Att fostra journalister : Journalistutbildningens formering i Sverige 1944 -1970

Sammanfattning: The thesis analyses the interaction between various interests in Swedish society when the existing apprenticeship system for the journalism profession was to be replaced by a formal journalism education programme. The press organisations had a difficult time agreeing on a programme, and the issue was discussed for over 50 years. The profession was seen as a talent, an aptitude that some people had, and there was opposition to formal education. The first part analyses discussions about journalism education in a post-war context, both in Sweden and internationally. Part two considers extensive investigatory processes in Sweden, in which the structure of journalism programmes was arrived at through negotiations. The third part studies the development of and discussions about the newly founded national journalism schools. The thesis demonstrates that journalism education was often presented as a solution to other perceived problems than the press needing more professionally trained labour. Journalism education was proposed as a solution to problems associated with commercialisation, sensational journalism, politicised journalism and war propaganda. The question of influencing the shaping of opinion both in Sweden and internationally was linked to journalism education to the extent that education was seen as a method of affecting the way the "free" press worked. For the same reason, the education of journalists was sometimes considered dangerous, that journalism students were streamlined in a separate education programme based on homogeneous values, which could be a threat to the freedom of expression.Using Bourdieu, the difficult relationship between the journalistic field and the academic field on education is interpreted as a struggle between two forms of capital over which kind of knowledge is to be valued. On a higher level, the struggle between academe and the press was formulated as a battle of symbolic royalty over what values were to be regarded as true in public discourse.