“The specific coursework helped me gain skills that many journalists don’t have—like data-driven journalism—and kept me on the cutting edge of content with emerging media platforms.”
Jenna Dutcher
Localist.com, July 2015 cohort
Journalism Innovation SpecializationJournalism Innovation SpecializationJournalism Innovation Specialization
Earn Your Degree in 12 to 15 MonthsEarn Your Degree in 12 to 15 Months
Reframe Your Thinking
Our media landscape is in a constant state of disruption, which presents enormous opportunity for journalists who want to influence how stories are told—today and into the future. A Newhouse online master’s degree in communications with a journalism specialization will teach you how to reframe your thinking about how you report the news. You will build the skills needed to stay ahead of emerging trends and new technology so you stay at the forefront of your field.
Specialization Courses
The courses for the journalism specialization, which comprise 12 of the 33 program credits, will prepare you to adapt stories for new platforms, analyze data for use in reporting and explore new technologies in a journalistic setting. Explore specialization courses below.
Web and Mobile Story Production
This is a creative, hands-on course focused on strategies for rethinking and reinventing the editorial experience for digital audiences. You will learn about creating journalism for evolving media forms while building your portfolio and storytelling skills.
This course explores how journalists use data to discover, augment and support news stories. You will learn how to find and manipulate data sets as well as how to build your own data sources for use in reporting.
In this course, you’ll learn how to identify, scrutinize, test and utilize new technologies in a journalistic setting. The broad technology categories explored include virtual reality, 360 video, aerial drone videography, structural data capture, sensor journalism and AI-enabled chat bots.
Content Management, Development and Innovation
Students learn and use software tools such as site analytics, tracking code and the PageRank algorithm to manage search engine results and online traffic. Emphasis on theoretical basis of Web traffic aggregation and SEO principles.
Influence How Stories Are Told
Learn how you can start building the skills to drive the future of media with an online
master’s in communications from Newhouse.
Why Choose a Journalism Specialization?
Whether you’re a seasoned journalist looking to upgrade your skill set or a professional outside the field looking to break into the industry, the online journalism specialization will allow you to reach the next level in your career. In fact, students who chose the Journalism Innovation specialization saw a more than 20 percent increase in their average salary from the start of the program to after graduation.1
Discover the benefits of this specialization below.
Reach Your Audience
You will learn how to leverage new mobile and social media trends to engage and inform audiences; acquire, analyze and visualize data in a journalistic setting; and enhance the story you’re trying to tell with emerging technologies such as virtual reality, 360 video, sensors and drones.
Grow Your Professional Network
In a field like journalism, a strong network is important—both for placing stories and landing a full-time job. Newhouse provides a forum for networking with some of the most notable industry professionals in the country.
Continue to Report Stories
Completing your program online allows you to travel and continue to report stories. You don’t have to pause the work you’re doing to get your degree, and you can apply the skills you’re learning in real time.
Make a Difference Within Your Organization
You can share what you learn in the journalism specialization with your colleagues and help your organization keep up with emerging trends. This can help you and your organization flourish.
Journalism Career Outlook
Our specialization will help you cultivate skills that can be applied across a variety of careers, including the following professions:
- Broadcast journalist
- Broadcast news analyst
- Copywriter
- Executive editor
- Reporter
- Senior correspondent
- Web content manager
Interested in one of our other specializations?
1 The above self-reported information is from a survey with 83 respondents who have graduated from the online M.S. in Communications program since 2015. The average salary increase for journalism specialization students was 20 percent three, six or 12 months after graduation.arrow_upwardReturn to footnote reference