Socializing students to accept hostility? How instructors talk about hostility in the journalism classroom

Although hostility toward journalists is a pressing issue, research on how instructors are preparing students for hostility is lacking. Interviews with 30 journalism instructors from across the U.S. help illuminate how hostility is perceived and if/how hostility is talked about in journalism courses. Through the lens of professional socialization, this manuscript argues the majority of instructors normalize hostility in problematic ways, identifying a gap in journalism curriculum that needs filled.

Sample

The sample consisted of 30 journalism instructors, all who had worked as professional journalists at various types of news outlets before joining academia, with experience ranging from being small town reporters and photographers to Capitol Hill reporters for major networks to niche science news reporters. Half of the participants identified as women, 14 as men, and one as transgender. The majority identified as White (80%; see Table 1 for full demographics). Participants held a variety of academic ranks, ranging from adjunct instructors to full professors.

Main Findings

lking about hostility at the macro-level in similar ways, some failed to carry that understanding and importance of the topic into their class content. While inspiration was found in how a select few participants were making hostility an intentional, on-going concern and conversation point in their classes, overall there was a lack of attention given to the topic and many participants incorporated hostility into classroom discussions in superficial ways. Too often, participants conflated hostility with routine reporting challenges students just needed to toughen up to deal with. This normalization of hostility socializes journalism students into thinking they must accept hostility as a regular occurrence without pushing back, trying to overcome it, or seeking help from others. There was also a lack of attention to the mental health of students and journalists in general who are subject to hostility. While practical tips for managing hostility in the moment and preventative online measures are certainly crucial, we cannot pretend the emotional toll of hostility stops after the discrete encounter ends. Instructors should be addressing the full spectrum of hostility in their classes—from prevention and preparation, to mitigation strategies and situational awareness, to emotional coping and mental wellbeing.

Policy recommendations/implications

Although most were not yet teaching it, upon further reflection most, if not all, participants came to realize there wasn’t a journalism course completely disconnected from the topic of hostility. Participants saw possibilities in intro-level and advanced reporting, photography and broadcast, theory courses and media ethics and law. For intro-level reporting students, the topic of hostility could be introduced in relation to generalized hostility toward the press, connected to a lecture about media (dis)trust. In these early lessons, students can be taught to communicate news literacy aspects with people who mimic anti-media rhetoric or otherwise express distrust in news media (Mesmer, 2022b). Like many participants pointed out in this study, hostility should also be discussed in any class in which students are asked to publish their content online and maintain a digital presence, since online harassment is rampant against journalists, especially for women (Posetti et al., 2021). Although some participants in this study didn’t think freshmen and sophomores were “there yet” and didn’t need this content, research has shown student journalists, reporting on class assignments and working for campus news outlets, are experiencing hostility (Arrey and Reynolds, 2023; Heckman et al., 2022), but might not report it to faculty or advisors. For more advanced reporting classes and in photography, broadcast and other production classes in which students are reporting with large equipment, instructors can include a unit on situational awareness to help keep students safe while reporting. As P6 pointed out, consistent with previous literature (Miller and Lewis, 2022), equipment makes journalists more visible and vulnerable, as it can be hard to escape in threatening or violent situations when carrying heavy gear. Instructors sending students, especially in production classes, to report off campus should pair students in teams. Likewise, instructors can stress the importance of te

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This study was part of a larger project, and you can find a related study from that project here: Mesmer, K., & Miller, K. (2024). Who teaches about hostility? Examining factors for inclusion in journalism curriculum. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, 79(2), 205-223. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776958231225709