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Budding journalists are blogging, broadcasting, and tweeting their way through introductory courses that have been revamped to embrace the digital age.
At a time when the newspaper industry is in free fall and thousands of jobs are being cut each year, one would think that the halls of the nation's journalism schools would be awfully quiet. Think again.
Many universities report that journalism enrollments are up this year. Over the past few weeks, a lot of these budding journalists have been blogging, broadcasting, and tweeting their way through introductory courses that have been revamped to embrace the digital age.
Applications to Columbia University's master-of-science program in journalism rose 44 percent, to 1,181, for the class entering this fall, and an investigative-journalism specialty drew more than twice as many applications this year than last year, up from 54 in 2008 to 121 this year.
Elsewhere, applications to master's programs were up 30 percent at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 25 percent at the University of Maryland at College Park, and 24 percent at Stanford University.
Enrollment in undergraduate journalism programs nationwide has grown 35 percent over the past 10 years, to 201,477, and was up slightly in 2008, the most recent year for which data are available.
"There are still plenty of people who love to write and think that their journalism degree will serve as an entree to just about any field they could go into," says Barbara B. Hines, president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Dismal Job Outlook
Being flexible is important during tough times. A report released last month found that in 2008, graduates of journalism and mass-communication programs had far fewer job interviews and offers than in 2007, and that full-time employment was at its lowest point since at least 1986.
The report is based on an annual survey conducted by researchers at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Some 2,542 graduates of bachelor's and master's-degree programs at 86 institutions responded.
The report blamed the declines on "the sharp downturn in the national economy and the collapse of the economic model for media industries." Paper Cuts, a blog that tracks layoffs in the U.S. newspaper industry, has recorded more...