Students in the Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism (CPCJ) program broaden understanding of traditional journalism through their research on design, digital publishing, alternative media, and more. Their research is done in collaboration
with leading scholars, intellectuals, and other graduate programs and centers at The New School, combining theoretical foundations with broad critical analysis.
Back Matter Magazine
Back Matter is a student-run print and digital magazine that examines New York City's publishing industry. It is produced by CPCJ and other New School students in the recurring spring class Design and the Future of Publishing.
Read the 2023 edition and a reflection on the 2023 production process. Also, learn more about the changes required to publish a magazine during a pandemic and how students adapted.
Public Seminar
Public Seminar is dedicated to informing debate about the pressing issues of our times and creating a global intellectual commons. An independent project of The New School Publishing Initiative, Public Seminar is produced by New School faculty, students, and staff and supported by colleagues and collaborators around the globe.
Every semester, Public Seminar awards credit-bearing internships to three students with a demonstrated interest or experience in publishing and journalism. All interns are awarded a scholarship for the course to cover the cost of the three credits. Many CPCJ students either work as Public Seminar interns or submit articles, interviews, and criticism for publication on the site, including the following examples from 2023:
Alla Anatsko
The Little Prince and the Allure of Sadness
Yasmin Arquiza
In Search of a Room of My Own
Zenzelé Soa-Clarke
A Pioneering Palestinian Film Offers a Quantum of Solace
Netflix Revives the Genre of the “Blaxploitation” Film to Attract Black Subscribers
Palak Godara
A World in Motion
You Have Some Unfinished Business!
Yasmeen Hamden
Between Tokenization and Representation
Josephine Houman
Blurring the Line between Sex and Art
Am I a Heteropessimist?
Understanding Myself Wasn’t All It Was Cracked Up to Be
Madeline Janz
Excavating Diverse Masculinities with Manuel Betancourt
Emma Slack-Jørgensen
How Mary Mattingly’s Floating Barge Tackled Food Deserts in New York City
What Are We to Make of Lars von Trier?
Tobias Lentz
A Fragile Hope for Democracy in Thailand
When the World Abandoned the Cambodian Refugees
AJ Morris
Fashion Sustainability Isn’t the Only Story—In Fact, It May Do More Harm Than Good
Shweta Nandakumar
Don’t Read the Wall Text
Albert Nguyen
Beyond Colonialism in a Sentimental Mood
Emma Pirnay
When Medicine Turns Capital
Lindsey Scharold
Interference Archive Traces the History of Racist Policing in America
I Think of It as a Diary
Anastasia Shteinert
“Deep political changes are only a matter of time”
Nuclear Russia and Its Enemies
From Putin’s Chef to Kremlin’s Chief?
Canceling the West, Putin Aims to “Make Russia Great Again”
NJ Smith
Freeing Time
An Experimental Music Community Grows in Brooklyn
Amalie Thieden
“A Terrible Time”
Being a Bad Feminist
Matene Toure
Towards Constructive Politics
Paloma Velasco
Is Ecuador on the Road to Revolution?
In Ecuador, a New Beginning?
Helen Schulman’s New Novel Is a Nail-Biter