Incoming students to the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism will have the option of majoring in one of 25 separate interest areas– and if none of those fit their ambitions, they will be allowed to create their own.
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As the Missourian reports, the program revision is unique for its push away from the evermore generalized, convergence-happy curricula being put in place within other journalism schools and departments.
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At Mizzou, the new plan of attack seems aimed at providing students with a general reporting, editing, and multimedia knowledge base and skill-set and then unleashing them in a more individualized direction of their choosing. Instead of majoring in just magazine journalism, for example, MU j-students can now jump into magazine design, magazine editing, magazine publishing and management, or magazine writing.
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A still shot from the webcam focused on The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, home to the MU Journalism School.
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The interest areas are as follows:
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Arts and Culture Journalism
Convergence Photojournalism
Convergence Radio Reporting and Producing
Convergence Television Reporting
Emerging Media
Entrepreneurial Journalism
International Journalism
International Strategic Communication
Magazine Design
Magazine Editing
Magazine Publishing and Management
Magazine Writing
Multimedia Producing
Multiplatform Design
News Design
News Editing
News Reporting
Photojournalism
Radio-Television Producing
Radio-Television Reporting and Anchoring
Science and Health Journalism
Strategic Communication
Visual Editing and Management
Watchdog Journalism (Note: How cool does this sound?) :-)
I have two concerns about this:
1. J-school administrators and faculty members haven’t totally figured out how to teach journalism basics. They should focus their energy there before they develop new tracks like these.
2. The plan is unresponsive to the job market. If demand for your specialty dips by the time you graduate, it’s going to be difficult to find a job in a different journalism field.
More here: http://adambsullivan.com/?p=215
Do you think that this would help students be trained for a job like this … (aside from the specific beat):
http://www.gazettecommunications.com/Job/Multimedia_Journalist.aspx
Christoph
christoph.trappe@gazcomm.com