| What does it mean to be a critical thinker? |
|
Sure,
the term feels wonderfully academic. But the catch phrase
also packs plenty of intellectual punch.
Critical thinking, freshman students are told at the beginning
of Journalism 101, isn’t simply a cynical or sarcastic
attitude toward flaws in television or newspaper journalism. |
Critical
thinking is good reasoning—it’s exploring the
facts and using knowledge to arrive at an educated evaluation.
It enhances a media consumer’s ability to identify
the true issues within conflicting points of view—to
resist the tug of emotions and to detect manipulation whenever it's present. |
Critical
thinking demands an open-mindedness ... |
...that might cause a person
to change opinions once the evidence is in.
That’s why critical thinking is a key concept for students
at the Reynolds School of Journalism. Although we can’t
predict what the media landscape will look like in the coming decades,
we can be sure of the skills clear-thinking journalists will
need. |
First and foremost,
they'll need to be able to think, collect and analyze information,
and to present it in a creative, meaningful and relevant way. They’ll need
to know how to write.
And they’ll need to know how
to confront the ethical dilemmas that concern working journalists
everywhere. |
At RSJ... |
| ... we continue to emphasize
the importance of students producing professional quality
media products, from print and broadcast journalism to advertising
and public relations. |
Given the deteriorating
quality of public debate and the dearth of writing skills
in society today, we think that by emphasizing these skills,
we’ll give
our graduates an advantage in the job market.
Most of all, they’ll be better
prepared to be citizens. |
