CUNY J-School gets with the biz

The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism has plans to provide students with more than just the reporting skills for their future careers.

A new four-semester program in entrepreneurial journalism is expected to launch in the spring of 2011, offering students the opportunity to learn about the intricacies of the corporate world.

Pioneered by Jeff Jarvis, associate professor and director of the Interactive Media Program at the J-School, the new track was established to prepare students with the skills and knowledge to participate in business-related factors.

"It is our belief that much of the future of journalism is entrepreneurial, and there are other skills that are going to prepare them for that," said Jarvis.

Jarvis stated that the school will begin with a course in entrepreneurial journalism, which was a part of the curriculum.

As the ideas surrounding hyper-local business models and business development within the news began to take flight at the graduate school, so did the need to expose students to news research of this subject.

"Part of the problem is that when I came to the journalism school [and through the end of my career], I was told to stay away from business because it was corrupting to the industry," said Jarvis.

"As a result I think journalists became poor stewards of journalism and we have to take more of a responsibility of sustaining journalism, and that's what this is really about."

Stephen Shepard, the founding dean of the grad school, stated in his column that with this program students could take advantage of courses such as emerging business models for news, hyper-local ventures, or management of new media.

They can also develop new products in a course on entrepreneurial journalism or work in local neighborhoods to help people report on their own communities.

"Whether or not you're going to work in a corporation, you have to understand how businesses operate, and now it indicates that you have to sit at the table with the business people in order to sustain journalism," said Jarvis.

At the completion of the program, students will receive an M.A. degree and a certificate in entrepreneurial journalism.

Jarvis also stated that the next step in finalizing the track is to submit a curriculum to the city and state, and the details are still being planned out.

Although there is no systematic way of determining the volume of students interested in the program, Jarvis stated that there is a great interest.

"We think that CUNY J-School can help by training students to think entrepreneurially by undertaking critical research and by investigating in innovation," stated Shepard in his column.