Reputation Cycles

Accreditation is among various outside influences when developing an ideal journalism curriculum. The value of journalism accreditation standards for undergraduate programs has been studied and is still debated. This study discovers views of opinion leaders in U.S. journalism programs, as surveyed program directors give reasons for being accredited or not. The most important reason for schools with, or obtaining, accreditation is reputation enhancement. But many directors question accreditation’s value. Some perceive the cap on journalism credits that students can take as a limitation of student development and a hindrance to responding to increasing media industry convergence.