The news industry has been shrinking, so much so that some civic leaders worry the country’s democratic future may be threatened if there aren’t enough independent watchdogs to keep an eye on government.
But at Fayetteville State University, media studies are growing. This fall, the historically Black school in North Carolina launches an undergraduate program in journalism, four years after creating one in mass communication.
Fayetteville State appears to be one of the few campuses in the country starting new academic programs in those fields. Nationally, enrollment in journalism and mass communication programs has increased slightly in recent years, mostly because more students are pursuing coursework in public relations and advertising. In 20 years, they have risen from 23 to 42 percent of total enrollment.
The pattern is similar for students of color but the small upticks in their numbers have pushed enrollments to record levels. In 2008, the latest figures available, 31 percent of undergraduates in journalism and mass communication programs were racial or ethnic minorities, the most since University of Georgia researchers started taking an annual survey in 1989. The figure was 40 percent for master’s students and 52 percent for doctoral candidates, both also records.
Black undergraduates made up 13 percent of those preparing for media jobs. Most attended traditionally White schools. About 3.5 percent of all undergraduates enrolled in the programs went to historically Black colleges and universities, according to a Diverse analysis of the 2008 Annual Survey of Journalism & Mass Communication Enrollments.
Fayetteville State decided to establish the new degree programs in journalism and mass communication after lengthy deliberations. As part of the University of North Carolina system, the campus had to submit its plans to state higher education bodies for approval.
Dr. Todd S. Frobish, interim chairman of the Department of Communication, says almost twice as many students are majoring in mass or speech communication as the university had projected. The program’s first graduates, he says, have taken jobs at broadcast or cable television networks or pursued graduate degrees — the last a pragmatic choice often made in a weak economy.
