_…Thousands graduate every year, but newsrooms still search for competent hands_
By Abiodun Atoyebi
Walk into any newsroom, PR agency or broadcast station in Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun and beyond today and ask the editor a simple question: Can you hire a fresh Mass Communication graduate and put him on air tomorrow?
The answer, almost always, is no.
Not because there are no graduates. Every year, Nigerian polytechnics and universities produce tens of thousands of them. The problem is that after four years of lectures, many cannot write a clean news story, hold a camera properly, edit a two-minute video, write a press release without errors, or conduct a basic interview.
Here is why.
*Curriculum frozen in time*
In many institutions, the Mass Communication curriculum is still teaching 1980s journalism to students who live in the age of TikTok, podcasts, data journalism and AI.
Students are still being taught the history of “the town crier” in more detail than they are taught search engine optimisation, audience analytics, mobile journalism, fact-checking tools or content monetisation. A student can define Wilbur Schramm’s models of communication but cannot thread a story on X, produce content for Instagram, or record a podcast on his phone.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) tried to fix this by unbundling Mass Communication into seven specialised degree programmes: Journalism and Media Studies, Public Relations, Advertising, Broadcasting, Film and Multi-Media Studies, Development Communication Studies, and Information and Media Studies. On paper, it is a brilliant reform that took effect from 2020. In practice, implementation has been slow and uneven.
*Theory without tools*
Mass Communication is a practical, hands-on profession. Yet in most schools, there is no functional studio. The radio studio in some schools is a museum piece with a dead mixer. The TV studio has had one camera since 1999.
Students therefore graduate as theorists. The industry, however, does not pay for definitions. It pays for practicals and results.
*Lecturers who never practise*
This is the uncomfortable truth. Too many lecturers teaching journalism have never worked a day in a newsroom, agency or production set. You cannot give what you do not have.
When the teacher’s own knowledge is purely textbook, the student learns to cram and quote textbooks, not to produce.
*Industrial training that trains nothing*
SIWES and IT placements are supposed to be the bridge to industry. In some cases, students pay to get a stamp and signature without ever stepping into an organisation. Even when they do, they are sent to buy food for staff, or left in a corner to watch because “you people don’t know anything.”
The media industry itself must take blame here. It wants experienced hands but is unwilling to train inexperienced ones. Some radio stations do not have good hands to train.
*The wrong motivation from the start*
Let us be honest. A large percentage of students studying Mass Communication did not choose it out of passion. In many institutions, it is the course given to those who could not get Law, Political Science or Business Administration.
*What must change*
Bring practitioners into the classroom. Every department needs lecturers who are active reporters, producers, PR executives and filmmakers. Professors should be required to go on industry sabbaticals. Media houses and schools must sign real MoUs that guarantee training, not errands.
Mass Communication is not a junk course. It is one of the most powerful and employable courses in the world, but only if we teach it as it is practised, not as it was remembered.
*Editor’s Note:* This is an opinion article. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of this newspaper.
