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Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism and the department of religion in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences will begin offering a joint master's program in religious studies and journalism, designed to prepare journalists to specialize in news coverage of religious issues.
Interested students can begin applying this fall for admission in the 2001 fall semester. Students apply separately to each school; those accepted to both schools and completing the program will earn a master's of science in journalism and a master's of arts in religious studies.
Students will spend the first year of the program at the Journalism School, finishing the first year with a master's of science in journalism. They will spend the second year at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in the department of religion. Though the master's in religious studies is typically completed in three semesters, students in the joint program will be able to complete it in two, with some courses such as those offered in religion, ethics and race taught in the Journalism School, counted toward the master's in religious studies.
The program will be overseen by Ryuichi Abe, chair of the religion department and Kao Associate Professor of Japanese Religions, and by journalism professor Ari Goldman, who is also the director of the Scripps Howard Program in religion, journalism and the spiritual life at the Journalism School.
The joint program is expected to meet a need in the journalism community. In recent years, for example, religious fundamentalist movements have grown in influence around the world; presidential candidates have discussed their personal religious beliefs alongside their political platforms; and mergers with religiously-affiliated hospitals have raised questions about the role of religion on healthcare.
"More and more, we're seeing a demand for solid, informed reporting of religious issues," said Goldman. "Religion is not just its own story anymore. It's now a major element of every kind of news."
In addition, Abe said many of the skills journalism training offers can be an advantage to religious scholars. One of the goals of the joint program, he said, is to fuse the knowledge religious scholars have to offer with the multimedia and fieldwork skills journalism training provides.
"Journalism really stresses the need to go out into the field and talk to people to find out what's really going on," said Abe. "In the same way, scholars of religion are increasingly visiting temples and monasteries, and delving into communities to pursue their work."
Journalism also stresses fluency in multimedia resources, another advantage for scholars of religion. "A few years ago, there were sources that if I wanted, I had to travel to a temple archive in Kyoto, Japan, to be able to read them," said Abe. "Now, more and more of those sources are online, and people need to have journalistic skills, good researching and multimedia skills, to be able to retrieve them."
Peter Awn, dean of the School of General Studies and a professor of religion, said a program like this is critical, because the public dialogue about religion is growing more complex, calling for more reporters with expertise in this subject.
"The media is an expanding part of the conversation about faith, religion and spirituality," said Awn. "It's in everyone's best interest to have reporters and producers who are well-versed in the language of religion."
Students who are interested in applying should visit the new dedicated web site at http://www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/depts/relj.html.
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