Surge in Enrollment in Journalism Schools--Huh?

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According to the editors of the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), student enrollment in journalism schools is skyrocketing at the same time the profession is hemorrhaging jobs.

Columbia U.'s  Graduate School of Journalism saw a 38 percent boost in applications for its class of 2010, the CJR article notes. Likewise, U. of  Maryland experienced a 25 percent increase in applications to its journalism program, Stanford, 20 percent, and NYU, 6 percent. Meanwhile, 5,000 journalism jobs were lost in 2008, according to the Pew Research Center.

CJR's editors are just as puzzled as this blogger about the underlying reasons for the burgeoning ranks of j-students. The fear at "TUOL" is that the surge is attributable to the evolving definition of "journalist," so that j-students are hoping to emulate the celebrity and wealth of Erin Andrews and Arianna Huffington, rather than signing up to acquire the shoe-leather sagacity of Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill or Walter Cronkite.

J-school grads and enrollees are invited to explain to "TUOL" why they booked a cabin on the sinking ship known as the U.S.S. Journalism.