The Journalism program’s mission is to provide students with
basic preparation in writing for all journalistic media and to
prepare students for graduate work, both in journalism and other
fields. The program includes courses in each medium to permit
students to specialize in newspapers and wire services, public
relations, magazines or broadcast news.
The program prepares graduates
to:
Demonstrate the ability to write news
stories with clarity, conciseness and understanding.
- Write news stories for both print and electronic media.
- Write feature articles.
- Demonstrate a knowledge of, and sensitivity toward, aspects of
news like timeliness, celebrity, advocacy, pertinence, novelty,
etc.
- Employ use of standard grammar, punctuation and spelling.
Demonstrate developed skills in
researching and reporting news stories and gathering pertinent
information.
- Select appropriate facts to provide sufficient information to
present a news or feature story accurately, clearly and
comprehensively.
- Locate supporting information online and from other
sources.
- Interview subjects to elicit facts and opinions, utilizing
professional standards regarding respect for privacy, libel and
slander considerations, and awareness that people may have vested
interests that affect and inform what they say.
Demonstrate knowledge of relevant legal
and ethical issues
- Identify, discuss and assess First Amendment
controversies.
- Employ proper use of quoted material without plagiarizing or
violating copyright law.
- Write news articles and feature stories that are balanced and
fair.
- Analyze media issues, practices and problems, and explain why
certain choices are better than others.
Demonstrate developed mastery of
traditional print journalism, broadcast journalism techniques, and
“new” journalism skills.
- Compare and contrast a news story to identify how it should be
modified, or written differently, when presented in a newspaper, a
radio or television broadcast, or online or on a website, and
understand how the convergence of news methods operates.
- Demonstrate ability to write a news story that is appropriate
for a newspaper,a news broadcast, or a blog or a website
- Apply the skills of computer literacy, as they relate to going
online to gather newsworthy information, and uploading news stories
onto blogs and websites.
Demonstrate knowledge of the implications
of significant issues and events in the history of American
journalism.
- Explain the importance of the First Amendment to the history of
journalism.
- Analyze issues such as censorship, prior restraint and other
legal and ethical issues that have arisen throughout the history of
American journalism.
- Evaluate issues from pre-Revolutionary times up to the present
and describe how they apply to modern journalism.
Demonstrate the ability to analyze a
complex news event.
- Write a hard news or feature story about a complex issue.