Between Ideals and Practice

Abstract

This article looks at journalism students’ experiences in a course that simulates an online newsroom. On the basis of a quantitative survey and more qualitative reflections from the students, we explore the dilemmas that students experience “working” as online journalists and how these are related to broader issues of journalistic ethics. Some of these experienced problems are, combined with the technological mechanisms, much embodied in online journalism and in journalistic practice in general. The survey indicates that the problems amplify the discrepancy between the students’ expectation of good journalism and the perceived practice of online journalism. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of providing a course that simulates a real newsroom.