Journalism, which functions as a public watchdog in the functioning of liberal democracies as the fourth force or as a channel through which important information that will contribute to the formation of public opinion is conveyed to citizens, is involved in a transformation process involving digitalization and technological developments. Newspapers, which have basic duties such as providing news and information, supervising and criticizing, thus contributing to the formation of a healthy public opinion and explaining this formed public opinion, have continued their existence through various developments, changing and transforming since their birth in the 17th century.

Journalism education, which has been given for more than seventy years in Turkey, has been influenced by the digital transformation process in the field of media, revealing the need to reorganize the curricula according to the requirements of the age. However, there is no standard education model for the journalism profession in the world and in Turkey. Journalism education curricula, which differ according to the social, cultural and economic structures of countries, do not enable the development of common achievements and skills related to the profession. However, the constant change in the qualifications the industry expects from journalist candidates creates a gap between the education curricula that lag behind the industry dynamics and the industry’s needs. In the context of new communication technologies and digitalization, this research aims to examine the curriculum of the four-year journalism departments in universities in Turkey and to reveal the current trends in journalism education. It presents a broad framework on which journalism-related courses are available, and how digitalization and technology-oriented courses are distributed among universities.

The main findings of this research, in which the course plans of the nine journalism departments with the highest base points according to the results of the 2022 Higher Education Institutions Exam (YKS) were analyzed by content analysis method, are as follows: