Subject Concentrations
In their second semester, students will also choose a subject matter concentration, selecting from:
Students will take three courses in their subject concentration that build upon one another. However, they will also have the flexibility to take a course that interests them in another concentration or select from a handful of electives.
The purpose is to develop an expertise in an area that could be pursued following graduation. Once students develop the skills required to be an analytic journalist in one specialty area, those skills can be applied to covering any specialty or beat area in the future.
Degree Requirements and Core Courses
The course of study for the M.A. degree in Journalism is challenging and requires full-time attendance. Students complete 45-48 units of course work in three semesters, participate in a comprehensive summer internship, and produce a substantial final or capstone project.
The curriculum is built upon a core of seven common courses, followed by options for media tracks and subject matter concentrations. The core courses stress the foundation skills and knowledge that all good journalists must have, including reporting, writing and editing skills and analytic thinking needed to deal with complex subjects. Other core courses cover journalistic ethics and legal issues, research techniques, and fundamentals of interactive media such as online journalism, multimedia presentation, Web site design and blogging.
Media Tracks
All students will be prepared to work in the converged newsroom of the future, where they may be asked to work in multiple media formats. They will also have the opportunity to specialize in a media format that most interests them. Beginning in the second semester, students will choose to pursue courses in either the print, broadcast or interactive media track. Each track has a sequence of three courses that build upon one another. Students will have the freedom to substitute a course from another track if they wish. Through the Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism course, January Academy offerings and special seminars throughout the year, all students will gain exposure to, and build competence in, a variety of techniques and technologies for telling stories across media platforms.
Capstone Project
To graduate, students must complete a "capstone" project - a professional-level piece of work - in their selected media format. In the broadcast track, this will be at least a nine-minute segment prepared to air on CUNY TV. In the print track, it will be a publishable article of at least 3,000 words. In the interactive media track, it will be a major website package that is multimedia and interactive or a new media product developed by the student. Print and new media capstone projects will be posted on the NYC Community News Service Web site operated by the Graduate School of Journalism.
January Academy
Between the first and second semesters, the school offers a variety of optional enrichment courses for students who choose to take advantage of them. Examples include a three-day workshop on freelance writing, courses in international reporting, sportswriting, computer-assisted reporting, and even an introduction to Flash, the multimedia presentation tool. During this period, students in the broadcast track are required to take a concentrated version of the Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism course.
