About the Program
The Journalism Minor at UC Berkeley gives students hands-on training to modernize their skills across a wide range of media platforms. Classes are offered on a range of topics that include narrative writing, web skills, social media, photography, video, and audio reporting.
No matter your major or intended profession, literacy today requires the ability to communicate with text, pictures, video, and sound. In these courses, you will learn how to shape information into compelling, well-reported narratives. Instruction will focus on teaching students to use the latest digital tools to engage with audiences in their work and to think critically and responsibly about information.
The minor degree is open to all Berkeley students. For visitors—including students from abroad, other UC campuses, or from other universities—a certificate option is available. Courses are also open to students who are neither seeking the minor or a certificate, and just want to learn a new skill or gain a better understanding of journalistic media forms.
The Journalism Minor is housed in the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, which is widely regarded as one of the top professional journalism programs in the United States. Its teaching faculty is composed of distinguished current and former professional journalists who bring real-world expertise to the classroom. The Master of Journalism program was launched in 1951 and established as a professional school at UC Berkeley in 1968.
Declaring the Minor
Students intending to complete the journalism minor degree should fill out a Declaration of Intent form (available on the program home page) and submit it to the Berkeley Journalism Student Services department no later than the start of their final course.
Students with a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor. These programs have set requirements and are noted officially on the transcript in the memoranda section, but are not noted on diplomas.
Minor Requirements
The Journalism minor requires completion of five courses.
There are two required introductory courses. The first, J100, covers journalistic reporting, writing, principles and ethics. The second course --J110 -- covers new forms of digital media and techniques of online storytelling.
After successfully completing the two required courses, students then choose three elective courses from among a menu of eight. The electives give students deeper hands-on training in specialized reporting and/or multimedia production.
General Guidelines
- The minor degree requires 15 units (five 3-unit courses).
- All courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be taken for graded credit.
- A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required for courses used to fulfill the minor requirements.
- All minor requirements must be completed prior to the last day of finals during the semester in which you plan to graduate.
- The minor is open to enrollment for all Berkeley students.
- No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| JOURN 100 | Foundations of News Gathering | 3 |
| JOURN 110 | Introduction to Multimedia | 3 |
| Electives (Choose Three) | ||
| JOURN 111 | Social Media and Journalism | 3 |
| JOURN 115 | Advanced Multimedia | 3 |
| JOURN 112 | Intro to Podcasting | 3 |
| JOURN 122 | The Future of Visual Storytelling | 3 |
| JOURN 120 | Investigative Reporting | 3 |
| JOURN 124 | Introduction to Data Journalism | 3 |
| JOURN 130 | Specialty Reporting | 3 |
| JOURN 134 | International Reporting | 3 |
Faculty and Instructors
* Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.
Faculty
Geeta Anand, Dean and Professor. Investigative reporting, narrative non-fiction, healthcare, international reporting.
David Barstow, Professor. Reva and David Logan Distinguished Chair of Investigative Journalism.
Lowell Bergman, Professor Emeritus. National security, forensic science, terrorism, corporate crime, corruption, tobacco, Symposium in Investigative Reporting.
Research Profile
Andres Cediel, Professor. Immigration, documentary film, video, human rights, climate change, forensic science.
Lydia Chavez, Professor Emeritus. Jounalism, reporting, writing.
Research Profile
Elena Conis, Associate Professor. Science, health, environment, public health, medicine, history.
Research Profile
Mark D. Danner, Professor. Central America, politics, Balkans, foreign affairs, journalism, Haiti, documentaries.
Research Profile
William J. Drummond, Professor. Politics, journalism, reporting, national security, freelancing in both print and radio.
Research Profile
Richard Hernandez, Assistant Professor. Journalism, new media, Mobile, visual storytelling.
Research Profile
Ken Light, Adjunct Professor. Journalism, photojournalism, documentary photography.
Research Profile
Michael Pollan, Professor. Agriculture, environment, obesity, science, nutrition, journalism, food, cooking, gardening.
Research Profile
Edward Wasserman, Professor. Media ethics, economics and politics of news, professional standards, media history.
Research Profile
Lecturers
Thomas R. Burke, Lecturer.
Marilyn M. Chase, Lecturer.
Deirdre English, Lecturer.
Adam Hochschild, Lecturer.
Jennifer Kahn, Lecturer.
Thomas Peele, Lecturer.
Jeremy Rue, Lecturer.
Abbie Vansickle, Lecturer.
James R. Wheaton, Lecturer.
Samantha G. Wiesler, Lecturer.
Emeritus Faculty
Joan Bieder, Senior Lecturer SOE Emeritus. History of Jewish communities in South East Asia.
Research Profile
Robert Calo, Professor Emeritus. Journalism, cultural geography, social history, urban affairs, television news production.
Research Profile
Jon Else, Professor Emeritus. Directing, history, film, journalism, writing, documentary, producing, cinematography, nuclear weapons.
Research Profile
Timothy Ferris, Professor Emeritus.
Tom Goldstein, Professor Emeritus. Journalism, mass communications, writer, reporter, editor.
Research Profile
Cynthia Gorney, Professor Emeritus. Ethics, law, journalism, writing, reporting the news, profiles.
Research Profile
Neil Henry, Professor Emeritus. Race, Africa, urban society, journalism, newspapers, community reporting, journalistic values, foreign reporting, sports, fraud.
Research Profile
Thomas C. Leonard, Professor Emeritus. Journalism, the press, role of the press in society, journalists and historians, Americans, American history.
Research Profile
A. Kent Macdougall, Professor Emeritus.
Carolyn Wakeman, Professor Emeritus.
Contact Information
Graduate School of Journalism
121 North Gate Hall
Phone: 510-642-3383
Fax: 510-643-9136
Director of Undergraduate Programs
David E. Thigpen
B1-A in North Gate Hall
Phone: 650-532-9028