May 18 (Bloomberg) -- The Harvard Crimson has produced 12 Pulitzer Prize winners and prepared generations of journalists for newspaper careers during its 136 years. That wellspring of talent is drying up as the paper’s editors now shun the field.

With the industry in turmoil from plunging circulation, just three of the 16 graduating seniors who were on the Crimson executive board in Cambridge, Massachusetts, are seeking positions in journalism, said Paras Bhayani, 22, the departing managing editor, who is joining Teach for America. In the 1960s and 70s, more than half of the Crimson’s board members found jobs at newspapers, alumni say.

Newspapers across the U.S. are firing reporters and editors, or closing altogether, as readers switch to the Internet where advertisers pay lower rates. While Crimson editors have always considered other options, the trend of choosing careers outside journalism has become more pronounced in the last five to 10 years as the industry declines, Bhayani said. Students are discouraged by the scarcity of positions and the fear that jobs they land will be eliminated, he said.

“I would have loved to do something in political journalism,” Bhayani said. “A lot of us have been doing journalism since middle school or high school and it’s something we all love and care about. It’s sad that that possibility for a lot of us is gone.”

Of the Crimson’s last 10 managing editors, only two are working at newspapers: Javier Hernandez, class of 2008, at the New York Times, and Rosalind Helderman, 2001, at the Washington Post.

Plummeting Employment

Newsroom employment in the U.S. plummeted 11 percent last year to 46,700, a level last seen in 1979, according to the American Society of News Editors, a professional organization based in Reston, Virginia. The drop was the biggest since the group began its annual survey in 1978.

Newspaper circulation fell 7.1 percent in the six months ended March 31, with nine of the 10 largest papers in the U.S. losing readers, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a closely held company in Schaumburg, Illinois.

“I never really considered things like law school until I realized what the state of the industry was,” said Christian Flow, 20, a junior from Baltimore who is an associate managing editor.

Newspaper recruiters that came to the Crimson’s job fair encouraged students to look at other fields, said Joshua Kearney, 21, a junior and arts editor from Dennis Township, New Jersey. After the event, work samples the students had given the recruiters were found in the trash, he said.

‘Don’t Do It’

Undergraduates considering journalism avoid mentioning it in front of classmates, wanting to avoid expressions of concern, if not ridicule, said Abigail Phillip, 20, a junior editor from Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

“People will undoubtedly tell you ‘Don’t do it,’” she said. “I tell my parents, ‘I’ll do this for two years and I’ll go to law school, I promise.’”

It makes sense that students would shy away from the industry, said Alex Jones, the director of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

“It’s purely matter of economics, because they’re not stupid,” Jones said. “If the media once again promises the opportunity to do some important work with a decent wage, they’ll be back.”

Career Alternatives

Students are considering options including graduate school and Teach for America, a New York-based nonprofit organization that places college graduates as instructors in impoverished urban and rural school districts. Six seniors on the Crimson’s executive board have joined Teach for America, Bhayani said. Harvard’s commencement is June 4.

Careers in journalism will require more freelancing and working in nontraditional media as the industry learns how to make money on the Internet, said Nicholas Lemann, the dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York and a former Crimson president. As Harvard offers more financial aid to enroll students from less-affluent families, those graduates have monetary motivation to join other professions, he said.

“They’re comfortable with other options that are much more structured and have much less risk associated with it,” said Lemann, 54, who graduated from Harvard in 1976. “They can go to law school or business school and it’s always going to be less risky.”

Law, Politics

Some Crimson editors who want to practice journalism are doing it online or pursuing other professions, such as law or politics, and contributing freelance articles, said V.V. Ganeshananthan, a former managing editor and the author of “Love Marriage: A Novel” (Random House, 2008). She will teach writing at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, starting in September.

“People are doing less-conventional stuff but we’re getting to a point where that’s about to be conventional,” said Ganeshananthan, 29, who graduated in 2002 and contributes articles to blogs and the Washington Post. “More than previous generations, we wear a number of hats and we’re OK with that.”

Journalism is still an attractive option for students at other schools, enrollment figures show. Applications to the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism increased 44 percent this year, according to the school. At the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism, applications surged 50 percent, said Stephen Shepard, the dean.

“To some young people, the turbulence itself is interesting, rather than off-putting,” said Rick Edmonds, a media-business analyst at the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, that trains reporters. “We’re going through a period of reinvention and they want to be part of that.”

Founded in 1873

Harvard students who are focused on careers where success is more easily defined may not be interested in being part of that process, said Edmonds, who was the Crimson’s editorial-page editor and graduated in 1969. He went on to an internship at the New York Times and a career at the Philadelphia Inquirer and at the St. Petersburg Times in Florida.

The majority of the members of the executive board during his year pursued journalism jobs, Edmonds said.

Founded in 1873 as “The Magenta” and initially published biweekly, the Harvard Crimson is independent of Harvard University. It has its own building and printing presses and claims to be the “oldest continuously published daily college newspaper.” The Yale Daily News, founded in January 1878, also says it’s the oldest college daily.

The Crimson has historically attracted undergraduates who never pursued careers in journalism, including Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. Crimson alumni include James Cramer, class of 1976, the investor and television host; and Steven Ballmer, class of 1977, the chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Washington.

Class of 1929

Photos of the dozen Crimson editors who have won the Pulitzer line the walls of the Crimson office, a block from Harvard’s main campus. They include George Weller, class of 1929, who covered World War II for the Chicago Daily News; Linda Greenhouse, class of 1968, the former U.S. Supreme Court reporter for the New York Times; and Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times columnist, class of 1982. The Pulitzer is journalism’s highest honor.

The paper prides itself on scoops, and broke the news of the hiring of Lawrence Summers as Harvard’s president in 2001, and of the naming of his successor, Drew Gilpin Faust, in 2007.

The Crimson appeals to Harvard students who want to be part of its tradition and reputation, not necessarily those who desire a career in newspapers, said Maxwell Child, a junior from Pasadena, California, and now president of the Crimson.

“There are a lot of motivated kids at Harvard and, for better or worse, it’s one of the most legitimate organizations on campus,” said Child, 21, who may apply to business school. “It’s really a great experience in being a reliable, productive person.”

Need for Reporting

Crimson editors determined to find careers in journalism say there remains a need for reporting and writing.

Sam Jacobs, 23, a senior from Brookline, Massachusetts, said the industry’s struggles haven’t discouraged him from seeking a career in journalism.

“No one gets into this because it’s an industry where you’re going to make a lot of money, or because they’re looking for a lot of security,” Jacobs said. “We’re well prepared for the situation.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Oliver Staley in New York at ostaley@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 18, 2009 09:51 EDT