association) was held at TU Dortmund University from 18 to 20 March. Around 360 researchers from across Germany came together to examine, versus the background of democracy under pressure in numerous places, the interaction between academia and media‑mediated interaction.
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