Tech journalism

Technical journalism is used as a collective term for all journalistic fields in which technology plays a central role. The subject areas include IT and telecommunications, traffic and transport, and energy and the environment.

Due to the increasing digitization of society, technology topics are increasingly finding their way into the public media (daily newspapers, magazines, TV). The challenge here is to explain and convey the complex topics, but at the same time to maintain a journalistic-critical distance from the topic. However, technology journalism is still often considered the domain of special interest titles and, above all, technical journals, which in particular convey professionally relevant and industry-specific expert knowledge.

In terms of subject areas and working methods, there is a close relationship to science journalism . This can also be seen in a shared history: the Technisch-Literarisches Gesellschaft (TELI), founded in 1929, was the world's first association of science and technology journalists.

An important award in the industry is the annual acatech " Punkt Prize " for technology journalism and technology photography.

term

Technical journalism is a collective term for various journalistic fields. Accordingly, the term technology journalist is not very common in the editorial offices of publishers . For example, it is more of an IT journalist or an energy expert who works in the science or business editorial department. Since technology journalists can work not only as authors, but also as editors, there are always confusions with the job description of the technical editor . Among other things, this creates operating instructions for users and documents the technical architecture of products for internal company use.

Job opportunities for a technology journalist

As classic journalists in print, radio, television and online, technology journalists report on topics that are largely related to technology.
As a technical editor in the technical documentation, technical journalists create z. B. Operating instructions, documentation on products, plants and systems, catalogs or online help for software. Jobs for this can mainly be found in industry, for example in mechanical engineering, in the electrical engineering and electronics sector or in the software and IT sector.
As a specialist journalist or specialist editor, technology journalists write and edit technically and professionally demanding articles for specialist journals or other specialist publications.
In the area of information and knowledge management, technology journalists create information modules (texts and images) and link them with one another. The information is stored in databases independent of the media. This occupational field can be found predominantly in industry, in software and IT, and partially overlaps with the tasks of technical documentation.
In the area of training and learning, technology journalists design and produce teaching materials. They also train service or sales staff or write tutorials to familiarize end users with the technical products.

courses

Bonn (Sankt Augustin)

"Technical Journalism / PR" course at the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences

In seven semesters (six at the university and one practical semester ), the students are taught journalistic skills. The students get to know the various forms of journalistic presentation and also practice them practically. In addition, the area of corporate PR and product communication is covered. That's 50 percent of the course. From the second semester onwards, you can choose between engineering and environmental sciences. There the students are introduced to the basics of electrical engineering , mechanical engineering , materials science , physics , computer science , electronics , automation technology and process engineering or biology / chemistry , ecology and the environment and society .

The practice consists in writing articles for the press and the Internet as well as producing radio and television reports. A radio and television studio as well as editing suites and mobile equipment (EB cameras, etc.) are available for this purpose. The technikjournal.de project is based on the work of the students. Here, the entire editorial team is occupied by students. Multimedia contributions are researched and created in the company's own newsroom or outside the company. The students have to complete a practical semester, which can optionally be completed as a semester abroad at another university .

The course ends with the academic degree " Bachelor of Science ".

A four-semester master's degree in “International Media Studies” is offered in cooperation with Deutsche Welle and the University of Bonn . The master's degree in "Technology and Innovation Communication" is also offered. The standard period of study here is three semesters.

Dortmund

At the Technical University of Dortmund , the focus on technology journalism is offered as part of the " Science Journalism " course. The students are prepared for their later work as technology and science journalists through a combination of theory (research focus) and practice (professional orientation).

A central component of the practical training in the eight-semester Bachelor's degree is a one-year traineeship in the last two semesters. The Institute for Journalism arranges traineeships at media companies in Germany, for example at the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the Westdeutscher Rundfunk or Bild der Wissenschaft . In addition, the students learn the journalistic trade at the university. This includes appropriate research and appropriate and cross-media reporting.

The focus on "Technical Journalism" includes specially selected content from mechanical engineering , electrical engineering , mathematics , physics and computer science . In the elective area, students can deepen their specialist knowledge, for example in the areas of manufacturing technology , logistics , energy networks or communication systems . In addition, they attend seminars to impart technical knowledge and learn to classify the importance of new technologies for society ( technology assessment ).

The Technical University of Dortmund also offers a two-semester master's degree in " Science Journalism " with a focus on "Technical Journalism".

to water

At the TH Mittelhessen , the specialist journalism course "Technical Editing & Multimedia Documentation" is offered at the Giessen location. The students learn to prepare information in a variety of ways; from classic technical documentation to specialist journalistic texts to interactive multimedia presentations.

The program focuses on the basics of audiovisual media as well as language design and text forms. They are deepened with additional elective subjects. The students apply the knowledge they have acquired in the subject of "Interactive Multimedia Systems".

In addition, there are basic subjects on the topic of “Gathering and Using Information”, additional subjects in the areas of “Documentation and Publication Systems”, “Documentation Operations” and “Rights, Standards, Regulations”.

Nuremberg

At the Technical University of Nuremberg Georg Simon Ohm , the "Technical Journalism / Technology PR" course has been offered as a full-time course since the 2009/2010 winter semester. In seven semesters, including a practical semester, it leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree .

Professionally, the course should prepare you for the following three areas:

Editorial activity in newspaper, (specialist) magazine, radio, TV and online editorial offices
Press and public relations as well as general corporate communication and corporate publishing
Communication tasks for industry associations and technology analysts

The technical journalism bachelor's degree provides students with both journalistic and technical competence in order to qualify graduates for jobs in the editorial offices of specialist media, special departments in mass media or for work in the public relations departments of technology companies and associations.

The course covers three major topics

Journalism and public relations
Technology assessment , technology policy and technology history
Engineering basics in mechanical engineering , electrical engineering , drive and automation technology and technical chemistry

Wurzburg

The course “Specialized Journalism with a Focus on Technology” at the University of Applied Sciences in Würzburg combines journalistic expertise with technical expertise. Students who have obtained a bachelor's degree in technical or scientific disciplines learn journalistic techniques. For students who have completed a bachelor's degree in media-related subjects (communication studies, media management, etc.), the focus is initially on basic technical training.

The master's degree in "Technical Journalism" at the Würzburg University of Applied Sciences has a standard study period of three semesters. It can also be taken part-time over a period of six semesters.

literature

Volker M. Banholzer : Technikjournalismus, in: Markus Kaiser : Special Interest , Econ, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-658-01736-1 (journalistic practice).
Andreas Schümchen (ed.): Technology journalism. UVK Verlags-Gesellschaft, Konstanz 2008, ISBN 978-3-86764-011-4 ( Practical Journalism 76).

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Christian Preiser, Georg Küffner: "The technology journalist - the unknown being", Der Fachjournalist, No. 2, 2011, available online . (Accessed on August 9, 2016)
↑ Lisa Becker: “Well-founded knowledge instead of excavator reports”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 23, 2011, available from FAZ Online . (accessed on August 9, 2016)

[1] Christian Preiser, Georg Küffner: "The technology journalist - the unknown being", Der Fachjournalist, No. 2, 2011, available online . (Accessed on August 9, 2016)

[2] Lisa Becker: “Well-founded knowledge instead of excavator reports”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 23, 2011, available from FAZ Online . (accessed on August 9, 2016)