Journalism Minor

List of Courses
CN 210 Ethics in Communication (3 credit hours)
Ethics in Communication is a discussion-based exploration into the concepts of communicative choice and responsibility as they relate to specific problems and questions in communicative situations.

CN 231 Critical Studies of Mass Communication (3)
Critical Studies in Mass Communication is a critical survey of the various aspects of the mass media focusing in television, films and advertisement.

EH 312 Journalism (3)
Introduces the procedures for gathering, reporting, and editing news stories. Emphases is on the mastery of journalistic style in writing headlines, leads, and hard news and feature articles.

JN 300 Journalism Internship (1-3)
The student is provided with the opportunity to seek an internship in an area related to journalism. A student will be accepted into the course by permission only and must have junior standing and completed six (6) hours within the Journalism minor.

JN 290 Public Relations (3)
Public relations, often defined as the planned effort to influence opinion through socially responsible performance based on mutually satisfactory two-way communication, requires a practitioner to be a specialist in communications, an analyst of public opinion, and a counselor to administrators. This course is designed to introduce students to public relations as a profession, with emphasis on the specific communications skills, knowledge of human behavior, and ethical considerations involved in building public relationships in an increasingly complex society. Areas to be covered include an overview of the functions, the processes, and the practice of public relations, and the issues involved in professionalism and ethical performance.

JN 291 News Gathering and Dissemination (3)
In this course, students will learn the theory and practice of news and feature gathering and reporting. Emphasis will be placed on how a reporter works in the field for radio, television, or print. Areas to be covered include looking for information, observations, the use of sources, interviewing principles and practices, beat coverage, and ethics and responsibilities. (There will be some focus on writing, but writing skills will be dealt with primarily in EH 312 Journalism.)

JN 390 Editing and Publishing (3)
In this course, students will learn theory and practice for editing and publishing of different types of publications ranging from newspapers, magazines, and newsletters. Areas to be covered include story selection, cutting, design, and paste-up. Special attention will be paid to computer-aided and nontraditional publishing.

JN 391 Broadcasting (3)
In this course, students will learn the theory and practice of radio and/or television broadcasting. Topics covered will include such items as production, news, programming, and the use of technical equipment Hands on learning at a local facility will be a significant part of the course.

SES 425 Sport Journalism (3)
This course is designed to teach students the basics of sports journalism including the writing of pre- and post-game stories and feature sports articles. In addition, the course will emphasize the abilities and knowledge necessary for becoming a Sports Information Director.

In addition to these courses, special topics classes are often offered. For instance, in Fall, 2000, we had a course on Feature Writing. And, in the Spring of 2001, we offered a class in photojournalism.