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M.A. in Social Journalism

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The application for the Class of 2022 is now open.

Social journalism is all about finding new ways to serve communities. It is an M.A. degree focused on the skills that are hot in journalism today, like engagement, social video, audience growth, social news gathering and verification, data, analytics, social media tools, design thinking, product development, and more.

As with more traditional journalism graduate programs, students have the opportunity to hone their reporting, research and multimedia skills. But the social journalism program has a special emphasis on learning how to listen, build relationships, and produce tangible impact. Students practice the techniques needed to build sustainable media businesses by growing loyalty and establishing trust with audiences.

Students choose a community to serve throughout the program, broadly defined and not limited by geography. They culminate their experience with an independent project and/or an internship. They work with some of the leading practitioners of community engagement and have the opportunity to participate in projects in partnership with leading news organizations like ProPublica and The Guardian, among others.

For more information about this unique degree, contact Carrie Brown, director of the Social Journalism Program at carrie.brown@journalism.cuny.edu, or the Office of Admissions, admissions@journalism.cuny.edu. You can also follow our Medium publication.

how to apply

FAQs

REMOTE REPORTER: Engaged Reporting in the age of COVID-19
Play VideoREMOTE REPORTER: Engaged Reporting in the age of COVID-19

The 36-credit degree requires 16 months to complete, including the summer.

Our Faculty

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Curriculum

All courses are required.

Semester I  (Fall)
Community Engagement
Reporting for Social Journalism
Social Media Tools
Fundamentals of Multimedia

Semester 2  (Spring)
Metric and Outcomes
Advanced Reporting for Social Journalism
Ethical and Legal Considerations
Data Skills

Summer
Summer Internship

Semester 3  (Fall)
Startup Sprint
Community Practicum
Design and Development

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Student Work

Social journalism students participate in collaborative projects that emphasize the depth of community engagement at the core of the program.

  • Simi Kadirgamar, ‘20 is the founder of the Palmyra Zine, an engagement project that asks journalists to reflect on their sourcing process by highlighting stories from Kashmir. 
  • Terrence Fraser, ‘20, worked with VICE producing videos on how to film cops and Brooklyn’s illegal firework scene. He also worked with tenants at risk of eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic, raising awareness using art posters. 
  • Allison Dikanovic, ‘20 worked with East New York tenants, engaging with and sending them regular updates via THE CITY’s Open Newsroom project and Rent Update newsletter. Her reporting on rent relief, eviction moratoriums and more can be found on THE CITY. 
  • Jake Wasserman, ‘20, worked on an investigative project on the census and COVID-19 for Quartz. During his fellowship with Mountain Spotlight, he created a texting bot for West Virginia residents to use to inquire about mail-in ballots.
  • John Philp, ‘20, created Gun Country, a multimedia platform that seeks to introduce a new kind of conversation about guns in the U.S.  
  • Diara Townes, ‘19, is an investigative researcher and the community engagement lead for First Draft’s US bureau.

Graduates of the social journalism program have moved on to positions at Univision, ProPublica, Sports Illustrated, Meetup, and NowThis News, among others.

Contact Us

Contact us if you have any questions about the M.A. in Social Journalism program or its application process.

Carrie Brown
Director of M.A. in Journalism
carrie.brown@journalism.cuny.edu

Office of Admissions
admissions@journalism.cuny.edu