On the Threshold of a Journalism Education Studies Terminology

The purpose of this theoretical research is to open a scholarly discussion on the topic of journalism education studies terminology. The research is based upon the paradigm of sustainable journalism education and innovation, an important tool for the development of journalism education as an independent scientific discipline. It is applied to identify not yet detected or resolved problems regarding the nature and practice of the discipline which hinder its stronger progress. This article brings a synthesis of a critically analysed discipline’s body of knowledge and highlights key shortcomings of that particular field of study, pointing out the urgent additional work that needs to be done – in terminology. The lack of terminological support, particularly in the context of the reference literature, turned out to be one of the key impediments. It could be, for instance, remedied by creating a glossary. However, due to the discipline’s three-dimensionality (journalism, education, journalism education), this project will not be an easy endeavour, which is why the respective challenges are discussed in this paper starting from the epistemological need to internationally publish the rare attempts of unambiguously defining the fundamental terms of the discipline. Furthermore, the author proposes the central term of a future glossary, “journalism education”, as the first entry, and therefore provides the initial review of its definitions. Due to the fact that the proposed glossary would be the first attempt to create an official terminology and given the dynamic environment in which journalism education studies and related professions are manifested, a flexible approach to the reference book’s keeping up with the times is recommended.