Courses
The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular term. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.
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COM JO 507: Video Community Reporting
This class is about the stories that don’t start with the police scanner. They are the stories you find and develop. At their best, they have focus, strong visuals, compelling sound and wonderful writing. This is also the finishing school course that will launch you into your career. We’ll sharpen the skills you’ve learned at COM & work on long-form stories. I want you to start thinking and acting like professionals. Pay attention to the world around you. If you see it - shoot it. Look for the unanswered question and the story behind the headline. Focus. Be a storyteller. Bring all that you’ve learned to every project. We’ll work on content and presentation. The goal: Have you “Air Ready” in 13 classes. -
COM JO 508: Multi-platform Story Editing
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (COMJO200 & COMJO205) - Graduate Prerequisites: (COMJO704 & COMJO721) - Whether you go to work for a print, broadcast or digital only newsroom, or produce content for your own start-up or non-profit, knowing how to properly edit content for multiple platforms is critical. This course is designed to give you hands-on experience with editing for multiple platforms. Examples of typical assignments: Editing a text story for print and web, writing a headline and description for YouTube video, copy editing photo captions for a photo gallery, fact checking social media. Students will put what they've learned to practical use by editing content that will run on the department's award-winning showcase news site for journalism students' work. -
COM JO 509: Bearing Witness
Pre-requisites: Undergrad - COM JO205; Graduate - COM JO710. This course introduces students to documentary journalism as a form of long-form visual reporting. It is a production-intensive class that examines documentary aesthetics, ethics, and genres. Throughout the semester, students research, produce, shoot, and edit a six-to-ten-minute documentary short, learning how to build a story from initial idea through final edit. Instruction focuses on story development, ethical decision-making, interviewing, visual storytelling, sound, narrative structure, and editing. Through screenings, discussions, and intensive hands-on work, Students learn to identify and produce compelling long-form video stories grounded in the journalistic principles of accuracy, fairness, and transparency. Class time is divided among screenings, discussions, camera and editing workshops, and work-in-progress critiques, with an emphasis on revision and learning through critique. -
COM JO 511: Covering Government and Politics
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (COMJO200 & COMJO210) - Graduate Prerequisites: (COMJO721) - This class provides instruction in covering state government, including legislative process, analyzing data, interviewing, and developing beats. Students learn how to write so that readers understand significant issues. Guest lectures, readings, and exercises explore the dynamics of political and public affairs reporting. Taken in the same semester as JO546 (Statehouse Program) as part of the Boston Statehouse Program. Class is open to journalism majors in all specializations. Four credits, every semester. (Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM JO 200 and JO 210. Graduate Prerequisites: COM JO 721.) -
COM JO 512: Designing Media
This is a studio course where students learn the elements of design. Students design a newsletter and sample pages for a magazine on topics of their own choosing. Students design with Adobe Creative applications. This course covers the principles of typography, composition, and visual language and encourages creative/innovative ideas. All projects will be portfolio pieces. 4 cr., either sem. -
COM JO 513: Advanced Photojournalism
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (COMJO312) or consent of instructor. - Graduate Prerequisites: and consent of instructor. - An intensive course designed to give students the skills necessary to produce professional quality work meeting publication standards, with emphasis on storytelling in the visual medium. Weekly assignments require students to produce original picture packages complete with written material and captions. Four credits, fall and spring semesters. (Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM JO 205/303 and JO 312; or consent of instructor. Graduate Prerequisites: JO 706 or consent of instructor.) -
COM JO 514: Sports Journalism
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (COMJO200) - Graduate Prerequisites: (COMJO721) - A special-topic writing course for students interested in a career in sports journalism. Topics include game stories, features, columns, and profiles, as well as examining sport as a commercial enterprise. Four credits, fall and spring semesters. (Undergraduate Prerequisite: COM JO 200. Graduate Prerequisite: COM JO 721.) -
COM JO 516: Foreign Reporting
Undergraduate Prerequisites: Pre-req: JO200 or JO721 - This course covers the practical, critical, and theoretical issues involved in reporting the world for domestic audiences. How can journalists best report on different cultures? How can they demystify the other for their readers and viewers? How do you work with a fixer? Manage your own trauma? Stay safe? How does 19th Century colonialism still influence foreign coverage, and how do you escape this influence? What's to be learned from Conrad's Heart of Darkness about reporting on Africa? When is personalizing the news a bad idea and when is a good time to do it? Students read outstanding examples of foreign reporting, workshop their stories, and learn how to be successful given the current standards for foreign reporting. However, in light of such challenges as globalization, global warming, ethnonational conflict, and the rise of China, the class also debates how to develop better norms in the future. Four credits. (Undergraduate Prerequisite: COMJO 200/250. Graduate Prerequisite: COMJO 721.) -
COM JO 518: Newsletter Writing
In this class, students will learn why newsletters are becoming a crucial part of every news organization’s strategy for audience engagement, subscription attainment and retention, and yes, revenue growth. We’ll analyze the most popular newsletters in the journalism industry – honing in on the tone, style, and trends that make them so successful. Spoiler: The one thing all the best newsletters have in common is that readers find them indispensable. By the end of this class, you’ll have developed, designed, and started producing your own newsletter for an approved beat or subject. Maybe you’ll create the go-to chronicle as BU skates to the Frozen Four, or establish a must-read digest about Boston City Hall, or devote your entire semester to finding the best brownie in Boston. The goal will be to offer an engaging and informative product that will keep readers coming back for more. -
COM JO 519: Narrative Radio
It used to be commonly accepted that if you wanted to work in audio journalism, then you were likely looking for a career in radio news. But the nature of audio - and journalism - continues to evolve. Now, legacy media outlets like newspapers have entire audio divisions producing daily and longform podcasts while news radio stations are re-thinking their broadcasts and attracting new audiences via streaming apps. But no matter the platform, there are certain tenets of audio storytelling and production that make for great listening and powerful journalism. This class combines the highest editorial standards of public radio with the best practices of digital audio production. You will learn how to write effectively for radio, incorporating in-depth reporting techniques with creative audio storytelling. The goal of this course is to produce a variety of high-quality audio pieces that could potentially be aired on a public radio program or serve as a launching off point for a longer form project. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: The Individual in Community, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Creativity/Innovation. -
COM JO 520: Covering the Climate Crisis
This course will immerse students in the fundamentals of climate and other environmental journalism. While students learn about everything from sea-level rise to lead poisoning, they'll be expected to produce in-depth reporting with the goal of publishing stories. -
COM JO 521: Data Journalism
Undergraduate Prerequisites: JO 200 - Graduate Prerequisites: JO 721 - This course teaches the basics of how to find, report, write and present data- driven news stories.' It is an introduction to the collection, analysis, presentation and impact of structured information by journalists.'Students will learn six skills:' identifying and obtaining government data, downloading and importing data, "scraping" data, cleaning and standardizing data, analyzing data, visualizing data and crafting a compelling data-driven story for your audience.' Students will also gain an effective mindset for approaching data, including how to obtain data from government agencies and strategies for overcoming obstacles in getting that data. Four credits, fall and spring semesters. (Undergraduate prerequisite: COM JO 200; Graduate prerequisite: COM JO 721.) -
COM JO 522: Filmmaking for Journalists
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (COMJO205) - This course is an advanced visual journalism class, concentrating on moving images and (a little) audio in a cinema direct documentary film tradition. The course takes students through a range of skills to develop their ability to work to professional standards & complete a narrative documentary show-reel adhering to photojournalistic/cinema direct ethics. You may use this class to create visuals/b-roll for an existing documentary film project you are working on. It will be a showcase piece for your portfolio. Active, experiential and hands-on learning will dominate this course. You are expected to have some experience in video and sound, as well as a basic knowledge of how to edit, though the instructor will assist you to grow your skills. 4 credits. (Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM JO 205. Graduate Prerequisites: COM JO 706; or permission of instructor.) -
COM JO 523: The Presidency and the Media
Students follow the week-to-week interaction of the president and the news media, while examining the evolution of relations between journalists and American presidents from FDR to the present. Four credits -
COM JO 531: Disinformation and the Press
Critical examination of the role of covert action in foreign and national security, including the process and impact of disinformation when used to manipulate the adversary's public opinion or decision-making elite. Particular attention given to international disinformation campaigns and the ways in which the media can defend themselves. -
COM JO 532: Sports Seminar
Students explore the issues that writers and broadcasters face as they pursue their careers in sports journalism. Each week, we invite working professionals to join us on campus discussing such topics as ethics, sports and its place in society, reporting, women in sports and how to find that first job. Students are expected to ask thoughtful questions and will be required to write an evaluation each week. A great opportunity to start the networking process. Four credits. (Undergraduate Prerequisite: COM JO 200.) -
COM JO 535: Investigative Reporting
Investigative and Project Reporting is an advanced reporting clinic and seminar that teaches students how to identify, vet and pursue investigative stories. Students will dissect what it means to be 'an investigative reporter' while learning and utilizing some of the most useful practices and tools of the trade. From conducting interviews and requesting public records, to searching databases and organizing data, we as a class will work toward a long-term project that will, ideally, be published and or broadcast with a number of potential news partners, including WBUR, Boston's NPR station, ProPublica and The Boston Globe. Story topics may include criminal justice investigations, deep dives into immigration, as well as accountability reporting of complex systems and institutions, all with an emphasis on humanizing our story and placing an emphasis on the crucial role of effective storytelling. -
COM JO 537: Advanced Visual Storytelling
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (COMJO205) - Graduate Prerequisites: (COMJO706) or permission of instructor - New course description: This course explores long-form storytelling through the genres of photojournalism and documentary photography. We investigate advanced technical underpinnings and techniques of digital photography with the goals of enabling students to control their work, experiment and develop a deep understanding. Through lectures, hands-on assignments, and critiques, students expand their understanding of digital photography while exploring their creativity to broaden the possibilities and improve the quality of their photographs. With this lecturer's background in conflict and documentary photography, this course will explore those worlds extensively, with an emphasis on narrative photography, but it does not preclude you from any genre of photography you wish to pursue. The goal of the course is for each student to produce a semester-long body of work, or a photographic essay. The art of editing your own work will be a key learning goal. The course will constantly refer to the advanced use of software tools and color management technique. 4 Credits. (Undergraduate Prerequisites: COM JO 205. Graduate Prerequisites: COM JO 706; or permission of instructor.) -
COM JO 538: Voice, Vision, and Verve: Writing with Impact
This class is a vibrant story-driven course that introduces students to the art of feature writing for digital newsrooms. Students will spend 14 weeks developing a professional portfolio that showcases their real-world journalism experience producing various forms of feature and narrative storytelling. Students will learn to write “brights,” funny slice-of-life stories, character features and stories based on current news and historical events. They will “deep dives” on issues and people, capturing the essence of a subject through observation, intimacy and interviews. Students will also read and analyze great publications and authors and mirror their storytelling techniques. Students will, for instance, mirror the structural precision of the Wall Street Journal, the evocative pacing of The New York Times, the cultural depth of Vanity Fair, and the community-driven storytelling of the Boston Globe and the New York Times. Expect to juggle multiple stories and deadlines —just like in the real world. -
COM JO 539: Global Health Storytelling
GLOBAL HEALTH STORYTELLING marks our first effort to present an interdisciplinary curriculum designed to address core concepts in both public health and journalism, and to prepare students to make the truly exciting--but often untold--stories of public health available to a wide public Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Creativity/Innovation.
