Samenvatting

Journalism was doing very well in our part of the world. Print circulation rose to a historic height in the nineties. Audience ratings and advertising revenues peaked. Our main job as educators was to closely follow this highly successful industry by teaching our students the tricks of the trade, together with some reflection on journalism’s role in society and knowledge about political, social, economic and cultural issues. Being in this ‘follower mode’ has been a rather comfortable position.
At the end of the nineties this began to change. The public’s interest in the products of professional journalism stagnated and for the first time in decades started to drop. Scholars and media organizations alike began to worry about the future of professional journalism. A BBC-report effectively described quality journalism as “a melting iceberg travelling south” (Barnett & Seymour, 1999). For journalism education things became more complicated. The status quo in the industry could no longer serve as the indisputable aim. Journalism schools had to change from the follower mode to the innovator mode (Deuze, 2006). They had to get used to the idea that they should become active players in the process of renewing journalism.