The New York Times reports tonight that the City University of New York (CUNY) will announce a Master's program Monday in entrepreneurial journalism.

This ought not to surprise anyone, given Jeff Jarvis' efforts in the last couple of years to advance the concept of journalism as a small, personal business with great opportunities. Jarvis will lead the program and its centre, funded with a $10-million grant.

The university already offers an undergraduate program in entrepreneurial journalism. These courses will examine the intersection of journalism and business. The aim is to produce graduates who will start or participate in the build-up of businesses associated with digital journalism.

The New York University scholar, Jay Rosen, has been at the vanguard of digital journalism, so it's a treat to hear his advice for the next generation of creators. He gave an opening-day address to students in Paris and has since summarized his remarks.

Yes, Rosen touches the bases all journalism instructors now do: you should blog, know SEO and HTML5, understand the audience, get feisty about mobile and know how to record and edit audio and video.

But Rosen's best advice --- in his view and in mine --- comes in what else he says students pursuing journalism ought to watch as the power shifts away from journalists to the people who consume and share content:

1. The need to replace audience terms like readers, viewers and listeners with "users."
2. The need to understand users know more than you do.
3. The qualities the audience brings are of mutual importance to the work of journalists.
4. Describe the world in a way people can participate in it.
5. Just because everyone can participate doesn't mean everyone will.
6. A journalists is simply a heightened case of an informed citizen.
7. Your authority has to do with being some place to tell people about.
8. You need to listen to demand and give people what they have no way to demand.
9. Trust means telling people where you're coming from.
10. Newspapers make associations and associations make newspapers. This is a saying from De Tocqueville, but one Rosen says remains germane.

Annually the journalism schools of the world (including UBC, where I teach) take in ambitious, optimistic and eager new creators. Once they're through, the expected outcome is a grounded, competent and presentable professional.

Robert Niles, writing for the Online Journalism Review, has some advice for the incoming class:

1. Journalism school will not prepare you. You are now on the job.
2. Audience equals power. Get one.
3. Your career is only as strong as your network.
4. Your career is only as strong as your passions.
5. Conduct yourself as a journalist.

Mark Berkey-Gerard teaches journalism at Rowan University in New Jersey and he maintains a very clearly written blog with a batch of online tutorials and tips.

His latest post itemizes many of the conventional myths worth confronting in the classroom as professors work with students to enter the craft of journalism. In brief, they include:

1. Lecturing is no way to have a conversation.
2. Follow those you like on Twitter to gain resources and insight.
3. Don't assume the digital natives are active.
4. Don't skimp on HTML and CSS assignments.
5. Review raw interview tape.
6. Online tutorials need to be followed up.
7. Experiment first, be an expert later.
8. The audience is an excellent editor.
9. Let students pursue passions first in their creation.
10. Push beyond what you know.
11. Expect convergence to be resisted.
12. Storytelling is hard.
13. Students don't remember PowerPoint, so provide it.

New media professor Benjamin Davis, a news veteran in broadcasting and digital media, suggests it's time for journalists to consider the digital media pyramid.

Journalists already know about the inverted pyramid, with the most important content first, the second-most-important content next, and so on.

But Davis posts in the Online Journalism Review suggests an adjustment is in order. It would identify the new qualities of digital journalism and itemize the supporting material that it carries with it.

Once the five Ws --- the who, what, where, when and why --- are out of the way, Davis suggests journalists next focus on the underlying legal permissions (cut and paste limits, copyright), then art and ads, then opposing links to "balance" content presented.

It's an interesting formula, not without its debatable points, but worthy of a discussion.

Dan Gillmor's work on journalism as a cornerstone to democracy has had several applications, most recently in the generation online of book chapters on themes involving the craft.

His latest post identifies principles of journalism education, a subject in great debate at the moment as schools come to grips with multiplatform work and industry comes to grips with the need for more fluent participants in digital media.

Gillmor makes several prescriptions, but I'll select four main concepts:

1. Break down the age-old tracks of print, broadcast and online. Make it one.
2. Teach databases, statistics, research methodology, entrepreneurship and business as part of the journalism education.
3. Open up smaller programs for local teachers, parents and even for-a-fee programs for professional communicators.
4. Generate partnerships in the community and create a stronger research agenda.

Gillmor's post elaborates on the culture he believes needs to emerge in education. It's a thoughtful overview.

The sage voice of the Online Journalism Review's editor weighs in with a guide to the principles of student rights in journalism school. Robert Niles describes eight things j-school students deserve.

Among them:
1. Role models.
2. A mentor.
3. Employment contacts.
4. A sandbox --- or as he calls it, a place to hack.
5. Work experience.
6. Deep knowledge about something other than journalism.
7. Getting your name out there.
8. Passion, not excuses.

There are many skills to instill, too, but that's not the message of Niles' post. He's looking at broader issues.

I would add a few principles to his list:
1. Agnosticism about platforms. This is no time to decry old media or dismiss new media.
2. Entrepreneurial literacy. The work models of the future are more likely to be contractual, project-based and fluctuating than they have been.
3. Generosity. A graduate needs to seed the ground for others.

This week classrooms fill again with aspiring journalists. I am fortunate to teach part-time at the graduate school of journalism at University of British Columbia.

It will be my sixth year as an adjunct professor and I've connected with some great young talent and fine colleagues in the team-teaching Integrated Journalism (iJournalism) program.

This is, despite what some might think, an extraordinary time to move into journalism, partly because the technological support for story-telling has never been better. Even if some organizations are in restraint mode, opportunities abound for those with the new skills. Talent emerges, no matter the economic context, because there is a demand for journalism.

With the new journalist in mind, here is a resource to recommend: One of the most sound guides for the new and old alike comes from Mindy McAdams at University of Florida. Her Reporter's Guide to Multimedia Proficiency involves 15 assembled blog posts on a variety of skills she identifies as core competencies in the digital age.

Among the topics: consuming quality, recording, blogging, photography, video, editing, SoundSlides, multimedia story-telling and publishing. McAdams is a veteran professor and this thoughtful package reflects her experience.