Journalism, BA

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In addition to training students to find good story ideas and interpret, explain, and inform, the Journalism Department strives to instill strong values and emphasize integrity in all endeavors. Students learn information gathering skills that stress accuracy, fairness, and balance; they learn how to place news in a context that helps readers and listeners make sense of the world. Good writing is paramount, and students are taught how to tell engaging stories that stand out in today’s complex media environment.

The Journalism program provides practical, hands-on experience in reporting, writing, editing, and publishing in state-of-the-art newsrooms for students seeking careers in newspapers, magazines, newsletters, television, radio, and online media. The curriculum is structured around a core of six courses, which includes the history and role of mass media in America, and introductory courses in writing and reporting, media ethics and law, copyediting, and computer-assisted journalism. These fundamental courses prepare students for advanced work in the major’s four concentrations: News Reporting and Writing (news or sports emphasis); Magazine Writing and Editing; Broadcast Journalism (television or radio emphasis); and Reporting on Health, Science, and the Environment.

Chicago is a great place to learn journalism: it is a world-class city and one of the nation’s premier media marketplaces. Journalism students cover stories alongside professional reporters as news breaks in government, politics, sports, crime, courts, entertainment, sports, or anything else. And because of the College’s prime urban location, students have access to extensive local internship opportunities. Our students are also competitive for national and international internships. The new Semester in LA program allows talented undergraduates to achieve a specialty in entertainment reporting across media platforms. We have a cooperative program with the Dublin Institute of Technology and many other international opportunities. Students produce the prize-winning Columbia Chronicle and its cutting edge Web site in a spacious newsroom. Broadcast Journalism students, in collaboration with the Television Department, produce Newsbeat, a live TV newscast, and Metro Minutes, a TV newsmagazine; Broadcast Journalism students, in collaboration with the Radio Department, write and produce news for College radio station WCRX. Magazine majors write, edit, and design Echo, an award-winning, four-color magazine that focuses on Chicago arts and culture, while online publishing students write and design In-the-Loop, a Web site that helps Columbia students get the most out of college life in the burgeoning South Loop neighborhood. Students also can get their work published on the award-winning ChicagoTalks, an online publication that covers the neighborhoods of the nation’s third-largest city. The two-year-old Web site, started by two faculty members with the help of a grant from one of the media industry’s most-respected foundations, also offers the Department’s top students an opportunity to publish investigative projects.

Students learn from adjuncts working for or contributing to Chicago magazine, Time, Ebony, Jet, the Washington Post, CLTV, CBS-2, NBC-5, ABC-7, the American Bar Association, and American Medical Association publications, as well as many trade magazines, online news sites, and other major media organizations.

The Journalism Department offers a post-baccalaureate certificate of major.

More Information about this Department

Concentrations

Broadcast Journalism Concentration

Broadcast Journalism is an interdisciplinary program taught in cooperation with the Television and Radio departments. Students learn to report, write, and produce television and radio, news, features, and in-depth stories. Student-produced news programs, such as Metro Minutes, a TV news update show, and Newsbeat, a live TV newscast, are program highlights. Radio news students get hands-on training at Columbia’s radio station, WCRX, 88.1 FM. Students intern at major media outlets, including Chicago affiliates of ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, Fox, NPR, and Telemundo.

Magazine Writing and Editing Concentration

The Magazine program prepares students for editorial positions in consumer and trade magazines. Students take classes in magazine writing and editing and have the opportunity to put their skills into practice working on Echo magazine, Columbia College’s award-winning student publication. They also are encouraged to work as interns during their junior and senior years, in Chicago and elsewhere.

News Reporting and Writing Concentration

This concentration focuses on reporting and writing about public affairs for print and online news media. Students take advanced courses in community news, feature writing, interpretive reporting, and investigative journalism, and in specialized “beats,” such as courts, business, urban affairs, and the environment. In addition, a Sports Reporting emphasis is available for News Reporting and Writing majors, which is enhanced by a broad range of sports offerings in Radio, Marketing Communication, Liberal Education, and Photography. Students in the College Newspaper Workshop produce the award-winning Columbia Chronicle, the College’s weekly student newspaper, and its companion Web site.

Science Journalism Concentration

Taught in conjunction with the Science and Mathematics Department, the Science Journalism concentration addresses a growing need for journalists who can bridge the gap between the medical/scientific community and the general public. This unique undergraduate program features a year-long sequence in science writing and reporting, taught by a Pulitzer Prize winning science journalist. In addition to careers in print and electronic media, there are jobs for knowledgeable science communicators in government, industry, and academia, including at major hospitals and research centers. Students interview world-class scientists at such places as the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and report on renowned physicians and researchers at teaching hospitals affiliated with the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Illinois-Chicago.