Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 05:38, 27 May 2008
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2007) |
| Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism | |
| Established | 1912 |
| School type | Private |
| Dean | Nicholas Lemann |
| Location | New York, New York, USA |
| Enrollment | ca. 270 |
| Homepage | www.jrn.columbia.edu/ |
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is the only journalism school in the Ivy League; it awards the Pulitzer Prize and duPont-Columbia Award; co-sponsors the National Magazine Award and publishes the Columbia Journalism Review. The School is located in Journalism Hall on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus in the New York City borough of Manhattan.
The school’s genesis came in 1892, when New York City newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World, offered Columbia University money to set up the world's first school of journalism. The university initially turned down the money. Regardless, Pulitzer left the university $2 million in his will, which led to the creation of a journalism school at Columbia in 1912. He also erected and endowed both the building and the School in memory of his daughter, Lucille.
"My idea," Pulitzer wrote in 1902, "is to recognize that journalism is one of the great and intellectual professions; to encourage, elevate and educate in a practical way the present and, still more, future members of that profession." 78 students attended the first day of classes on September 25, 1912. The school started with both undergraduate and graduate curricula.
During the Chinese Cultural Revolution the School was accused of involvement in US government training for the Kuomintang. In 2000, former Vice President Al Gore served as a visiting professor after his election loss.
Curriculum
In 1935 the school dropped the undergraduate curriculum. Today, the School offers three degree programs: a Master of Science (M.S.) in journalism, a Master of Arts (M.A.) in journalism, and a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in communications.
The school includes courses in radio, television, magazine, newspaper, and, most recently, new media journalism. The School has the highest percentage of technology resources, per student, of any school at Columbia.
The school's graduate curriculum for the Master of Science degree is considered to be a rigorous hands-on course which is taught during a one-year program. All students take Reporting and Writing One, a School staple, where they are taught journalism techniques. In RW1, students are assigned a neighborhood in New York City to cover as a reporter and write stories on various topics and issues. These stories are then critiqued by professors and classmates. In addition to beat coverage, RW1 students cover breaking news and do long term investigative projects. RW1 classes are limited to no more than 16 students and classes are known to become close knit. Broadcast students take a special RW1 that combines print and broadcast techniques.
Students also take speciality classes in various aspects of reporting with options including, political reporting, education reporting, arts reporting, opinion writing, copy editing, and sports reporting. All students are required to take a law class, an ethics class, attend weekly all class lectures, and write a master's project.
There is an ongoing debate over whether the school should change its focus to include academic studies along with classes that emphasize "the craft" of journalism and writing. Many among the school's alumni and professors are troubled by the possible change in focus.
During the spring semester, students take a specialty class, either in newspaper, radio, television, magazine or new media. Newspaper concentrators work either on the Bronx Beat, which is a weekly newspaper serving the South Bronx or on the Columbia News Service, a wire service of feature stories, serving 500 newspapers nationally.
In 1984, George T. Delacorte (Columbia College, Class of 1913) endowed the George T. Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism at the School. The Center’s purpose is the teaching of magazine writing and production, to sponsor scholarships for magazine journalism and to study the exciting and competitive business of trade journals and glossy up-market publications. The Delacorte Center is located on the Journalism Building's 8th floor.
The Master of Arts program debuted in September 2005 as a way to add a new academic approach to the school. It is open to mid-career journalists and graduates of the MS program. Students in this program take classes in both the Journalism School and in other parts of the University. They concentrate in either Arts, Science, Business, or Politics. Classes are taught in a cross disciplinary approach with an academic bent.
Journalism Building
The Journalism School is housed in Journalism Building on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus. The building, constructed as a part of Pulitzer's creation of the school, sits on the southeast corner of W. 116th Street and Broadway at the university's main entrance. A statue of Thomas Jefferson, sculpted by William Ordway Partridge in 1914, stands before the School's entrance.
In addition to classroom space, Journalism Building contains a large lecture hall, computer rooms, a library, and television and radio studios. The building also contains the World Room, which is used for ceremonial events. The Pulitzer Prizes are announced in the World Room each year.
Historically, the School has been the recipient of many of the relics of Pulitzer's New York World newspaper, including furniture and artwork from the World's offices, emblazoned with its trademark globe logo, a bronze bust of Pulitzer, sculpted by Auguste Rodin, and a tremendous stained-glass window from the editorial board room featuring the Statue of Liberty standing atop the earth.
New dean and curriculum changes
More recently, Columbia University president Lee Bollinger suspended the search for a new dean in 2003 and formed a committee to re-evaluate the School’s core mission, which many had derided for being too centered on craft at the expense of theory. Following an uprising by students, alumni, and faculty, an overhaul of the program was dropped and the MA program was created.
In April 2003 University President Lee Bollinger announced that Nicholas Lemann, prominent author and Washington Correspondent for The New Yorker, would become the next dean of the journalism school. Lemann was a part of Bollinger's task force and a strong proponent of the new MA program.
Notable alumni
- anchor, National Public Radio
- columnist, Forbes.com
- reporter, Village Voice
- former reporter, CNN
- Capitol bureau chief, Albany Times-Union
- former executive producer, Nightline
- national affairs and business reporter
- retired CEO, Associated Press
- Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
- GOP Strategist, presidential advisor, presidential candidate, conservative columnist and TV commentator
- architecture critic for the Boston Globe
- author
- Colombian author and journalist
- co-founder of Random House
- president, Radio-Television News Directors Association
- writer
- reporter, Washington Post
- city editor, amNewYork
- film and television critic, professor
- Managing Director, NDTV 24/7, India
- reporter, New York Times
- author and political reporter
- president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (since 1984), Titular Archbishop of Neapolis in Proconsulari
- writer New York Daily News and professor
- theatre critic
- education writer and professor
- senior technology writer for BusinessWeek.com
- anchor of Good Day New York and ex-wife of Rudy Giuliani
- CNN journalist
- reporter, author
- reporter for The Providence Journal.
- anchor, reporter, CNN
- president and CEO, Atlantic Council of the United States
- reporter, 60 Minutes
- former Governor of Vermont
- reporter, Washington Post and host of CNN's "Reliable Sources"
- author of The Devil in the White City
- foreign-affairs columnist, New York Times
- executive editor, New York Times
- investigative reports producer
- writer for The New Yorker
- former Fox News producer
- former executive editor, Newsday
- former reporter, ABC News
- technology columnist, Wall Street Journal
- writer, Society of Professional Journalists' 1994 National Member of the Year
- publisher, San Francisco Chronicle
- publisher and CEO, PublicAffairs Press
- former editorial page editor, The Dallas Morning News
- editor, The Hindu
- professor
- tevelision reporter and talk show host
- TV anchorwoman
- director, Project for Excellence in Journalism
- society columnist, New York Daily News
- professor, Roger Williams University
- sports journalist
- executive editor, 60 Minutes
- author
- anchor, National Public Radio
- professor, Columbia Journalism School
- editor-in-chief, Newsweek
- columnist, The Wall Street Journal
- author of Italian affairs
- author
- editor, Smithsonian Magazine
- author, executive editor of "Essence" magazine
- crime novelist