Journalism, BA

Students learn information-gathering skills that stress accuracy, fairness, and balance; they learn how to place news in a context that helps readers, listeners, and viewers make sense of the world. Good writing is paramount. Students are taught how to tell engaging stories that stand out in today’s complex media environment using text, audio, video and still photography.

The Journalism program provides practical, ethical hands-on experience in reporting, writing, editing, producing and publishing in state-of-the-art newsrooms for students seeking careers in newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and online and social media. The curriculum is structured around a core of six courses, which contextualize the role of mass media in America, and introduce students to new technologies as they progress through increasingly more complex courses. The fundamental courses prepare students for advanced work in the major’s four concentrations: Multiplatform News (news or sports emphasis); Magazine Writing and Editing; Broadcast Journalism (television or radio emphasis); and Science Journalism.

Chicago is a great place to learn journalism; it is a world-class city, known for its politics, architecture, music, theater, sports and literature. It is a top media market. Journalism students cover stories alongside professional reporters as news breaks. Because of the College’s prime urban location, students have access to extensive internship opportunities, some of them paid positions. Our students also earn competitive national and international internships. The Semester in Los Angeles (SILA-JO) 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 create Echo, an award-winning, four-color magazine. Students also can get their work published on award-winning ChicagoTalks and AustinTalks, online publications launched by journalism professors that cover the neighborhoods of the nation’s third-largest city.

Students learn from adjunct instructors working for or contributing to Associated Press, Chicago magazine, Time, Ebony, Jet, the Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, Hoy, Telemundo, La Raza, CLTV, CBS-2, NBC-5, ABC-7, Fox News Chicago, 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 also offers a Second Bachelor of Arts degree program.

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Concentrations

Broadcast Journalism

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 television news programs, such as Metro Minutes, a newsmagazine focusing on arts and entertainment, 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. Other opportunities include the Multimedia Sports course, which produces a web-based sports magazine show, and Windy City Webcast, an extracurricular activity that helps students gain more variety and experience for their audition reels.

Program Requirements (Radio)

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Program Requirements (Television)

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Magazine Writing and Editing

The Magazine program prepares students for editorial positions in consumer and trade magazines. Students take courses 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. In this course, they work collaboratively with students in other majors, in particular, graphic designers, gaining real world skills. They also are encouraged to work as interns during their junior and senior years, in Chicago and elsewhere. Echo focuses on popular culture and the arts and often attracts Interdisciplinary majors aiming for careers in music and fashion journalism.

Program Requirements

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News Reporting and Writing

This concentration focuses on reporting and writing about public affairs across platforms, from deadline news to in-depth analysis. Students take advanced courses in community news, 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. Their knowledge and employability is enhanced through a broad range of sports offerings in Radio, Marketing Communication, Photography, Science and Mathematics, and the History, Humanities and Social Sciences departments. Students in the College Newspaper Workshop and paid upper-class editors and reporters produce the award-winning Columbia Chronicle, the College’s weekly student newspaper, and its companion web site. Many students also write for the national award-winning ChicagoTalks and AustinTalks web sites.

Program Requirements

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Program Requirements (Sports Reporting)

Transfer Students: View a Transfer Planning Tool for this Concentration

Science Journalism

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.

Program Requirements

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