ABSTRACT
Mission statements are “political” documents that can be used to clarify or obfuscate a unit’s reality. In the mid-1990s, task forces of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication attempted to develop mission statements for the field. Ackoff’s second characteristic encourages mission statements that identify a program’s uniqueness relative to other programs. Higher education serves a variety of “publics” or stakeholders. Whether it is the students, practitioners, or the community at large, many mission statements show their uniqueness by emphasizing whom they want to attract or serve. Some programs specify in their mission statements their relationship to practitioners and the general community. This aspect of mission statements differs from the earlier discussion regarding programs’ role in preparing a student to be a practitioner, citizen, or consumer. Media education mission statements and statements of purpose are as diverse as the programs, colleges, and universities they represent.
