PHOENIX — As newspapers struggle, journalism would seem to be a hard sell for young people trying to pick a career.

Newspaper circulation is falling. Advertising dollars are being lost to Internet sites. And scores of veteran reporters, editors and photographers are being laid off or taking buy-outs.

In spite of these conditions, Arizona State University is investing heavily in its Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, revamping its curriculum to focus on digital reporting, beefing up its faculty and moving into a new $71 million building in Phoenix, which will be dedicated today.

Christopher Callahan, the school's dean, said graduates are landing jobs at newspapers, television stations and in public relations because they are cheaper to employ than veterans and are prepared to do the versatile multimedia reporting now demanded by the business.

"These students are actually quite in demand," Callahan said. "It's a different world. It's a world that a lot of my (older journalist) friends don't like. That's a perfectly legitimate point of view, but the fact of the matter is that the world has changed. It's a digital world."

While some journalism schools are holding steady in their growth, Arizona State University joins the University of Missouri, Northwestern University and others in expanding their investments in journalism education, said Jennifer McGill, executive director of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication.

One of the most significant changes at Arizona State's school was requiring a multimedia class in which each student must write stories, shoot still photos and videos, edit footage and produce Web pages. Lessons from the class will be incorporated into other courses when appropriate.

Adriana DiMatteo, a freshman journalism student who wants to become a beat writer covering professional sports teams, said she and other students are comfortable with the expectation that they will have to produce news in several formats.

"We're so used to being around the Internet and used to having different sorts of multimedia things thrown at us, so it's not that big of an adjustment for us," DiMatteo said.

The school has purposely lowered its enrollment from 2,000 in 2005 to 1,300 today so that professors can spend more time working with students. At the same time, faculty ranks have been boosted from 20 full-time professors in 2005 to 36 today, with plans to hire three more. The faculty are focused on giving students experience that will make them more valuable in the job market.

"It's very hard to teach a student how to play in the majors if you have never played in the majors," Callahan said.