There Is Now A Journalism Minor

In case you still believe there is a future for journalism (ha, ha - what up, job market!), the English department is now offering a minor in the journalistic pursuits!

Students interested in journalism have long shuffled between the Communications, English, and even Political Science or Urban Studies departments to find courses that teach or study journalism. In most cases, these students have headed to campus publications to get their fix. The minor will require students to take a long-form journalism course plus five other journalistic writing courses, all in the Creative Writing division of the English department.

While it's probably about time the University acknowledged Journalism in some form or another, the approach is undeniably an old-fashioned one. The practice of writing does remain the core of journalism, but a multitude of other skills are becoming a necessary element of the field. As the skill set expected of journalists changes, it would have been nice to see a more modern approach to the craft with the introduction of the program. This could include partnering with Annenberg, or even Fine Arts classes in layout and design or video production.

At the moment, longstanding journalism programs at schools like Northwestern and NYU are shuffling to find ways to adapt to the changing profession. Penn doesn't have that problem. This could have been an opportunity to strike out on something experimental and potentially successful.

The opportunity doesn't have to be missed, but perhaps reevaluated.

What would our illustrious journalist alumni have to say?