Program Notes

The Boston University Master of Science in Journalism prepares students to excel as master storytellers, with an emphasis on narrative writing and digital and visual journalism across platforms. Over three semesters, you’ll learn to analyze and explain complex events, across multiple media, while upholding top journalism standards.

First-semester classes prepare you to work across platforms in a professional newsroom. Classwork focuses on law, ethics, techniques of journalism and introduction to digital media with an emphasis on reporting, news judgment, writing and visual skills.

Then, you’ll sample from courses that offer specialized training in investigations, data-driven journalism, photojournalism, and more. A faculty adviser assists students to tailor individual programs from the many courses available in journalism and across the University.

Finally, under the direction of a senior faculty member, you’ll produce a professional-quality final Master’s Project to showcase your skills and interests.

Hands-On Learning

Journalism is a field best mastered by doing while studying — and Boston University offers a wide range of experiential opportunities. Students power COM-sponsored newsrooms such as the BU News Service, WTBU radio and BUTV10 television, as well as the award-winning independent Daily Free Press newspaper.

Many students take advantage of BU’s proximity to the state capitol to report on politics and legislation as part of COM’s Statehouse Program. Others head south and spend a semester in the nation’s capital for the University’s Washington DC Multimedia & Journalism Program.

Students may collaborate with students at other universities on joint investigations, or work with students in other degree programs as part of the interdisciplinary COM Lab. Campus chapters of national news associations, such as the Society of Professional Journalists and National Press Photographers Association, also are active at Boston University.

COM works with students to land top job placements, leveraging media relationships with fellowship programs and local newsrooms in Boston and across the country — such as paid fellowships with WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station, and the Program on Global Health Storytelling, co-sponsored by the Pulitzer Center in Washington.

Professors, Still Reporters

COM’s journalism professors and lecturers practice what they teach.

Faculty are highly experienced, well-connected professionals in the field who give students an insider’s take. They write bestsellers, produce documentaries, take Pulitzer-Prize-winning photos, conduct investigations, and create content of all kinds. They come from print, television, radio and online-first newsrooms.

Moreover, graduate students are treated as emerging colleagues by professors who believe in learning by doing and are committed to preparing them for the promising careers ahead.

Benefit from Boston

One of BU’s greatest resources is its location. Consistently ranked among the most livable cities in the world, Boston is “America’s college town,” a city rich in history while remaining on the cutting edge. Boston is a Top 10 U.S. media market, and home to some of the world’s best news outlets such as the Boston Globe, WBUR public radio, and GBH public radio and television, a statehouse news bureau service, and five commercial television newsrooms — all offering boundless opportunities for internships and careers.

Purpose Driven

COM stands out from our peers. Our faculty offers a mix of researchers and practitioners who endorse a cross-discipline, hands-on approach to learning. Our location lies at the heart of an electric, media-savvy city.

But it may be COM’s shared values that matter most. We believe that communication requires diversity, critical thinking, and creative expression. We believe that communication must be grounded in truth, authenticity, effectiveness, and purpose. We believe that communication builds understanding among people and across society.