Journalism

College of Liberal & Creative Arts

Dean: Dr. Andrew Harris

Department of Journalism

Humanities Building, Room 305
Phone: (415) 338-1689
Email: jour@sfsu.edu
Website: journalism.sfsu.edu
Chair: Dr. Cristina L. Azocar

Mission Statement

To educate students and provide leadership in an evolving media landscape by promoting integrity, creativity, innovation, and social responsibility in accurately telling the stories of a multicultural world.

Program Scope

The Bachelor of Arts in Journalism prepares students for careers in journalism. This is accomplished by providing instruction that requires students to demonstrate a working knowledge of the skills, laws, ethics, power, and responsibilities of the news media. A strong liberal arts education also is required.

The main goals of the program's skills courses are to help students become accurate and thorough researchers; incisive thinkers who can gauge the quality of information; precise, clear, and graceful writers; technically, aesthetically fine photojournalists; and competent digital technologists. Many students choose the major because these skills provide excellent preparation for numerous occupations, not only for journalism.

Students in the Print/Online concentration are required to take introductory courses in research, reporting, writing, digital skills, and editing. Photojournalism concentration students are required to take introductory courses in writing, digital skills, and reporting as well as courses in basic photography and news photography. All students are required to take courses in multimedia journalism. Specialized courses for Print/Online students reflect different areas of expertise–feature writing, public journalism, opinion writing, investigative reporting, magazine writing, design courses, and visual journalism for writers and editors. Photojournalism students gain expertise in lighting and telling stories through photographs. To understand the role of journalism in society, students are also required to take courses in mass media, journalism ethics and law, and cultural diversity. Students are strongly urged to develop speaking, writing, and listening competency in a second language.

Minor in Non-Journalism Discipline

Because the practice of journalism requires an understanding of larger social, political, and cultural issues in society, the program requires students to complete a minor in a liberal arts or science discipline. The list of approved minors can be found on the Journalism department website at http://journalism.sfsu.edu/pages/list-approved-minors. Students should consult with an academic advisor in Journalism to determine the best minor for their interests and professional goals.

Capstone

To give students pre-professional experience, the program requires students to work on a laboratory publication with an international online and broad print circulation. These publications are produced by classes and are taken for credit. Consistent with the department's commitment to protect students' First Amendment rights, students have editorial control of the publications. Students must complete one semester of publication. In their second semester, they can choose between working on the student publication, completing an approved internship, completing a senior seminar project, or working in the department’s News Bureau for professional publications. Students should consult with an advisor to choose the option that works best for them.

Internships

Students may earn up to 3 units for approved journalism internships and, if the internship is rigorous, they may receive credit toward capstone requirements. Students should visit the department's internship website to find forms and approved internships http://journalism.sfsu.edu/pages/internship-information. Participating in internships is strongly encouraged. Students who succeed in finding journalism jobs upon graduation are generally those who have two or more internship experiences before they graduate.

Advising

To help students stay on top of the challenges they face, the department strongly encourages all majors and minors to receive academic advising with a Journalism faculty advisor every semester. The department office makes appointments via email. Students are asked to provide advisors with ongoing records of their complete academic record for the department advising folders. Upper-division students will have mandatory advising every year (seniors in the fall and juniors in the spring) and will have a hold placed on their registration until it's completed. The department will send an email notifying upper-division students about mandatory advising.

The Department and Faculty

The Journalism Department is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC). It is a member of the California Newspaper Publishers Association and sponsors a student chapter of the National Press Photographers Association.

The faculty includes nine full-time members and a fluctuating number of part-time instructors, most of them active journalists. Faculty encourage and assist students in finding jobs and internships.

Career Outlook

The writing, editing, photography, and online news courses combined with an emphasis on critical thinking, ethics, and clear expression, prepare students for entry-level jobs in a wide variety of print, online and broadcast news organizations and magazines, and many fields outside journalism. The department’s national reputation for excellence and diversity has drawn the attention of news organizations around the country, making it a key place for job and internship recruitment.

Journalism Learning Outcomes

1. News Judgment: Work demonstrates news judgment that identifies and develops story ideas through observation, reading, and paying attention to their environment.
2. Critical and Independent Thinking: Work demonstrates an ability to synthesize information, think independently, and work through problems using inference and logic.
3. Cultural Competence: Work demonstrates an understanding of a variety of cultures and how those cultures influence perspectives, attitudes, and personal interaction with the world.
4. Writing: Work demonstrates concise, clear, and accurate writing that engages the audience with compelling storytelling.
5. Analytical Competence: Work demonstrates an ability to discern and weigh the quality of information they gather, as well as know how to analyze and interpret it.
6. Research and Reporting: Work demonstrates an ability to methodically find information through personal interviews, public documents, and the internet.
7. Media Literacy: Work demonstrates an ability to competently navigate through a rapidly changing media world, understanding media’s influence on society, community, and the democratic process, and that students also understand the power of visual storytelling in shaping society’s understanding of the world.
8. Ethics, Integrity, and the Law: Work demonstrates knowledge and practice of ethical standards and constitutional laws that guide journalism excellence.
9. Critical Evaluation: Work demonstrates critical evaluation of their own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style, and grammatical correctness.
10. Data and Numbers: Work demonstrates the ability to apply basic numerical and statistical concepts.
11. Technology: Work demonstrates an ability to know when and how to apply technology in their professional work.
12. Visual Competence: Work demonstrates a technically competent ability to research, find, and capture a concise and compelling story that reflects the gamut of human experience in a variety of formats.

Majors

• Bachelor of Arts in Journalism: Concentration in Print and Online Journalism
• Bachelor of Arts in Journalism: Concentration in Photojournalism

Minor

• Minor in Journalism