The department of Media, Communications, and Visual Arts (MCA) at Pace revealed a new undergraduate major, Digital Journalism, which will make its way onto campus this upcoming spring.

The new major will introduce a variety of related courses, including digital newsroom, global newsroom, and digital storytelling – as well as a wide set of electives such as Arts and Entertainment Journalism and the Art of Anchoring.

“It’s a major much more in tune with what journalism is becoming,” said Professor Robert Klaeger, chair of the MCA department. “It’s designed for students who want to enter journalism properly equipped for the field as it is now and for what it is becoming.”

In the past ten years, the way news is received, exchanged, and put out has rapidly changed. The Internet has played a tremendous role in the evolution of news reporting and news reading. Today, when something newsworthy hits the ground, whether it’s coverage of leaked nude photos of eminent celebrities, or a humanitarian crisis somewhere in the world – news spreads like wildfire, and that is most notably because of the use of technology.

Assistant Professor Kate Fink, who will be teaching Audio Reporting, one of the upcoming electives, believes it is an important major to have because journalists should be more aware of the different formats in which people receive news.

“There is such a big need right now to get journalists to think more about digital news,” Fink said.

Digital news consumption continues to increase with more people acquiring their news via news websites and social media outlets such as Twitter. According to Pew Research, a significant amount of regular readers of leading newspapers now read them on digital platforms. Fifty-five percent of regular readers of the New York Times say they now read the paper through their mobile device or computer, as well as forty-eight percent of USA Today readers.

The new major is supposed to help prepare students for the fast-changing industry and is believed to aid them in developing the necessary skills to becoming well-rounded reporters who are familiar with all of the different journalistic platforms.

Jamina Spruils, a junior Communication Arts and Journalism major with a minor in Public Relations, said there is a potential switch to Digital Journalism because of its increasing demand in the workforce.

“It’s important to have more communications-related majors because it gives us students more options and variety,” freshman Communication Arts and Journalism major Justine Germain added.

Among the 18 required credits (six courses) for this new major, only three courses will be available during the spring 2015 semester. At the moment, Digital Journalism will not be offered as a minor, but there’s a possibility it might be available next year, according to Professor Klaeger.