The schools now require online journalism courses and incorporate digital storytelling in all classes. They say major news organizations seeking to reach younger audiences will covet those students, and the students, like free-agent athletes, will market themselves and become their own brands.
"I don't know that there will be jobs. There will be careers," said Charles Whitaker, a professor at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, which teaches more about the business side of media than in the past. "We're telling students they need to be much more entrepreneurial about their careers."
The traditional path for young journalists - start at a small paper or TV station and work your way up - is vanishing. But new paths exist for those with expertise and specialized skills. Deep knowledge in, say, energy policy or the ability to produce stories that pop online are valuable, said John Harris, editor of Politico. If you're not enterprising, he said, you're in trouble.
"For people who are just plain worker bees and are pretty good, I don't find it an appealing career," Harris said at Monday's conference on journalism jobs at the Newseum in Washington. "I just don't see why somebody would go into the business unless they thought they could be an A at something."
Still, students are rushing into the field by the thousands. Columbia graduates about 224 master's students each year, Northwestern about 320 and Maryland 59. Maryland also has 492 full-time undergraduates in journalism and Northwestern 674.
Professors say they don't expect students to get jobs at newspapers in the numbers they used to. But they say there are other jobs for people who can communicate and dig up information - with nonprofits, in government publications, in public relations.
The demand for multimedia skills could be seen last weekend at Columbia's spring job fair. More than 100 employers attended, including nytimes.com but not The New York Times newspaper. More Web sites - such as The Huffington Post, ESPN.com, The Daily Beast and Health.com - showed up than newspapers and radio stations combined.
"It may not be writing 6,000 words for The Atlantic or The New Yorker ... but there are enough jobs if you have the right mind-set," said Anup Kaphle, who graduated from Columbia and is a media fellow at The Atlantic, working to develop its Web site. He said students must be willing and able to work with audio, video, graphics and Web design.
