Since it began in 1975, demand for the program leading to the degree of Master of Arts in journalism and mass communications has increased at a steady pace. Initially the graduate faculty expected to have 12 to 15 students, but that estimate proved to be far too conservative. Now more than 90 students are actively pursuing the degree, many of whom are taking courses while continuing to work professionally. Most have approximately eight years of professional experience and usually are in their late 20s or early 30s.

This steady growth parallels what is usually referred to as an "information revolution." Mass communications has been an area of rapid expansion and change during the past 30 years. Increased affluence, leisure, and education for most of this country’s population have resulted in increasingly demanding, increasingly sophisticated audiences who want to be entertained and informed through mass media. Rapidly developing technologies have provided a variety of means. Journalists have been challenged to interpret a fast-changing world--to help audiences understand and shape their environments.

In light of all this, the graduate faculty in journalism is committed to offering a quality program combining professional practice in the media with study of professional responsibilities, mass audiences, and their significance. Enrollment in courses in other disciplines is encouraged to further prepare the student to translate more effectively to mass audiences complexities of a rapidly changing society. Building on the foundation of a student’s professional undergraduate education in journalism, this broad understanding of the profession is to be developed through study in the liberal arts and sciences, in communication theory, in professional courses, and by development of competency in research as consumer, interpreter, and initiator.

The curriculum is consistent with this integration of substantial professional and academic credentials. Flexibility within the three areas of the program (news-editorial, advertising, and broadcasting) is provided to encourage differing student goals. The prediction is that a shortage of qualified journalists will continue and the demand for persons with graduate degrees will continue to escalate in the mass media industry, in business, and in academia.

Over the years, doctoral students from communication studies, marketing, sociology, as well as education and human sciences, have taken journalism courses as a supporting minor.

The Master of Arts in journalism and mass communications program was first nationally accredited in 1979 when it became the second such program in the country to receive that designation. The following year it received commendation from the North Central Accrediting Council visiting team for the UNL campus.