Studies Show How Nigerian Newsroom Employers Boycott Journalism Degree during Recruitment Process
- Nigerian researcher and journalist Kemi Busari surveyed how approximately 58% of journalists in selected Nigerian newsrooms did not have academic backgrounds in journalism or related media fields
- Busari's recent research examined how newsroom employers excluded a formal degree in journalism from their recruitment criteria
- The research, titled Beyond the Degree: Examining Hiring Criteria and the Role of Journalism Education in the Recruitment of Journalists in Nigerian Newsrooms, won the top prize at the AEJMC conference
San Francisco, USA — Research conducted by Nigerian journalist and academic researcher Kemi Busari indicates that approximately 58% of journalists in selected newsrooms in Nigeria lack academic backgrounds in journalism or related media fields.
Source: Twitter
The results of the research were presented at the National Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in San Francisco for the 2025 edition, as reported by Daily Trust.
Presented across two sessions, the findings examined the broader aspects of the debate surrounding journalism professionalisation and how journalism education impacts the field's practice.
Busari used Nigeria as a case study to investigate the main criteria utilised by newsrooms and editors when recruiting journalists, as well as the experiences of those journalists without formal journalism degrees.
Both of Busari’s manuscripts were adjudged top-referred papers. Top-referred papers in a conference presentation are the highest-scoring submissions based on peer reviewers’ evaluations.
Study on hiring criteria
Busari employed a mixed-method approach in the initial study to determine the primary criteria editors and newsrooms use to recruit journalists.
This includes examining the role of journalism education in recruitment and how newly hired journalists are integrated into the newsroom.
This study, titled Beyond the Degree: Examining Hiring Criteria and the Role of Journalism Education in the Recruitment of Journalists in Nigerian Newsrooms, was presented on Friday, August 8.
Examining reporter job ads and interview data shows six key "ultimate criteria" that serve as factors in journalist recruitment. These include passion for the field, ethical adherence, and writing skills, among others.
Such criteria persist despite variations in newsroom culture and recruiter preferences.
There are other “adaptable criteria,” which are subject to changes depending on the peculiarities of the newsroom and the recruiting editor. These include critical thinking, age, experience, and others.
The paper also reached a verdict about the importance of a journalism degree in the recruitment process, as well as the socialisation models employed by newsrooms for new journalists.
The paper won the top paper prize in the Scholastic Journalism Division of AEJMC. The award certificate and cash prize were presented in a separate event on Saturday, August 9.
Journalists without degrees in journalism
The second presentation, also a top-referred paper, was titled The Paradox of Journalism Degrees: Exploring the Motivations and Job Perceptions of Journalists Without Formal Journalism Education.
The study, presented on Saturday, August 9, utilised demographic surveys along with interviews to reveal the professional experiences of journalists without formal education in journalism.
According to the survey data, journalists without journalism backgrounds make up 58% of the workforce in the four newsrooms chosen for the study. The other 42% had studied journalism or courses related to media.
Interestingly, 13% of the 58% studied pure science courses like physiology, botany, and biochemistry.
The study finds that journalists who didn’t study journalism ended up in the newsroom mostly unintentionally.
Source: Twitter
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