Indiana affiliate to offer Sports Journalism Master's Degree

[Piotr Rasputin]

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)?

 

[txsportsscribe]

why?

 

[Bob Cook]

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.

 

[RickStain]

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

 

[spud]

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

Internships and connections, probably.

 

[brettwatson]

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

 

[RickStain]

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

A financially self-mutilating way.

 

[BYH]

why?

End of thread.

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

 

[I Should Coco]

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]

 

[Football_Bat]

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

 

[golfnut8924]

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.

 

[Joe Williams]

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

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.

 

[buckweaver]

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.

Please. You're giving employers far too much credit.

The most important factor is neither experience nor education: it's cost.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

It gives them an identity besides IUPUI: The Palindrome School

 

[Bob Cook]

It gives them an identity besides IUPUI: The Palindrome School

Actually, it does show far IUPUI's j-school has come after Bloomington so long treated it as its ******* child. When I started -- not long after the j-school started -- the head of the High School Journalism Institute had to fight on my behalf because the $300 scholarship was only supposed to be good at IU-Bloomington. Of course, getting the sports journalism institute set up at Indianapolis instead of Bloomington was a little *****-slap in Bloomington's direction as well, although now that both programs have long carved out their own niches, Bloomington has worried less about Indianapolis surpassing it.

 

[DisembodiedOwlHead]

It gives them an identity besides IUPUI: The Palindrome School

Actually, it does show far IUPUI's j-school has come after Bloomington so long treated it as its ******* child. When I started -- not long after the j-school started -- the head of the High School Journalism Institute had to fight on my behalf because the $300 scholarship was only supposed to be good at IU-Bloomington. Of course, getting the sports journalism institute set up at Indianapolis instead of Bloomington was a little *****-slap in Bloomington's direction as well, although now that both programs have long carved out their own niches, Bloomington has worried less about Indianapolis surpassing it.

Considering the dean of the Bloomington j-school also runs the Indy j-school, I don't understand this statement. Hamm is behind the whole sports journalism institute and degree program.

 

[Dave Kindred]

It is misleading to say "Indiana affiliate." The sports journalism program with headquarters in Indianapolis is fully part of the IU j-school. My friend Billy Reed is an adjunct in the program and teaches on both campuses. Teleconferences also connect the campuses.

 

[deskslave]

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

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.

Agrees with you. But will straight up murder your ass if you call him old again.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

It is misleading to say "Indiana affiliate." The sports journalism program with headquarters in Indianapolis is fully part of the IU j-school. My friend Billy Reed is an adjunct in the program and teaches on both campuses. Teleconferences also connect the campuses.

"The Master of Arts Degree in Sports Journalism would be a 30-credit hour program housed at the Indiana University School of Journalism at IUPUI."

Bloomington is the main campus. IUPUI is not. The SJC is in Indianapolis. The release says the master's will be offered at IUPUI. The two campuses are about an hour apart. They may share classes, but this particular program is headquartered at IUPUI.

In any event, it will be interesting to see if establishing such a program will lead to worthwhile research about the future of sports journalism. From the scuttlebutt regarding the financial commitment being made to the SJC, there should be plenty of room in its mission for studies above and beyond how to gather a story and seminars on Diversity in the Newsroom.

It is still getting on its feet at this point, and I hope the issues surrounding just how today's students get jobs tomorrow will not be left to someone else. Because it seems a lot of J-schools are content to do exactly that.