Journalism Major, B.A.; B.A.A.; B.S.

B.A. degree, B.A.A. degree, or B.S. degree

Admission Requirements, Retention & Termination Standards

A Journalism Major requires 45 hours of journalism coursework.

The Journalism Area of the School of Communication, Journalism, and Media Arts requires that ALL graduating seniors take an exit exam prior to graduation as part of the department’s assessment efforts. Students majoring in Journalism must meet the criteria established by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. That means that they must take liberal arts and sciences courses in compliance with CMU’s University Program requirements, listed under the University Program for the B.A., B.A.A., or B.S. degree. A grade of C or better is required in each course counted toward the Journalism Major and an overall grade point average of 2.5 for all journalism courses counted toward the major.

The last 18 hours of journalism course work leading to a journalism major should be taken within the Journalism Area of the School of Communication, Journalism and Media at CMU. No more than 3 credits of journalism internship can be applied toward the major.

Each student must consult with a Journalism Area faculty advisor before registering for courses each semester to ensure orderly progress toward meeting these requirements.

Program Requirements

Required Courses I (3 hours)

Select one of the following:

JRN 101	Media and Society	3(3-0)
JRN 102	Introduction to Journalism	3(3-0)

Required Courses II (24 hours)

JRN 202WI	Writing for the Mass Media	3(3-0)
JRN 203QR	Information Gathering for the Mass Media	3(3-0)
JRN 220	Basic Media Photography	3(3-0)
JRN 312WI	Reporting	3(3-0)
JRN 315	Editing	3(3-0)
JRN 340	Introduction to Digital Journalism	3(3-0)
JRN 404	Law of Mass Communication	3(3-0)
JRN 423	Online Visual Storytelling	3(3-0)

Required Courses III (6 hours)

JRN 372	The Asian Media and Cross-cultural Mass Communication	3(3-0)
JRN 380	Racial and Cultural Diversity: Mass Media's Role	3(3-0)

Required Courses IV (3 hours)

Select one of the following:

JRN 448	Journalism Practicum	1-3(Spec)
JRN 449	Journalism Internship	3(Spec)

Required Courses V (3 hours)

JRN 445

Multimedia Reporting Capstone

3(3-0)

Electives (6 hours)

Select from the following:

JRN 250	Social Media: Managing the Message	3(3-0)
JRN 302	Introduction to Graphics and Visual Communication	3(3-0)
JRN 320	Photo Editing	3(3-0)
JRN 339	Social Media: Reputation, Image and Interaction	3(3-0)
JRN 375	Digital and Social Media Analytics	3(3-0)
JRN 417WI	Sports Reporting	3(3-0)
JRN 430WI	Magazine and Feature Writing	3(3-0)
JRN 597	Special Studies	1-6(Spec)

OR another JRN course as approved by the advisor.

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