Journey of a Journalist (Part 4A)

Piling High and Deep in journalism—Doing the MA

By Shelton A. Gunaratne©2009

(August 02, Washington, Sri Lanka Guardian) In the ‘60s, few colleges or universities outside the United States awarded graduate programs in journalism or mass communication. It would have been unthinkable for the Oxbridge-modeled University of Ceylon to think of journalism or mass communication as a worthy field of study either in the arts or the social sciences.

Thus, the renowned journalists who graced our newsrooms some 50 years ago—D. B. Dhanapala, Tarzi Vittachi, Denzil Peiris, Mervyn “Andaya” de Silva, Meemana Prematillake, B. A. Siriwardena and others—knew very little about journalism and mass communication theory and methodology, let alone how to apply available research findings to maximize the impact of their journalistic endeavors. In short, they had got into the business of influencing public opinion without a thorough knowledge of the tools available to them. They had learned the “art” of journalism without learning the “science” of its optimum implementation.

My aim was to become a journalist- scholar although my childhood ambition was to be a “renowned statesman.” (Well, aren’t statesmen a breed of scholars?) I was determined to enrich my journalistic skills with a sound understanding of the “social science” of mass communication—“the academic study of the various means by which individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time.” It involves, inter alia, “the study of media institutions and processes such as diffusion of information, and media effects such as persuasion or manipulation of public opinion” (Wikipedia).

Back to Oregon

I spent most of the two-month summer period after the expiry of my WPI fellowship in Saint Paul. I changed my role from journalist to student when I returned to Eugene Sept. 13 (fall 1967) to enroll in the master’s program at the school of journalism, University of Oregon. I was determined, as the wag would put it, to pile higher and deeper—to climb the steep incline until I reached the Ph.D. level.

I bought a Hawthorn bicycle for $64 from Montgomery Ward for my local transportation before I found a place to stay. Although prone to constant rain, Eugene provided ideal conditions for bicycling.

As a foreign student, I had to pass a mandatory English-proficiency test. Then I learned the good news that the university has awarded me an $88 partial-tuition scholarship.

Before classes started Sept. 25, I planned my class schedule with Dean John Hulteng. Because I had sufficient practical experience in journalism, we decided that I should focus on advertising and public relations for my course work. The UO journalism school did not offer a doctoral program in the ‘60s. Inasmuch as Hulteng knew that I was keen to pursue a doctorate, he advised me to choose the non-thesis master’s option at Oregon.

In 2009, fees and living expenses for full-time study at the UO would be about $14,700 (in-state) or $26,200 (out of state) per year. In 1967-68, it cost me less than $1,000 (roughly $6,100 in today’s currency) to get my M.A. degree at the same UO. As a foreign student, I paid even less than an in-state student!

I enrolled in five classes in the fall quarter: History of Journalism, Principles of Advertising, Advertising Copy Writing; Seminar—Public Relations and Media of Advertising. Jack Ewan and Max Wales were among the first American professors to guide me into the world of Madison Avenue.

In the winter quarter, I enrolled in four classes: Communication Theories and Research Methods (taught by James B. Lemert); Law of the Press (taught by Dean Rea); Media of Advertising; and Administration of the Marketing Function. Lemert gave me a solid foundation in communication theory and public opinion

In the spring quarter, I enrolled in five more classes: Advertising Agencies, Advertising Layout, Media of Advertising, Seminar—Advertising Ethics, and Seminar—Public Opinion and Propaganda. Roy P. Nelson was an outstanding teacher of layout and design

In the summer term, to complete my coursework for the master’s degree I enrolled in three classes offered by other departments: Radio-TV and the Public, Industrial Administration and Seminar—Problems of South Asia.

In lieu of a thesis, I submitted three revised term papers for my oral examination (conducted by professors Hulteng, Ewan ad Wales on July 9), which I passed. My average GPA at UO was a respectable 3.62. Consequently, I was inducted into Kappa Tau Alpha, a national honor society that recognizes excellence in journalism and mass communication. Moreover, I exercised my independence by rejecting the offer of a $7,000 per year job as assistant editor of the Asian Student, a newspaper published by the Asia Foundation in San Francisco.

Whereas I “willfully avoided” the University of Ceylon Convocation in 1962, I participated in UO Commencement exercises on Aug. 10, 1968, to receive my Master of Arts degree.

In retrospect, the courses I took at the UO were totally premised on the Western philosophical principles of individualism, libertarianism, materialism, and capitalism. Their focus was the American way of life, which ignored the ti-lakkhana (three signs of existence): anicca, dukkha and anatta. The practice of advertising and public relations was more likely to delay one’s escape from the wheel of becoming.

Return to Minnesota

Having relished my first year of graduate studies in Oregon, I returned to Minnesota late August 1968 to enter the doctoral program in journalism and mass communication at the University of Minnesota. Professor Donald Gillmor, director of graduate studies at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, picked me up one afternoon to show me around the UM campus and took me for dinner with his family in Roseville. Gillmor introduced me to Bob Jones, director of SJMC, and Professor Roy E. Carter Jr., who was to be my academic and thesis adviser for the next three years.

However, I had no idea how I was going to fund my doctoral education. Harry Morgan, the man who interviewed me in Colombo for the WPI fellowship and arranged for me to get a bonus $1,000 for my Oregon year, had resigned both from the WPI and the Reader’s Digest. So that source was no longer an option. Moreover, the university had declined my application for a scholarship. But I had the firm hope that if I weathered my dukkha in the first quarter, the SJMC would offer me an assistantship that would additionally qualify me for in-state tuition. And that’s what exactly happened.

My contacts at the WPI office at Macalester—Jim Toscano and Ted Miller, in particular—continued to assist me in numerous ways during this period. Gordon Erskine, a teacher from Saint Paul, went out of his way to help me on apartment hunting. I rented a small apartment in Dinkytown, adjoining the campus, for $65 a month, and settled down to “pile higher and deeper.”

Meanwhile, back at Lake House, not all my former colleagues had abandoned me. Despite the Daily News’ rebuff, I still had access to the Observer now run by editor Harold Peiris and features editor D.C. Ranatunge, under both of whom I had worked. On learning that I had got into the Ph.D. program, Ranatunge wrote, “After all, to find a colleague whom I tried to help as a Sinhala journalist a couple of years ago rising to the top gave me in a way a sense of satisfaction.”

“Contact,” the Observer’s Roundabout columnist,

* Published a story headlined “Shelton hasn’t got his facts on taxes” on Oct. 16, 1968. He pointed out that I had incorrectly stated that Ceylon charged “no duties on books” in my letter to the editor of the Minneapolis Tribune (“Why put tax on knowledge?” 10/6/68).
* Explained my objection to Minnesota’s proposed sales tax on books under the headline “Shelton’s got his facts now: it’s the system that’s screwy” on Nov. 3, 1968.
* Published a story headlined “Nixon confesses he’s forgotten Sir John’s name” on Nov. 14, 1968. It carried a photo showing me shaking hands with [Republican presidential candidate] Nixon at a campaign stop n Bloomington, Minn., on Nov. 1, 1966.

Next: Part 4B—Piling high and deep in journalism: Doing the PhD

[The writer is professor of mass communications emeritus, Minnesota State University Moorhead.]

-Sri Lanka Guardian