Indiana affiliate to offer Sports Journalism Master's Degree

IUPUI will offer "what is believed to be the first" master's degree in Sports Journalism.

http://sportsjournalism.org/sports-media-news/master-of-arts-degree-in-sports-journalism-unanimously-approved-by-indiana-university-board-of-trustees/

Interesting idea. On the one hand, this sounds like it will attract a fair number of students. On the other, it sounds like an attempt to give that shiny new Sports Journalism Institute a reason to exist during harrowing times for the business.

Those two views aren't exactly mutually exclusive . . .

Why haven't more schools featured a sports journalism master's (and undergrad program, for that matter)?

 

why?

 

Jokes about what you're actually going to do with it aside, I think my alma mater is a great place to offer this, and not just because it's my alma mater. Indianapolis is a great city to get experience covering a lot of different kinds of sports, because of what it has (pro, college, Olympic sports, NCAA and other sports organization HQs, other amateur competition, high-level preps, and of course, auto racing) and because the city is still small enough that as a student you can get pretty good access to people. The summer of my freshman year our paper did a special tab on the Pan American Games because it seemed like half the events were right on our campus. Heck, even the stuff off campus is within spitting distance downtown. Although it doesn't appear you'll have pro tennis anymore, because the once-grand men's tennis tourney is pretty much kaput.

 

What does a master's degree offer that a bachelor's degree wouldn't?

 

Internships and connections, probably.

 

A way to avoid the depressed job market for another year or two.

 

A financially self-mutilating way.

 

End of thread.

May as well offer a master's degree in typewriter repair while they're at it.

 

I think I'd rather get a master's degree in behavioral science.

Then I could work on studies that reveal how staring at breasts make you live longer ... [/crossthreading]

 

They're just hoping it'll improve their RPI.

 

I think sports journalism is an industry where experience trumps education. When you have gone for interviews, how much time did they spend toiling over your education credentials compared to looking at your clips and work history?

I think in other industries -- like business -- a masters degree can go a long way and is even arguably more important than work experience. But sports writing is different. There are so many things about this industry that just can't be learned in a classroom; they can only be learned in the field. And I think most employers know this.

 

A way for old sports journalists to get out of the depressed job market at the tail end of their careers.

From hack writer or old cranky editor to "Professor." I'm liking the sound of that.