ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the role of academic training in journalism practice in the age of social media and information technology convergence, with the goal of contrasting qualitative and interpretive theory and analysis with the empirical, quantitatively expressed output of the pollsters and their analogues in the world of instantly accessible data and information. Surrounding and mediating the analysis, the twenty-first century phenomenon of mass communications convergence continues to evolve as rapidly developing digital and communications technologies make routinely massive strides in linking together in increasingly clever, useful and interactive ways an array of previously independent. It examines the complex, largely misunderstood and essentially ephemeral phenomenon of 'public opinion', a term whose connotations can be manipulated by individuals and groups seeking the advantage they perceive is available from its power; a capacity to affect the decision making processes of governments, the controlling boards of corporations large and small, and the attitudes, approaches, beliefs and convictions of each one of us.
