King’s Announces Major in Journalism, Culture and Society

The King’s College announces a new interdisciplinary major in Journalism, Culture and Society to startin the fall of 2017. 

Many accomplished journalists study liberal arts and humanities in college. This new interdisciplinary major, incorporating the College’s robust Politics, Philosophy, and Economics core, will prepare intellectually well-rounded graduates for careers in journalism. The Journalism, Culture and Society curriculum will train students in the skills of reporting news, techniques of narrative non-fiction, and other fundamental skill sets that students need to become journalists. The major will also offer students a deeper and more integrative knowledge in content areas such as history, the arts, business, economics, politics, ethics, and religion—and the relationships between these areas. We believethis approach offers distinct advantages to students over more narrow professional training in journalism alone.

“This King’s College is already fortunate to be home to the McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute under the dynamic leadership of veteran journalist and educator Paul Glader,” says Dr. Mark Hijleh, VP of Academic Affairs at The King’s College. “This new major in Journalism, Culture and Society will bring further synergy to the work of MPJI and the whole curriculum of the College as students explore both the methods and nature of journalism—an essential quest to put forward the truth about what is happening in our world—and the substance of areas at the forefront of news and analysis.”

Students completing the JCS major will learn to effectively report the news, write opinion pieces, and craft feature stories using a full range of traditional and digital multimedia tools. They will also demonstrate knowledge and good judgment in the context of a Christian worldview with regard to legal and ethical matters in journalism. Students will take “Journalism History” and “Entrepreneurship in Journalism” and will have elective offerings in sports journalism, photojournalism, and other topics. The major will also require them to select a focus area for their reporting, such as business journalism, political journalism, arts and culture journalism, or religion journalism.

“In line with our trademark interdisciplinary program offerings at King’s, the new JCS major will allow students pursuing a career in journalism to hone their writing skills while also gaining expertise in a content area of their choosing,” says Dr. Harry Bleattler, Media, Culture, and the Arts Chair.

“New York City is the media hub for startup and traditional powerhouse news outlets alike—from the New York Times and CNN to BuzzFeed and Vice,” says Paul Glader, Associate Professor in Journalism and Entrepreneurship at The King’s College and executive director of the McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute. “Talented students who pursue this new major will position themselves to work in this vibrant media ecosystem.”

Glader, a magazine journalist, Forbes.com contributor, and veteran staff writer at the Wall Street Journal, runs the NYC Semester in Journalism (NYCJ) program at The King’s College and is also the residency director for the business journalism program of the Dow Jones News Fund at New York University. He notes that students from King’s have interned at media outlets such as CNBC, the New York Daily News, Newsweek, and Salon and that graduates have landed jobs at outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, and CNN. The Journalism, Culture and Society major will increase opportunities for students who want to work in media institutions. The entrepreneurial journalism coursework also encourages students to learn start-up methodology, encouraging them to become leaders of positive change inside existing media organizations or by starting their own media organizations.

As part of the coursework for NYCJ, Glader has taken students on visits to news media outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Vice News, ProPublica, the Associated Press, Newsweek, and International Business Times. Top writers, authors, and journalists from these and other organizations, such as Sports Illustrated, Reuters, and FiveThirtyEight, have visited classes as guest speakers.

Faculty members teaching required courses in the Journalism, Culture and Society major include Professor Glader; Professor Terry Mattingly, a seasoned religion reporter and syndicated national columnist; Alissa Wilkinson, a cultural critic for Vox; and Dr. Steve Salyers, who teaches Mass Communications courses. Another journalism professor hire will be announced later this year.

King’s is offering up to four McCandlish Phillips Journalism Scholarships to high school students who show promise in journalism and apply to King’s with intent to enroll in this major.