PULLMAN, Wash.–Washington State University’s popular broadcasting program continues to gain respect among television news directors.
The recent survey placed WSU fourth among the nation’s top broadcast schools. The poll, sponsored by the Radio-Television News Directors Foundation, was conducted by Vernon Stone of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, who has collected similar data over three decades.
News directors were asked to name the college program they considered tops in preparing students for careers in television news. Missouri and WSU are the only two schools named among the top ten in similar surveys conducted in 1976 and 1984. WSU moved up a notch from fifth to fourth place.
Of the 369 news executives responding to the 1994 questionnaire, 85 named Missouri, 56 chose Northwestern, 16 picked Florida and 14 named WSU. Others in the top 10 were Syracuse, Brigham Young, Ohio University, Columbia, Bowling Green and Texas.
“Of course we are very proud of the ranking and the fact it shows consistent improvement,” said Alex Tan, director of WSU’s Edward R. Murrow School of Communication. “A lot of the credit goes to the faculty and particularly Glenn Johnson, who directs our broadcast news sequence. Students get professional experience while attending classes.”
Broadcasting is the largest program within the Murrow school, with 200 students majoring in the sequence. Last year, 92 students graduated from the program.
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