Journalism
Graduate School of Journalism
Office: 121 North Gate Hall, (510) 642-3383
Dean: Edward Wasserman, PhD
School Website: Journalism
Overview
The goal of the Graduate School of Journalism is to produce professional journalists who move on to positions of leadership and influence in American journalism. The Master of Journalism (MJ) program provides intensive training in journalism skills and a knowledge of the traditions and principles of the field. A professional project is required to complete the two-year program. The program is rooted in the idea that the best possible preparation for careers in journalism is a sound liberal arts education followed by training in journalism at the graduate level. Concurrent degree programs with Law, Asian Studies, International and Area Studies, Latin American Studies, and Public Health are available.
The school offers courses in print, broadcasting, documentary film, radio, television, multimedia, and photojournalism. All students must take a focused and demanding core course which stresses reporting and writing skills. This is because members of the faculty believe that the best way to train students for careers in journalism is to place them under the supervision and guidance of seasoned journalists in small classes, give them instruction in the skills and attitudes of the craft, and introduce them to intensive practice in reporting, writing, and editing. Professors give exhaustive critiques of students' work. Students are also required to take Journalism Law and Ethics and to complete a summer internship at a media outlet.
Beyond the core course there are courses in specific areas, such as political, business, environmental, community, science, international, and cultural reporting. There are also courses that focus on different techniques, such as investigative reporting and magazine reporting. The curriculum also includes courses in copy-editing and photography and a sequence of courses in television and radio reporting.
Another group of courses is intended to increase understanding and practice of multimedia reporting. A host of webskills and software classes are offered to give student expert level training with these tools.
Candidates for the MJ degree are expected to complete their work for the degree in four semesters. They must complete 36 units in approved upper division and graduate courses, of which at least 24 must be in graduate courses in journalism, and must present an acceptable master's project. Students are encouraged to take courses in disciplines other than journalism.
Applicants for graduate study should hold a bachelor's degree comparable to that given by the University of California. Requirements and procedures are outlined in the brochure Graduate Application for Admission and Fellowships, available at the Office of the Dean of the Graduate Division, and in the Announcement of the Graduate School of Journalism. Complete admissions information is available on the Journalism website .
The Graduate School of Journalism also offers courses for undergraduates designed to give them insight into journalism.
For more information and application requirements, go to the Graduate School of Journalism website .
Degree Requirements for the Master of Journalism Degree
The Master of Journalism (MJ) degree at Berkeley requires the completion of at least 36 semester units of coursework and the submission of a satisfactory Master’s project. A minimum of 24 units must be earned from coursework in the Graduate School of Journalism. All students are expected to graduate in four consecutive semesters.
Total units needed to graduate: 36
Required Courses
6 units Journalism 200 Reporting the News (first semester)
1 unit Journalism 209 Multimedia Bootcamp (first semester)
3 units Journalism 211 Reporting the News Lab (first semester)
3 units Journalism 215 Introduction to Multimedia (first semester)
1 unit Journalism 219 Numeracy (first semester)
2 units Journalism 298 Public Records (first semester)
4 units Journalism 282 Introduction to Television (first semester) *
3 units Journalism 217 Introduction to Visual Journalism (first semester)*
5 units Journalism 283 Reporting for Television (second semester)**
3 units Journalism 223 Advanced Visual Journalism (second semester)**
3 units Journalism 255 Law and Ethics
2 units Journalism 297 Reporting Internship (300 supervised hours)
2 units Journalism 294 Master's Project Seminar (1 unit in third semester; 1 unit in fourth semester)
* Student must take either J282 Introduction to Television or J217 Introduction to Visual Journalism in their first semester.
** Student must take either J283 Introduction to Television or J223 Advanced Visual Journalism in their second semester.
Additional Requirements
- One advanced reporting course is required for each semester after the first semester.
- Two units from the J297 Reporting Internship can count toward the 36 units requirement. Therefore, 34 of 36 units required for the MJ degree must be from coursework.
- Submission of an approved Master’s project with all valid signatures is required by the announced deadline.
- Twelve units per semester are required for all Berkeley graduate students. Maximum units per semester are 16.
- All courses must be taken at Berkeley; credit from other institutions is not transferable.
- Students may take up to four units of J601 Master’s Study each semester without approval. Approval is required for more than four units of J601 Master’s Study in a semester. J601 Master’s Study units do not apply towards the 36 total units requirement.
- Submission of all required Graduate Division paperwork is required by the announced deadline.
- All required classes must be taken for a letter grade except for the J297 Reporting Internship and J219 Numeracy. Only one third of total UC master’s credits can be S grades.
- Up to 12 of the required 36 units for the MJ degree can be from other departments at Berkeley. Graduate level courses (numbered 200-299) and upper division undergraduate courses (numbered 100-199) are acceptable.
- Concurrent degree students may have additional or modified requirements and should confirm requirements with a student affairs officer.
For Incoming Year Fall 2013
Information is subject to change
JOURN 24 Freshman Seminars 1 Unit
Department: Journalism
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Hours and format: 1 hour of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
The Berkeley Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small-seminar setting. Berkeley Seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 39H Freshman/Sophomore Seminar 1.5 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Hours and format: Seminar format.
Prerequisites: Priority given to freshmen and sophomores.
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester.
Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 39J Freshman/Sophomore Seminar 1.5 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Hours and format: Seminar format.
Prerequisites: Priority given to freshmen and sophomores.
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester.
Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 39K Freshman/Sophomore Seminar 1.5 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Hours and format: Seminar format.
Prerequisites: Priority given to freshmen and sophomores.
Freshman and sophomore seminars offer lower division students the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member and a group of peers in a small-seminar setting. These seminars are offered in all campus departments; topics vary from department to department and from semester to semester.
Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 98 Directed Group Study in Journalism 1 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: Hours to be arranged.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN C101/L & S C101 Edible Education: The Rise and Future of the Food Movement 2 Units
Department: Journalism; Letters and Science
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: 1.5 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
As a subject, food is multi-disciplinary, drawing on everything from economics and agronomy to sociology, anthropology, and the arts. Each week experts on organic agriculture, school lunch reform, food safety, animal welfare, hunger and food security, farm bill reform, farm-to-school efforts, urban agriculture, food sovereignty, local food economies, etc. will lecture on what their areas of expertise have to offer the food movement to help it define and achieve its goals.
Instructors: Henderson, Pollan
JOURN 102AC The Wire: When Journalism Meets Drama 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
The goal of the class is to make students aware of how the issues of crime, policing, and identity are framed and mediated through television, as well as through conventional journalism. The class will explore the relationship between real crime, popular fiction, and television, specifically The Wire.
Satisfies the American Cultures requirement
Instructor: Drummond
JOURN C103/L & S C103 Edible Education: Telling Stories About Food and Agriculture 2 Units
Department: Journalism; Letters and Science
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: 1.5 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
As the costs of our industrialized food system become impossible to ignore, a national debate over the future of food and farming has begun. Telling stories about where food comes from, how it is produced (and might be produced differently) plays a critical role in bringing attention to the issues and shifting politics. Each week a prominent figure in this debate explores what can be done to make the food system healthier more equitable, more sustainable, and the role of storytelling in the process.
Instructor: Pollan
JOURN C141/MEDIAST C103 Understanding Journalism 4 Units
Department: Journalism; Media Studies
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks. 7 hours of Lecture per week for 8 weeks.
Prerequisites: Media Studies major or consent of instructor.
In this course, students learn why sound journalism is so important to a healthy, working democracy. Journalism is rapidly changing. The class will give a context to those changes and provide an overview of comtemporary journalistic institutions. Students will examine how news is made, who decides what news is, who makes it, who profits by it, and what rules guide how reporters and editors work. Central issues affecting journalism, such as bias and professionalism, will be discussed. The class is not specifically intended for future journalists, but students will learn why pursuing a career in journalism can be so fulfilling and thrilling, as well as becoming better consumers of the news.
Instructor: Goldstein
JOURN 197 Field Study in Journalism 1 - 2 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: Zero hours of Fieldwork per week for 15 weeks. 1 to 2 hour of Fieldwork per week for 8 weeks. 1 to 2 hour of Fieldwork per week for 6 weeks.
Supervised experience in the practice of journalism in off-campus organizations. Individual meetings with faculty sponsor and written reports required. See Additional Information, "Field Study and Internships."
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 198 Directed Group Study in Journalism 1 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: Seminar with 3 hours of lecture and discussion per week.
Prerequisites: Total grade point average of not less than 3.0 and consent of instructor.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 199 Supervised Individual Study and Research 1 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Undergraduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for pass/not pass grade only.
Hours and format: Supervised individual study and research.
Prerequisites: Total grade point average of not less than 3.0 and consent of instructor.
Enrollment restrictions apply; see department.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 200 Reporting the News 5 - 7 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Fall
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 5 hours of Seminar and 15 hours of Fieldwork per week for 15 weeks.
This course is an intensive 15-week research and workshop experience. It provides the foundation for the rest of the curriculum offered at the J-School. 200 Stresses hard news reporting, writing, and editing. In small classes faculty members with extensive experience in newspaper reporting work to develop the scope and quality of the reporting and writing ability of their students. The researching, reporting, rewriting, and editing schedule is extensive and students work on a range of stories covering a broad spectrum of subjects. The aim is to produce professional level work--publishable newspaper stories--in an environment and timeline similar to a professional environment.
Instructors: Chavez, Drummond, Henry, Gorney, Gunnison, Rasky
JOURN 201 Advanced News Reporting 3 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of seminar and 8 hours of field work in news reporting per week.
Prerequisites: 200 or consent of instructor.
Advanced study of reporting in more complex subject areas and more sophisticated writing styles.
Course may be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 209 Multimedia Reporting Bootcamp 1 Unit
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Fall
Grading: Letter grade.
This is a required one-week intensive multimedia training workshop at the beginning of the fall semester to equip all first-year graduate journalism students with basic knowledge of digital storytelling techniques as well as the use of multimedia equipment and editing software to produce multimedia content. The objective is to train all students—regardless of their planned area of specialty—with some foundational digital skills to be applied during their reporting for the school’s local online news sites in the J200 Intro To Reporting class. The concepts and skills taught during the workshop also will be reaffirmed and expanded over the semester in the Multimedia Skills class.
Instructors: Hermandez, Grabowicz
JOURN 210 News Photography 2 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Hours and format: 2 hours of lecture/discussion plus 4 hours of laboratory and field assignments per week.
Prerequisites: Priority to journalism graduate students.
Fundamentals of photography and taking news photography.
Instructor: Light
JOURN 211 News Reporting Laboratory 2 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Fall
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 to 4 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
This course is an intensive laboratory course taken in conjunction with our core reporting class, 200. It is designed to simulate as closely as possible the deadline and production pressures of a modern, multi-media news organization. Students report to the newsroom during the week to receive their reporting assignments. Print, audio, and video elements are gathered, produced, edited, rewritten as necessary and then made available to pre-selected media outlets for publication. Each section will produce a themed final project.
JOURN 212 Advanced Radio 1 - 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture/discussion per week.
Prerequisites: 275 or consent of instructor.
Radio students may continue to develop their news and production skills in several formats: (1) the reporting and production of the weekly "Inside Oakland" program (broadcast on KALX-FM). Each episode explores a specific theme with focus on the geographic, cultural, and political entity known as Oakland; (2) the collaborative production of a documentary program focusing on a particular topic; (3) the development and production of independent long-form pieces for broadcast on different outlets.
Course may be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructor: Drummond
JOURN 213 Documentary Photography 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
An exploration of magazine photography as applied to photo essay, day assignments and book projects, as well as content based lectures (location lighting, environmental portraiture, etc.) and critiques. Students work on in-depth assignments that include research, reporting, and photographing. Legal/ethical and business issues are explored, including fund-raising and grant writing to support extended projects.
Course may be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructor: Light
JOURN 214 Photography Tutorial 2 - 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
This photo tutorial will emphasize the technical aspects in photography such as darkroom skills, lighting, cropping, composition, editing, and presentation. Students will be working on weekly assignments as well as a final project that would directly correlate with the material covered in class as well as to the courses taught by Ken Light. The tutorial will encourage students to explore the darkroom and to improve not only their conceptual understanding of the medium, but especially their technical, shooting, and printing, knowledge of photography. Several Photoshop tutorials will also be incorporated in the class for those students who are interested in learning digital photography and its possibilities. The sessions will cover scanning, resolution, and tools applicable to image manipulation, color correction, and output. The Photography Tutorial and its content will be, of course, to a large extent determined by the questions raised by students, their levels of experience in the medium, as well as their final goals.
Instructor: Chakarova
JOURN 215 Multimedia Skills 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Workshop per week for 15 weeks.
This class teaches the fundamentals of using digital video, audio, and photo equipment, as well as editing digital files. The class is designed to expose students to what it is like to report in a multimedia environment. While primarily for students taking new media publishing courses, the class will be valuable to any student who wants to better prepare for the emerging convergence of broadcast, print, and web media.
Instructor: Grabowicz
JOURN 216 Multimedia Reporting 2 or 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Workshop per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: 215 (can be taken concurrently); Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and iMovie or Final Cut Pro.
For journalists, the World Wide Web opens a powerful way to tell stories by combining text, video, audio, still photos, graphics, and interactivity. Students learn multimedia-reporting basics, how the web is changing journalism, and its relationship to democracy and community. Students use storyboarding techniques to construct nonlinear stories; they research, report, edit, and assemble two story projects.
Course may be repeated for credit with different topic and consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 217 Introduction to Visual Journalism 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
"Visual Journalism" explores narratives as they are designed, produced, and consumed in various digital forms. This course serves as your introduction to visual journalism. There is no question that the modern journalist requires a platform-agnostic mindset, along with a broad set of multi-platform newsgathering skills and fluency in the current tools while also upholding the timeless journalistic standards of news judgment, accuracy, fairness and truth.
Student Learning Outcomes: Students will conclude the course with a focused base of visual journalism knowledge that they can use as a foundation for other courses at the J-School, as well as the basis for effective and informed ‘newsroom’ discourse and innovation upon graduating.
^Students will explore the topic of visual journalism both critically and theoretically through readings, critical thought, and practical, hands-on development with digital tools and technologies.
Instructor: Hernandez
JOURN 219 Mini-Special Topics 1 Unit
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Hours and format: 2 to 3 hours of Workshop per week for 6 weeks. 2 to 3 hours of Workshop per week for 5 weeks. 2 to 3 hours of Workshop per week for 4 weeks.
A four- to six-week intensive workshop mini-course designed to accompany and enhance other courses in the program. Workshop topics vary from semester to semester, but have included Using the Flash Animation Program, Audio Editing with ProTools, Designing Web Databases, Dynamic Web Page Design, and Using Geographic Information System Programs.
Course may be repeated for credit with different topic and consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 220 Coding For Journalists 2 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Prerequisites: Students must have completed the Digital News Packages class in the fall. Students who have not taken this course should contact the instructor for exceptions to the prerequisite. Basic knowledge of jQuery is highly encouraged.
This course is an introduction to programming concepts as they relate to the journalism industry. The goal of this course is to equip students with a foundational technical literacy to construct interactive online stories such as data visualizations, infographics, maps, multimedia packages, games or innumerable other types of projects students may conceive.
Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructor: Rue
JOURN 221 Introduction to Data Visualization 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
This weekly three-hour course will explore the skills needed to find, clean, analyze and visualize data. The class consists of two hours of instruction and one hour of supervised lab time working on directed projects. Students will create a final project suitable for publication. The focus will be on free and open source tools that can immediately be applied to other projects and professional work.
Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructor: De Groot
JOURN 222 Building Interactive Digital News Packages 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
This class teaches students how to develop interactive online news packages using best practices in design and web development. The course focuses on story structure and production of content and will cover the following topics:
Best practices in developing interactive multimedia stories online;
Design fundamentals and typography for online content;
HTML and CSS for designing and constructing web projects;
jQuery coding for adding interactivity to online content.
Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructors: Grabowicz, Hernandez, Rue
JOURN 223 Advanced Visual Journalism 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
"Visual journalism" explores narratives as they are designed, produced, and consumed in various digital forms. Students will have the opportunity to explore various digital technologies, create and produce narratives, and analyze stories in digital forms. DSLR video narrative, animated visual explainers, data visualization design will all be explored and will serve as the primary areas of inquiry for this project-driven course.
Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructor: Hernandez
JOURN 226 Science Reporting 3 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture/discussion and 8 hours of field work per week.
Prerequisites: For journalism students, 200 or equivalent; for others, consent of instructor.
Advanced study of methods of reporting developments in such fields as science, education, health, or the environment.
Course may be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructor: Pollan
JOURN 228 Political Reporting 3 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture/discussion and 8 hours of field work per week.
Prerequisites: For journalism students, 200 or equivalent; for others, consent of instructor.
Study and discussion of politics and practice in reporting political events and campaigns.
Course may be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructor: Rasky
JOURN 230 Business Reporting 3 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture/discussion and 8 hours of field work per week.
Prerequisites: For journalism students, 200.
Reporting and writing of business, financial, and consumer affairs.
Course may be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 234 International Reporting 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor.
This course is designed for students who are interested in foreign reporting. Course will include a broad overview of the issues that need to be researched when reporting on the politics, economics, and social issues of a foreign country. Past classes have traveled to Mexico, China, Cuba, Hungary, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructors: Chavez, Wakeman
JOURN 237 Reporting on Japan 1 or 2 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
Each semester, this course will focus on a different aspect of Japan. Among other topics, the class may discuss Japan's changing cultural standards or its developing social problems, its political shifts or its history, the changing economy or the shifts in its regional relations and its global role. Through guest speakers--including noted experts, writers, businessmen, and diplomats--and roundtable discussions, students will develop a greater knowledge of the country for use when reporting.
Course may be repeated for credit with different topic and consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructor: Wakeman
JOURN 242 Profiles 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: 200 or consent of instructor.
In this workshop students use the profile form to develop a variety of skills that may be helpful whenever undertaking an ambitious story: figuring out what the story is and why you are writing it; interviewing; observation; background reporting; structuring material; finding your voice; describing people without resorting to cliche; crafting a lead from what seems an infinite number of possibilities. Readings will be from great magazine and newspaper profile writers.
Instructor: Gorney
JOURN 243 Long-Form Writing 3 or 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: 200 or consent of instructor.
This class will trace the process of writing long-form pieces: how writers choose their sources, gather information, organize their material, and decide whether or not to believe what people tell them. Students will act as an editorial board for each other. Readings include profiles, books and book excerpts, Pulitizer-winning newspaper features, and magazine pieces from a variety of outlets. All assignments are intended for publication.
Course may be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructors: Gorney, Pollan
JOURN 254 Opinion Writing 2 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
The reporting, writing, and editing of newspaper editorials and op-ed essays.
Course may be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes. Instructor: Rasky
JOURN 255 Law and Ethics 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Lecture per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: 200 or consent of instructor.
The first eight weeks will concentrate on First Amendment and media law, including libel and slander, privacy, free press/fair trial conflicts, and litigation arising from controversial reporting methods. The closing weeks will focus on ethical dilemmas faced by reporters and editors. Using case studies, readings and guest lecturers, the course examines the murkier conflicts that don't necessarily make it to court but nevertheless force difficult newsroom decision-making.
JOURN 260 Investigative Reporting for TV and Print 2 or 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
Students will be required to investigate leads that are received by the faculty, and prepare briefing papers for the class to introduce guest speakers. They will work on researching and reporting assignments related to documentary productions and print stories for different outlets. "Sources," people with informtion critical to developing a story, need to be developed. The responsibilites of a reporter engaged in developing sourses will be a constant theme of the seminar.
Instructors: Bergman, Gunnison
JOURN 275 Radio News Reporting 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of lecture/discussion and 4 hours of field and laboratory work per week.
Study of techniques, practices, and methods of gathering and writing radio news. Students will produce weekly live radio news programs. Enrollment is limited to 15.
JOURN 282 Introduction to Television News 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Fall
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 4 hours of lecture/discussion, 15 hours of laboratory per week and some field work.
Study of the history and institutions of broadcast journalism (nine weeks), practice, techniques of reporting news for radio and television.
JOURN 283 Reporting for Television 5 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 6 hours of lecture/discussion and 20-4 hours of laboratory/field work per week.
Prerequisites: 282 and consent of instructor.
Producing, directing, writing, and videotaping of live weekly television news program.
JOURN 284 Documentary Production 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture and 12 hours of laboratory/field work per week.
Prerequisites: 282, 283, and consent of instructor.
Production of television documentary news programs.
Instructor: Else
JOURN 285 Advanced Television Reporting: Longform Television 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of lecture, and 15 hours of laboratory/field work per week.
Prerequisites: 282, 283 and consent of instructor.
Reporting and production of television news magazine stories and programs.
Instructors: Bieder, Calo
JOURN 286 History of Documentary 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 3 hours of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
This course covers the evolution of American documentary film from 1920 to the present, with special attention to independent productions and documentaries for network television. In the works of Fred Wiseman, Henry Hampton, Lourdes Portillo, Errol Morris, Marlon Riggs, Barbara Kopple, Orlando Bagwell, the Maysles, and the network staff producers, we look at the practical problems of making documentaries for a mass audience. (Required for J-School students who are considering specializing in documentary.)
Instructor: Else
JOURN 287 Inside Frontline 1 or 2 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Term course may be offered: Spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 hours of Seminar per week for 10 weeks.
This seminar course provides students with the opportunity to meet with and discuss projects with producers and reporters. Each session will focus on a single documentary episode and take an in-depth look on the development of the story out of an idea, the journalistic approach and methods used by the team, the process of finding and creating the appropriate dramatic structure, and the public impact and critique of the program.
JOURN 290 Editing Workshop 2 or 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 to 3 hours of seminar and individual meetings per week.
Prerequisites: Journalism students only; priority to second-year students completing master's project.
It can take a lifetime of writing to learn how to critique and revise your work. Hard as writing can be, rewriting -- breaking back into your own framework, rethinking, re-imagining, and revising -- can be harder yet. Sometimes only an editor can help you gain the distance needed to view your work. No matter how good a journalist you may be, an editor can help you reach another stage in your writing process.
Course may be repeated for credit with different topic and consent of instructor. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 294 Master's Project Seminar 1 - 2 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall and spring
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 1 hour of Seminar per week for 15 weeks.
Prerequisites: 200 and consent of instructor.
Group meetings plus individual tutorials. Methods of research, organization, and preparation of professional thesis projects. Required of M.J. candidates working on thesis projects during both Fall and Spring semesters.
JOURN 297 Field Study in Journalism 1 - 2 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Hours and format: Field study.
Supervised experience in the practice of journalism in off-campus organizations. Individual meeting with faculty sponsor and written reports required. See Additional Information, "Field Study and Internships."
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 298 Group Study - Special Topics 2 - 4 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: 2 to 3 hours of group meeting per week.
Specialized seminar topics in reporting and writing.
Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 299 Individual Study 1 - 3 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Letter grade.
Hours and format: Individual study.
Supervised individual study and research.
Course may be repeated for credit. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
JOURN 601 Individual Study for Master's Students 1 - 8 Units
Department: Journalism
Course level: Graduate examination preparation
Terms course may be offered: Fall, spring and summer
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Hours and format: Individual study.
Prerequisites: Course is restricted to journalism students.
Individual preparation or study in consultation with faculty adviser. Study ultimately leads to the completion of the Master's Project/Examination. Units may not be used to meet either unit or residence requirements for a master's degree.
Course may be repeated for credit with consent of graduate adviser. Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
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