Instrumental Competence of Journalists as One of the Main Educational Results of Their Professional Training

Abstract

The study provides an analysis of skills required for journalists to use information and communication technologies in professional practice in accordance with modern challenges. The main objective of the present article is to substantiate the need to form the journalist’s instrumental competence in the professional training framework in the specialty “Journalism” in higher education institutions of Ukraine. Methodology: theoretical (abstraction, concretization and generalization of scientific research, pedagogical and professional experience), general (analysis, synthesis, analogy and extrapolation of the analyzed issue to the current state of professional journalism training in Ukraine). Findings and conclusions: 1) as a result of the documentary research, the concept of “instrumental competence of a journalist” (ICJ) was revealed; 2) based on the results of the analytic review of scientific sources and educational documents, the relevant components of journalists’ instrumental competence (knowledge/skills related to software mastering, digital resources and technologies for creating and disseminating media content) are identified; 3) based on the analysis of educational programs in the specialty “Journalism” in Ukrainian higher education institutions, we postulate the need to revise the principles of blocks formation of disciplines aimed at mastering students’ ICJ. Avenues for further research are proposed, in particular, search for mechanisms to maintain a balance between academic knowledge and technological skills in journalism educational programs, which primarily requires the study of positive experiences of modernization of journalism education.