Students in the Master of Arts Program's Politics Concentration are experienced journalists who want to learn to report more deeply about social and political affairs. Unlike a program in international affairs or political science, the program is geared specifically to journalists, and all writing is journalistic. The in-depth immersion in the latest scholarship on politics produces better political journalists — ones who are comfortable drawing on expert research to produce stores of greater depth and nuance. Working with core faculty members Nicholas Lemann and Alexander Stille, Politics Concentration students sharpen their abilities to explore power and government the world over.
What is it like to be a member of the Politics Concentration seminar? We recently talked about the student experience with Ava Benny-Morrison, a 2022 graduate of the M.A. Politics Concentration from Australia who is now working as a New York-based reporter for Bloomberg.
What inspired you to apply to Columbia?
When I decided to apply for Columbia, I was working as a journalist in Australia. I'd been working there for about 12 years in newspapers, largely covering the justice system, and I just really wanted to do something else, and I knew that media industry had changed a lot since I went and did my undergrad, and I wanted to learn a lot more skills to advance my career, and I was looking for a bit of a timeout from the very high-pressure, fast-paced environment of newspaper reporting. I thought that this would be a really good opportunity to update those skills, and Columbia's obviously got a global reputation as one of the best journalism schools in the world.
How did you know the M.A. Politics Program was the right fit for you?
I saw that he Master of Arts Program was more geared towards mid-level career journalists, and it was less about fundamental skills and more about how to approach stories and issues with more depth and more analysis - and with a little bit of investigative skills thrown in there. I really loved the investigative skills element of this course, which as you know, you get to do across all four M.A. concentrations. I chose the M.A. Politics Concentration because I felt like it more closely aligned to what I had done in the past. I've done quite a lot of law enforcement and justice reporting, and that crosses over with a lot of social reporting on homelessness, drugs, and child protection. That's why I chose to do politics. I thought it was a bit more broad as well, so I could figure out which path I wanted to go down next.
How would you describe the M.A. Politics Concentration student experience?
The politics seminar was incredible. When I first started, I found it really challenging but fulfilling at the same time. I hadn't been in an academic setting for a while, and I felt like I was using my brain in a way I hadn't for a very long time. It was great to be in a room with so many different journalists with different backgrounds from all over the world - that contributed to it being so exciting every single day. And learning from people like Alexander Stille and Steve Coll was incredible. They've just got a wealth of experience and so much knowledge about journalism and ways to approach the craft that I had never thought about before. I found it really rewarding.
How did you approach the master's thesis project?
To do a project like this, it's a real opportunity to make a subject your own. You're not constrained by word-count limits or deadline pressures like you would be in a daily newsroom, and that's a really rare opportunity in my world anyway, as someone who worked in daily newsrooms. So I really wanted to use this project to delve into a really difficult subject with a lot of depth-analysis and a little bit of nuance as well.
How would you describe the student community at Columbia?
I found the Master of Arts Program's class - across all four concentrations - was very tight-knit. From the get go, we were all in the same boat. We instantly bonded. We were all in a very unique situation where we'd left our lives and our prior jobs to come and do this amazing course, and there were ups and downs that we could all help each other out through that class. Before class and after class there were plenty of coffees and lunches on Broadway, and a few trips down to the Arts and Crafts bar on Amsterdam Avenue. We made some really strong lifelong friendships there.
What are the most important skills you developed at Columbia?
Now that I've finished the program, I definitely have better investigative skills, so I know how to use public records requests, court records, and financial analysis to really further my reporting - which I didn't know before. Most importantly, I look at my journalism and my reporting through a different lens now, so it's not just black and white. I really have been taught through this course to look at the root of certain issues. I ask why, but I delve into that question a lot deeper than I did in the past - including looking at historical context and how a story reflects bigger issues that are affecting people today.
What advice would you give to people about making most of the opportunities in the M.A. Program?
The first thing I would say is: make use of the amazing network of faculty and programs and resources at the journalism school. There are some of the best journalists in America working in that building, and sometimes it's easy to get swept up in the classwork and the reading, but I can't urge strongly enough to really carve out some time for that networking. People are really willing to talk to you and help you and refer you to other people to talk to, so I'd really, really recommend that. I'd recommend looking at a lot of the professional opportunities that you'll get in your emails every week and try and jump on those as well - because you just won't ever get an opportunity like this again.
As you consider the possibility of furthering your career as a journalist at Columbia, please explore our website to learn more about Columbia Journalism School's faculty members, course offerings, and career development services.
At Columbia, a top-tier journalism education can be within financial reach. Please visit our website to learn about our scholarship opportunities.
If you would like to make an appointment to speak with an admissions counselor, please email us at apply.journalism@columbia.edu.