Photo of students in news studio

Department of Journalism » Broadcast

Broadcast Journalism Overview: Undergraduate

The department provides all undergraduates with the opportunity to study journalism in its broadest aspects: its history and literature; its laws, regulations, and ethics; its traditional role as a motivator and critic of government in a dynamic, democratic society; and its total effect as a social and economic institution. In addition, students acquire professional skill training, including reporting, feature and editorial writing, editing, producing, news selection, photography, and media management. Boston, as the state capital and a recognized cultural, financial, media, educational, and scientific center, provides special opportunities for the training of journalists.

The Department of Journalism offers programs with specializations in newspaper reporting and editing, magazine writing, photojournalism, multimedia and interactive publishing, and television and radio journalism.

At the end of the sophomore year, in consultation with an advisor, journalism majors select a liberal arts concentration in one of three areas: social sciences, humanities, or sciences. Students take five courses in the selected area, three of which must be in the same department. For example, a student with an interest in reporting urban affairs might choose a specialization in social science, and during the junior and senior years might take courses in political science, history, and economics.

Broadcast Journalism Sequence

The Broadcast Journalsim sequence emphasizes original reporting in television and radio, and multimedia. The program is designed for students who seek careers in writing, researching, and production of televsion and radio news and documentary programming.

Students are encouraged to participate in broadcast journalism internships at local radio or television stations during the summer months. Students are directed, wherever possible, to work assignments for the University radio station, WBUR-FM; the campus radio station, WTBU; and Neighborhood Network News, Boston's cable television news program.

Curriculum

The following courses are required of all journalism majors and are taken concurrently with those in one of the sequences.

Find the complete listing of undergraduate course descriptions in the COM bulletin.

Core Courses
  • COM CO 201 Introduction to Communication Writing (prereq for JO 307)
  • COM JO 307 Newswriting and Reporting I (prereq for JO 308 and JO 351)
  • COM JO 357 History and Principles of Journalism
  • COM JO 525 Media Law and Ethics
Broadcast Journalism
  • COM JO 351 Writing and Reporting for Broadcast News
  • COM JO 401 Television Documentary Production or
    COM JO 431 Enterprise Reporting
  • COM JO 451 Television Newsroom

A minimum of two additional Journalism electives selected in consultation with advisor.

Each undergraduate journalism major must satisfy a five-course liberal arts concentration requirement. This requirement must be completed in the 300-level or above courses within the concentration or with a combination of three of these concentration courses and a maximum of two related 300-level or above courses approved by your faculty advisor as acceptable material related to your concentration (for example: a political science course might be approved for a history concentration). Related courses that are approved must be noted in a petition signed by the faculty advisor in the student’s file.

COM Course Maximum

The Department of Journalism requires that its students take no more than 11 courses within the College of Communication. The goal is to encourage the acquisition of a broad and deep liberal arts education. This requirement may be appealed, in special cases, to the chairman. In any case, it does not include COM CO 101/102, any 2-credit course, or those COM courses designated as non-writing-intensive.

Broadcast and Cable Opportunities

The College of Communication is committed to offering students academic and professional opportunities in the newest communication technologies. The College has joined with the Boston Cable Access and Programming Foundation to produce Neighborhood Network News, a nightly evening newscast made available to more than 300,000 potential cable-viewing households in Boston. A fully equipped broadcast journalism newsroom and a production studio are located in COM. Students work closely with professional staff to write, edit, report, and produce the newscast.

Washington Journalism Center

The Washington Journalism Center offers senior journalism and graduate students the chance to spend a semester in Washington, D.C., meeting newsmakers, working in the bureaus of national news organizations, reporting on Congress and the federal government for New England news outlets, and studying political reporting. In addition to a course in political reporting, additional seminars on the legislative process, money and politics, and political feature writing are offered by national journalists. Students are provided with internships in the D.C. bureaus of national print and broadcast news organizations. They also serve as the Washington correspondents for New England news outlets through the Boston University Washington News Service, which has a newsroom also equipped with state-of-the-art television and radio equipment in the Boston University Washington Center on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest Washington. Upon successful completion of the program, students earn 16 credits.

Statehouse Program

The Boston University Statehouse Program covers Massachusetts government and politics for a dozen newspapers and radio stations around the state. Every semester, the program publishes 140 byline stories in state papers, providing a public service for the state’s newspaper readers and advancing the education and experience of students in the program.

The Statehouse Program also provides longer news-features tied to state issues and pictures to help illustrate those stories.

We can be reached at bustatehouse@gmail.com or at 617-353-7736.