As a school with a broader communications
program, Newhouse started emphasizing its
advertising and public relations majors. Syracuse
used to have a separate newspaper journalism
major; now it’s the magazine, news and digital
journalism program.
If anyone can adapt, it’s young people.
“My students don’t even remember a day when
the paper was delivered to their house,” said
John Affleck, a professor of sports journalism at
Penn State.
Universities are focusing more on specialized
programs like Affleck’s; the University of Florida
halted its own decline by starting a sports
media program. Several schools invest in data
journalism. They’re feeding a greater interest in
watchdog reporting.
Penn State just hired its first innovator-in-
residence, part of a national trend to emphasize
entrepreneurial skills to students who may have
to create their own career paths.
The school’s Donald Bellisario College of
Communications is itself a testament to keeping
an open mind professionally, as it’s named for
an alumnus who studied journalism and made
a fortune creating and producing television
dramas like “NCIS.”
Schools are also breaking down internal barriers
that once kept writers, broadcasters and
photographers separate. University of Maryland
journalism school dean Lucy Dalglish just
authorized the purchase of 50 new cameras, since
all students there must now take at least two
classes in video or still photography. Wisconsin’s
Culver recalls a student who grumbled about
being forced to take a class in digital journalism;
she’s now an executive at Facebook.