Core Curriculum and General Electives
JOUR 1001-3. Contemporary Mass Media. Examines mass media’s interaction with society and looks at journalism and mass media in historical, intellectual, economic, political, and social contexts.
JOUR 1871 (1-3). Special Topics.
JOUR 2011-3. Media and Public Culture. Introduces the rise and development of mediated communication and its impact on and role within the formation of modern culture and public life. Restricted to JOUR majors.
JOUR 2601-3. Principles of Journalism. Provides an overview of the professional traditions, roles, practices and responsibilities of news media in a democracy. Covers best journalistic practices, how news is defined, truth telling, ethics, reporting and writing in a diverse society, emerging trends and new sources of news, and how business concerns impact the practice of journalism. Promotes the highest professional values and encourages students to be future leaders who recognize the possibilities of journalism in a democratic society. Restricted to majors.
JOUR 3001-3. Public Affairs Reporting. Grounds students in basic reporting and writing skills necessary to become competent journalists. Prereq., JOUR 2601. Restricted to juniors/seniors. May be limited to majors.
JOUR 3771-3. Mass Communication History. Discusses major trends in the development of contemporary American journalism, its role in United States history, famous journalists, and foundations and evolution of freedom of the press. Prereq., junior or senior standing. May be limited to majors.
JOUR 4201-3. International Mass Communication. Covers mass media in the international system, including comparative examinations of national and international press organizations, methods, and content. Also looks at the role of mass media in developed and developing countries and the international flow of news and opinion.
JOUR 4301-3. Media Ethics and Professional Practice. Provides a theoretical framework within which to spot and analyze ethical issues in the mass media. Awakens students to ethical issues; allows them to question the profession’s conventional wisdom; and teaches them how to change those conventions. Same as JOUR 5301. Restricted to junior/senior JOUR students.
JOUR 4311-3. Mass Communication Criticism. Introduces students to the critical perspectives most often employed in qualitative media analysis: semiology, structuralism, Marxism, psychoanalytical criticism, sociological criticism, etc. Texts from contemporary print and broadcast media.
JOUR 4321-3. Media Institutions and Economics. Introduces the institutions and practices of the media industries. Surveys the histories, structures, and activities of these organizations and the contemporary issues surrounding them. Restricted to JOUR majors with a minimum of 73 hours. Same as ETHN 4324 and JOUR 5321.
JOUR 4331-3. Women and Popular Culture. Studies how women are portrayed in mass media, particularly advertising, television, film, and contemporary popular literature. Uses critical methods with a focus on producing responsible viewers and readers. Same as JOUR 5331, WMST 4331.
JOUR 4341-3. Global Media. Examines the ownership of major media, the nature of advertising, the business process outsourcing the Internet enables, news and the entertainment content media provide. Presents an understanding of global/national/local tussles, embedded in history, economics, politics and culture.
JOUR 4651-3. Mass Communication Law. Studies state and federal laws and court decisions that affect mass communication in order to develop knowledge of mass media rights and responsibilities and an understanding of the legal system.
JOUR 4661-3. Newspaper Management. Covers management and organization of newspapers, including an understanding of daily management considerations and what is involved in being an employee in today’s newspaper environment. Same as JOUR 5661.
JOUR 4711-3. Mass Media and Culture. Examines culture in the form of discourse, symbols, and texts transmitted through mass media. Explores the relationship between such mediated culture and social myth and ideology. Same as JOUR 5711.
JOUR 4791-3. Mass Communication and Public Opinion. Topics include opinion-shaping role of the mass media, theories of public opinion and propaganda, polling, communication effects, and communication theories. Same as JOUR 5791.
JOUR 4831-3. Publication Design and Production. Explores fundamentals of design, typography, composition, color, and print media, with an emphasis on both the design process and presentation comps. The focus is on the design of niche and consumer audience publications, such as newsletters, magazines, and collateral print. May be limited to majors. Same as JOUR 5831.
JOUR 4841 (1-3). Undergraduate Independent Study.
JOUR 4871 (1-3). Special Topics.
JOUR 4931 (1-6). Internship.
JOUR 5001 (1-4). Research in Journalism. Offers students the opportunity to participate in research projects with faculty members or pursue their own primary research interests.
JOUR 5201-3. International Mass Communication. Same as JOUR 4201.
JOUR 5301-3. Media Ethics and Professional Practice. Same as JOUR 4301.
JOUR 5321-3. Media Institutions and Economics. Same as JOUR 4321.
JOUR 5331-3. Women and Popular Culture. Same as JOUR 4331.
JOUR 5511-3. Newsgathering 1. Covers problems and practice in reporting news of government, politics, the courts, and industry, business, science, and other areas involving public issues. For graduate students only.
JOUR 5521-3. Precision Journalism. Instructs students in computer-assisted reporting, including a knowledge of commercial databases, global information networks, and the use of spreadsheets to analyze census data and other complex information.
JOUR 5651-3. Mass Communication Law. Studies state and federal laws and court decisions that affect mass communication in order to develop knowledge of mass media rights and responsibilities and an understanding of the legal system.
JOUR 5661-3. Newspaper Management. Same as JOUR 4661.
JOUR 5711-3. Mass Media and Culture. Same as JOUR 4711.
JOUR 5791-3. Mass Communication and Public Opinion. Same as JOUR 4791.
JOUR 5831-3. Publication Design and Production. Same as JOUR 4831.
JOUR 5841 (1-3). Graduate Independent Study.
JOUR 5851 (1-6). Graduate Professional Project.
JOUR 5861-3. Visual Communication. Visual communication involves understanding both perception of messages and construction of them. Students analyze their visual thinking abilities and develop habits of visual analysis and criticism, as well as visual communication skills.
JOUR 5871 (1-3). Special Topics.
JOUR 5931 (1-3). Internship.
JOUR 6051-3. Theories of Mass Communication. Studies theories and perspectives of mass communication and explores the role of mass media in society.
JOUR 6061-3. Mass Communication Research. Continuation of JOUR 6051, emphasizing experimental and survey research methods.
JOUR 6071-3. Critical Theories of Media and Culture. Introduction to critical theories and analysis of media and popular culture. Examines major theoretical traditions and/or theorists that significantly inform media studies (e.g., culturalism, structuralism, Marxism, critical theory, feminism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism) and applies these to media analysis and criticism.
JOUR 6201-3. Readings in International Mass Communication. Covers mass communication within the international system, including similarities and differences in functions, facilities, and content; social theories of the press; and the international flow of mass communication.
JOUR 6211-3. Communication and International Development. Studies and analyzes communications technologies and techniques used in addressing social problems in developing countries.
JOUR 6301-3. Communication, Media, and Concepts of the Public. Introduces students to historical and contemporary uses of fundamental concepts in research and theory about media institutions, particularly public, community, mass, publicity, public space, public opinion, public interest, and the public sphere.
JOUR 6311-3. Seminar: Freedom of Expression. Studies free-speech issues in the context of current and historical philosophical foundations for freedom of expression.
JOUR 6321-3. Literary Journalism. Analyzes the work of journalists who became some of the greatest fiction writers of the 19th and 20th centuries, and examines the increasingly indistinct lines between journalism and narrative fiction.
JOUR 6331-3. Political Communication. Explores the dynamic relationships involving media and politics, focusing primarily on the American political system. Readings and seminar discussion incorporate normative and empirical perspectives on the media-politics complex. Areas covered include media effects on public opinion and policy, uses of media in governance, journalism sociology, coverage of elections, and implications of interactive media for governance and civic participation.
JOUR 6341-3. Children and the Media. Examining the concepts of children and childhood from the historical, social, cultural, economic and political perspectives, this course explores the interaction between mass media and the socialization and cultivation process of children and youth. Many theoretical traditions are used as a framework to study a variety of issues, such as multicultural literature for children and Disney’s role in storytelling, and tween movies and the tweens.
JOUR 6551-3. Telecommunication Policy. Surveys historical and contemporary developments in telecommunications policy, emphasizing social and cultural dimensions, and focusing primarily on the context of the United States.
JOUR 6651-3. Media Law. Graduate seminar in communications law. Studies changing law and applied legal research techniques.
JOUR 6661-3. Media Ethics and Responsibility. Develops a theoretical framework with which to recognize and analyze ethical issues as they arise in the mass media.
JOUR 6671-3. Media, Myth, and Ritual. Anthropological and interpretative exploration of cultural practices of media audiences. Addresses theoretical and methodological implications of studying audiences from a culturalist perspective, with particular focus on media audience practices. Students engage in field research projects related to course content.
JOUR 6711-3. Mass Communication, Culture. Inquiry into relationship of the arts and the mass media, including study of critics, their function, and their works.
JOUR 6721-3. Message Effectiveness. Investigates how mass media messages work in terms of such effects as perception, learning and comprehension, and persuasion. Effectiveness is analyzed in terms of how well mass communication messages meet their objectives.
JOUR 6771-3. History of Mass Communication. Examines specialized areas in the history of mass communication.
JOUR 6781-3. Economic and Political Aspects of Mass Communication. Discusses economic problems and political issues relevant to newspapers, magazines, broadcasting, and CATV. Examines problems of telecommunications and the impact of future technology on mass communication.
JOUR 6951 (1-6). Master’s Thesis.
JOUR 7011-3. Proseminar in Communication Theory 1. Introduces the principal concepts, literature, and theoretical and paradigmatic perspectives of media studies and mass communication and their ties and contributions to parallel domains in the social sciences and humanities.
JOUR 7021-3. Proseminar in Communication Theory 2. Continuation of JOUR 7011. Prereq., JOUR 7011.
JOUR 7051-3. Qualitative Research Methods in Mass Communication. Examines various methods of qualitative data gathering and analysis in the mass media context.
JOUR 7061-3. Quantitative Research Methods in Mass Communication. Examines various methods of quantitative data gathering methods and analysis in the mass media context.
JOUR 7871-3. Special Topics.
JOUR 8991 (1-10). Doctoral Thesis.
