Journalism schools are showing signs of failing all across the country these days. They are firing teachers, not filling positions of those who quit, dumping classes, finding fewer students, and showing signs that the expertise they teach is becoming a thing of the past. And this month, the biggest J-school out there is announcing more cut backs.
Journalism schools are having a lot of troubles with the constantly shrinking field they are supposedly “training” students to join upon graduation.
Now Columbia School of Journalism–the biggest name in J-schools in the country–is announcing major cut backs.
As Bloomberg reports, “The school will gradually reduce enrollment over several years and has already stopped filling some vacant faculty positions, Steve Coll, dean of the school since 2013, said in an e-mail to students, faculty and staff today.”
Columbia had already taken the move to hike its tuition in order to keep its operations afloat.
As Columbia hikes its tuition, many other universities have eliminated their journalism programs altogether. Last year, for instance, Emory University announced it was ending its j-school program. In 2011, the University of Colorado also announced its journalism school was closing.
Journalism itself is moving in a downward direction. As John Nolte reported March 19, “According to a new Pew study, the number of newsroom jobs have hit a 35-year low. The industry peaked in 2000, but over the last thirteen years, there has been a 30% cutback in personnel. Now, for the first time since 1978, there are fewer than 40,000 full-time newsroom jobs.”
Of course, if you are very tuned into the Internet tubuals, you’ll have recognized the hackneyed headline I gave this thread. You’ll have recognized that it is the click bait-style of headline hackery. It is one of the things contributing to the woes of journalism, certainly. And so am I.
So, on a small personal note, my little “journalism” career is a perfect example of all the j-school profs hate, hate, hate. I didn’t go to school for any of this. My career–and it is a career as it has been how I’ve made my living for the last 5 years, now–has grown organically by just doing the work.
I came into this job–and making more than the starting salaries of the average journalist, to boot–without any “help” from any j-school. My own experience shows that j-schools are having less and less influence.
But, let’s face it. The biggest reason that journalism is failing is that no one trusts what is coming out of the field. Liberals have destroyed the reputation that journalism once enjoyed. It is all left-wing bias.
So, in a way, I have to thank these failed “professors” of journalism. Without them destroying the field I wouldn’t have a career!
