JRN 500. Special Topics in Journalism.3 Credits.
This course consists of seminar-based classes that consider emerging areas of scholarly research or industry developments in journalism, with a particular focus on how a specific research activity or industry development illustrates issues regarding economic, gender and social groups.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
JRN 501. Reporting and Fact-Checking.3 Credits.
Students are introduced to the basic practices and tools of journalism, which include interviewing, identifying and accessing public documents, writing leads and constructing organized, balanced stories.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Fall
JRN 504. Digital Essentials.3 Credits.
The capacity to gather information and report the news remains at the core of the journalism profession. This course focuses on the fundamentals of news writing while also engaging students in emerging social media and other tools to present comprehensive news stories to all audiences.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Fall
JRN 506. SEO, Social Media, and Third Party Platforms.3 Credits.
With a fresh take on audience engagement, students are introduced to the critical concepts of search engine optimization for social and digital news platforms while they learn and use industry recognized best practices for writing headlines, leads, URLs and social posts. Students will explore social algorithms and learn to use the knowledge to ensure strong storytelling reaches targeted audiences.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Summer
JRN 521. Audio Storytelling.3 Credits.
Writing for the ear requires skills in preparing scripts, natural sound and audio recording and editing. This course prepares students to compose stories for radio news and podcasts, with a focus on developing the style of conversational broadcast writing common to National Public Radio.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Fall
JRN 524. TV Reporting.3 Credits.
Visual news stories as broadcast by networks, affiliates and cable news channels and in evolving digital formats require skills in both storytelling and technology for shooting and editing video. This course covers the essentials of shooting video, editing and field reporting and producing.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Fall
JRN 528. Data Journalism.3 Credits.
Information graphics are now an integral component of news, conveying big data into readily understood formats such as diagrams and charts. This course teaches students how to visually organize information and apply it to news stories for broadcast or online presentation.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
JRN 530. Independent Study (ICM530).3 Credits.
This is a special course offered to accommodate students who seek advanced practical training or advanced research in an area not directly included in the curriculum. The topic and scope of the course is developed by the student in consultation with a faculty adviser, subject to approval by the dean.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, All
JRN 531. Graduate Internship.3 Credits.
Experience in association with working professionals is essential to securing career opportunities. Students completing an elective internship to secure such experience are required to work in a supervised environment, approved by the graduate program director.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, All
JRN 541. Sporting Culture Through Nonfiction.3 Credits.
It has often been said that sport is a microcosm of society, but many rhetoric scholars have begun to suggest that sport plays a role in constituting society and is "defined by a range of political practices, including allocations of resources, representations of identity, projections of nationalism and globalization, activism and change." This directed readings course examines American culture, as well as comparative values, through nonfictional accounts of sport.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Summer Online
JRN 543. Literary Journalism in the '60s.3 Credits.
The 1960s stand out as an era of change and turbulence in 20th-century America. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, these nonfiction writers and journalists wrote in a personal style that became known as "Literary Journalism," or "the New Journalism." This directed reading course requires students to analyze the historical and contemporary views of major literary journalists.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Summer Online
JRN 545. TV Production.3 Credits.
This course introduces students to the technical production skills that go into a daily news telecast. Newsroom organization, story development (from idea to the air) and the principles and practices of professional producers are studied.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Fall
JRN 546. Digital News Production.3 Credits.
This course explores topics related to social media, such as the viral video clip from a Tweet or the verified source through social media. Students learn the skills, tools and best practices of digital and video content production, as well as social coordination in the news arena. They also explore logistical and ethical concerns in the social medium.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Spring
JRN 552. Media Law and Ethics.3 Credits.
A thorough knowledge of laws and ethical behavior is essential to the professional practice of journalism. As such, this course covers the legal and ethical dimensions of media communications across platforms, with an emphasis on First Amendment, privacy and copyright issues.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Spring
JRN 562. Sports Law and Ethics.3 Credits.
Federal antitrust law and regulations show that college and professional sports are treated as special components of American culture. This course examines the legal structure that grants special privileges to sports and to the ethical challenges sports journalists confront in going beyond the games to find the story.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Spring
JRN 563. Sports Analytics.3 Credits.
Deciphering the volumes of data produced by high school, college and professional sports teams is an essential part of sports reporting. This course introduces students to the ever-growing volumes of statistics across major sports and shows how to transform such data into useful information.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Spring
JRN 564. Presenting and Producing Radio Sports.3 Credits.
Radio remains an essential and effective medium for listening to games and for engaging the audience with live talk shows that discuss teams, players, sports and the action of the competition. This course presents students with the principles and practices of radio sports.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Fall
JRN 565. Presenting and Producing Television Sports: Remote.3 Credits.
Students in this course write, produce and distribute a 30-minute sports program for broadcast featuring stories that illustrate intriguing and inspiring stories of a Division I college athletic department. Every student engages in shooting, editing, writing, interviewing, presenting and distributing the final product. Additionally, students originate and perform local and national style sports highlight segments along with live in-depth interviews.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Spring
JRN 566. Presenting and Producing Television Sports: Studio.3 Credits.
Pre-game, post-game and intermission reports are among the most important aspects of televised sports, as each reveals and promotes the storylines through which games are covered. This course introduces students to the concepts and content behind the production of studio shows.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Fall
JRN 572. Researching and Writing the News Documentary.3 Credits.
The complexities of producing the news documentary range from finding the right story to pursue to uncovering the proper visuals to help tell it. This course provides students with the skills to research, write, and produce visual nonfiction, long-form projects rooted in history or current events.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
JRN 573. Sports Literature.3 Credits.
Sports serve as a critical metaphor for American life in nonfiction works such as "Friday Night Lights," in novels such as "End Zone," in plays such as "Death of a Salesman" and in films such as "Raging Bull." This course examines why sports are prominent in cultural works that attempt to reveal the meaning of America.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
JRN 574. Crafting the Sports Feature.3 Credits.
Feature writers capture athletes when they are most noble, frail or otherwise vulnerable or heroic. They also capture the moment when a game means more than that. This course teaches students to apply creative vitality to their ideas and writing on sports outside of game stories.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Fall
JRN 588. Business Reporting:Following the Money.3 Credits.
Students learn methods and tactics of writing about businesses for mass communication. The course covers why and how companies operate and how to write stories about corporate news from public records and other sources.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every other year, Spring
JRN 589. Critical Issues in Sports.3 Credits.
From health concerns to labor conflicts, the workaday world often intrudes on the bubble that protects the mythology of sport. Through reason, analysis and writing, students interact with vital issues that emerge from the seemingly routine day-to-day coverage of games.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Spring
JRN 595. Sports Clinical.3 Credits.
Students completing the sports journalism program must participate in the Sports Clinical. This course focuses on advanced broadcast, multimedia, documentary and long-form reporting and to deepen the experience and training in a given area of specialization in terms of platform and subject matter.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, Spring
JRN 600. Capstone Proposal.3 Credits.
Students completing the journalism program conduct research and do preliminary reporting to write a capstone project proposal based on their area of inquiry. The faculty adviser and graduate program director must approve the topic. This course is graded on a pass/fail basis.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, All
JRN 601. Capstone Project.3 Credits.
Students completing the journalism program must complete a capstone project. Under the guidance of the their faculty adviser, students create an original, in-depth, professional-quality journalism project. This course is graded on a pass/fail basis.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, All