The study of journalism revolves around learning how to inform and persuade people through written word. Print, broadcast, online, and photojournalism are the four types of journalism. Each course will offer lectures, discussions, and assignments that will teach students how to convey facts effectively through mass media.
Students will gain extensive knowledge in the following areas:
The law and ethics of mass communication, particularly freedom of speech and of the press, will be emphasized when studying journalism. Students will also gain an understanding of censorship, libel, invasion of privacy, and regulations of online media.
Students will learn to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of their writing. Copy editing is more than simple editing, which involves inspecting text for spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. It also involves reviewing the layout for style and clarity.
Students will learn about broadcast news writing, videography, and editing, as well as television reporting and production. They can expect to gain a deeper understanding of the timing and flow of broadcasts and how to fit stories into the limited time frames of a broadcast.
Photojournalism courses teach students how to collect and edit images that convey a news story. Photojournalism is different from photography because each image is intended to tell a story in an honest and accurate way.
Classes in print newspaper reporting teach students to evaluate and investigate evidence to follow a story. Students will gain an understanding of effective research techniques, journalistic ethics, and gain valuable in-depth reporting skills.
Students enrolled in accredited journalism classes can expect to develop the following skills:
Students will learn the proper ways to communicate with individuals and larger groups. Strong writing, social skills, clarity, and consistency are key ways to building quality relationships with readers and sources.
Students will learn how to operate word processing programs to create documents. They will be able to format a variety of documents by selecting fonts and using margins and headers, as well as learning functions like spell check and readability statistics to help with writing.