Columbia Journalism School (CJS) is bringing its Master of Science in Journalism curriculum online for the first time. Designed as a two-year, part-time program, the new format expands access to a CJS degree while giving students more flexibility in how they pursue it.
The online classroom will work like a digital newsroom, bringing students and faculty together as stories develop. Students will pitch ideas, discuss work in progress and make editorial decisions with CJS faculty and classmates, gaining experience they can put to work immediately in their own reporting.
Students will follow a set course sequence that builds from reporting and writing to journalism law, investigative techniques, image and sound and seminar work, culminating in a Master’s Project developed with faculty guidance.
“Our mission has always been to support students from diverse educational and professional backgrounds,” said Tarin Almanzar, Senior Associate Dean, Admissions, Financial Aid, and Enrollment Management. “By bringing our cutting-edge, hands-on reporting curriculum into a flexible online environment, we’re making a CJS education more accessible than ever before.”
With classmates reporting in different regions, they can compare how shared issues unfold across communities in real time. Those conversations can help students question their assumptions and find stronger angles for their stories.
Graduates of the online cohort expand a J-School alumni network whose members have covered some of the most consequential events of the past century and continue to work throughout the news industry.
Growing the CJS network advances the CJS2030 Access initiative by making journalism education available to more students in the communities they know best, where the next important story may already be unfolding.
Applications are now open until December 15, 2026. Learn more about the program and apply today: https://journalism.columbia.edu/content/online-degree
