University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Curriculum Proposal Form #1
New Degree, Major, or Submajor
Effective Term:
Degree:
Program Title: BROADCAST/PRINT/WEB JOURNALISM (BA/BS)
GPA Required in the Major/Submajor: 2.5 overall GPA to declare; 2.25 in major to graduate
Sponsor(s): James Kates
Department(s): Communication
College(s):
Consultation took place: NA Yes (list departments and attach consultation sheet)
Departments:
Check if:
New Degree: Intent to Plan *
New Degree: Final Proposal
New Major: Intent to Plan *
New Major: Final Proposal
New Submajor: Minor
New Submajor: Emphasis/Track
New Submajor: Certificate Program
Module: Intent to Plan
Module: Final Proposal
Other (list):
1
Proposal Information:
Catalog description
(This description incorporates all the submajors envisioned in the Journalism major: the new Broadcast/Print/Web Journalism emphasis as well as International Journalism and Advertising.)
JOURNALISM (BA/BS)
The journalism program is geared to today’s journalism and advertising professions, preparing graduates to work in the many modern communication media. In print, broadcast and online journalism, graduates work as reporters, editors, news photographers, Web writers and multimedia producers, and radio and television news producers. In the advertising industries, positions include account executives, account planners, copywriters, creative directors, media planners and sales representatives.
A 2.50 cumulative GPA will be required to declare an emphasis of Advertising or Broadcast/Print/Web Journalism in the Journalism major. The major GPA is based upon both the grades for courses completed at UW-W and those courses accepted in transfer.
A 2.75 cumulative GPA will be required to declare an emphasis of International Journalism in the Journalism major. The major GPA is based upon both the grades for courses completed at UW-W and those courses accepted in transfer.
These requirements apply to admitted freshmen and transfer students. A minimum 2.25 GPA is required in the major for graduation.
All students are required to fulfill a writing requirement prior to graduation. Each emphasis in the Department of Communication specifies how that requirement will be met. Details on fulfilling the writing requirement are available in the department office and on the department website.
[NOTE TO CURRICULUM COMMITTEE: The following two paragraphs should be placed in the catalog at the end of the section where requirements for the Journalism submajors are listed. It is identical to the current catalog language.]
Suggested minors. Depending on career choice, select a minor from the following fields: Advertising, Art, Coaching, Economics, English (writing emphasis), a foreign language, Geography, History, Marketing, Music, Political Science, Public Relations, a science, Sociology, or Theatre.
Students majoring in journalism education are advised to select a minor from the following fields: Political Science, a foreign language, Geography, History, English, Speech, Economics, Sociology, a science, Art or Music. As many electives from these areas as possible will help the student attain a broad educational background.
Student learning objectives of the program
The Broadcast/Print/Web Journalism emphasis will infuse students with the core values of the journalism profession—pursuit of truth, integrity, fairness, balance, objectivity, avoidance of conflicts of interest, ethical practice—and the role of journalism in self governance. Students will develop skills for reporting and storytelling in a variety of platforms, consistent with the trend toward “converged” media in print, broadcast and online.
The required skill set for journalism practitioners is growing. This, of course, reflects the pervasive influence of the Internet in all areas of media practice. Journalism graduates are not necessarily expected to be “digital experts,” but they are expected to be conversant in digital technology and be able to produce basic news and feature reports for the Web. Time and again, we hear the same things from employers. First: “I want people who can write clearly and well, and who can think on their feet.” Second: “I want people who can produce content for the Web, in addition to just print or broadcast.” The new Broadcast/Print/Web Journalism program is designed to address those needs head-on. We will redouble our emphasis on writing while adding a menu of basic Web skills. The higher number of credits in this revised program is directly aimed at producing well-rounded graduates with skills that the marketplace is demanding.
We want our graduates to:
n Be able to write and edit clear, concise prose in a range of journalistic genres, for the eye and for the ear, in accordance with accepted tenets of composition and Associated Press style.
n Know how to research and report stories, making intelligent use of human sources, reference materials, government documents and computer databases. To meet the needs of targeted media and increasingly fragmented audiences, cultivation of areas of reporting expertise will be encouraged.
n Display a range of well-grounded knowledge of media traditions, standards, practices and market realities, as developed through study of mass media history, law, ethics, business models and civic institutions. Such knowledge should emphasize the core values of journalistic practice and transcend allegiance to any one platform.
n Command a range of technical skills including audio, video, photography, layout for Web and print, online curation of information, use of social media and Web metrics, and basic principles of Web design and content management systems. At the same time, the program recognizes that students naturally will develop stronger skills in some media forms, because of interest and aptitude. The curriculum will give students some flexibility to focus on broadcast, print and online media according to their inclinations.
n Possess a market-ready skill set and a portfolio of journalistic work developed through applied practice in internships, practicum courses and work in student media.
Relationship to mission and strategic plan of institution, and/or college and department goals and objectives:
Changes within the Journalism major are designed to better implement the Communication Department’s dual mission of fostering both career success and active, responsible citizenship among our graduates. A large part of this redesign is skills-based, driven by the need to ensure that our graduates can work effectively in a range of “legacy” media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines) and on the Internet. The Journalism program also is directly geared toward citizenship, because journalism is a Constitutionally mandated means of providing citizens with the information necessary for self-governance. “Civics,” as it might be called, is not an add-on in Journalism education. It is at the core of what we do.
The Journalism program’s increasing emphasis on digital media especially supports the UWW Strategic Plan’s aim of engaging more students in “creative activities” that can foster regional engagement and create an “extended campus community.” Journalistic content delivery via the World Wide Web is cheap, instantaneous and unbounded by the limits of physical transportation. In addition, the low cost, portability and ease of use of simple digital gear make it possible to tell stories from virtually anywhere. What once required a studio or remote truck can now be done with a laptop computer and a wireless connection. Our students are venturing beyond campus borders to tell stories that affect the broader community.
Student media delivered digitally can engage the community by filling gaps in Whitewater’s media coverage. For a city its size, Whitewater is relatively underserved by commercial media. Consistent with a trend at many journalism schools, students and instructors can at least partially fill this void by covering community events and issues. In the department’s current elective course in Digital Journalism, students are encouraged to go beyond their “comfort zones” and to do stories on people whose lives are very different from their own. This is “experiential learning” as defined in the LEAP initiative’s high-impact practices. Under the revised curriculum, students in News Gathering, Journalism for the Web, and Journalism Capstone: Public Affairs will continue this team-based, interactive work of telling the community’s most important stories.
The collaborative nature of Web journalism holds great potential to energize both the teaching and learning processes as well. Online journalism is a work in progress. Its economic and aesthetic models are very much in flux. Teachers and students across the country are helping to define this new medium. College journalism labs, insulated from commercial imperatives, are becoming “incubators” where new forms of content delivery are tested. This has already proved true at UWW, where students and instructors have worked side by side to tell stories that end up on the Web. This venture represents the “creation of new knowledge and its effective integration in teaching,” to use the phrase from the university’s Strategic Plan.
One new course, Journalism 309, Media Ethics, is deliberately designed to serve the Communication Department’s aim of stressing an “ethical basis for decision-making and about communication and its impact on the wider society.” Although ethics has been touched on in reporting, editing and law classes, the department has not had a dedicated ethics course up to now.
Several features of the proposed new curriculum directly address LEAP priorities. The new emphasis on “platform agnostic” journalistic writing – meaning a focus on good storytelling regardless of medium – is a microcosm of the high-impact practice known as “writing across the curriculum.” Practicum courses and internships support the LEAP initiative’s emphasis on experiential learning. A capstone project, to be done in the senior year, integrates a range of skills and applies them to a deep journalistic examination of one pressing issue of the student’s choice. This solidifies the student’s learning and produces a portfolio project suitable for job interviews.
List of courses to be included in the program
New courses:
JOURNLSM 212, Revolutions in Journalism
JOURNLSM 227, Writing for News Media
JOURNLSM 237, Reporting for News Media
JOURNLSM 309, Media Ethics
JOURNLSM 347, Journalism for the Web
JOURNLSM 486, Journalism Capstone: Public Affairs
JOURNLSM 212, Revolutions in Journalism
An introduction to the nature and issues of the print, broadcast and Internet news industries and their roles in American society. Particular attention will be paid to the impact of new technology and its effect on media profitability, business models and social function.
This course replaces the former JOURNLSM 210, Foundations of Print Journalism, to reflect the merging of the broadcast and print emphases. Like 210, it will be an “industry survey” but will cut across media businesses to reflect the trend toward media convergence.
JOURNLSM 227, Writing for News Media
Introduction to journalistic writing in the styles appropriate to various mass media. Includes a review of writing fundamentals. Emphasis is placed on selecting, organizing and structuring information. Practice in writing for print, broadcast, and Web journalism is included.
This course replaces the former JOURNLSM 243, Mass Media Writing. The former course, while including journalistic writing, also offered material for advertising and public-relations students; the new one will have a strong journalism focus. Regardless of medium, the new course will emphasize writing as the essential core of journalistic practice.
JOURNLSM 237, Reporting for News Media
An introduction to reporting for the news media. Students will learn interviewing and research skills, develop news and feature stories, and work with basic digital equipment to create content for print and online news operations. Stories will be told through text and through audio, video and other digital formats.
This course replaces the former JOURNLSM 244, News Gathering. It will focus on reporting skills applicable across multiple media platforms. The majority of assignments will be delivered in text form, but the class will include instruction in audio and video production for the Web.
JOURNLSM 309, Media Ethics
This entirely new course exposes students to ethical theory in the context of rapid technological change and the means to acquire ethical analytical abilities. This two-tiered approach first examines the relationship between professional ethics and social philosophy to establish a framework for understanding the relationship between media practice and a democratic society.
This course is being developed and will be offered jointly with the Advertising faculty. It will promote development of critical thinking and reasoning skills, essential for navigating complex questions and decisions that journalists and other media practitioners regularly make. Currently, the Department of Communication has no specific ethics course.
JOURNLSM 347, Journalism for the Web
Students in this course will become proficient in the use of Web-related journalistic tools to attract and retain an audience online.
Today’s entry-level print and broadcast journalists are expected to have at least basic skills in online journalism, including the ability to tell stories via online text, audio and video. We have taught these skills through JOURNLSM 496, Special Studies: Digital Journalism, and more recently through JOURNLSM 315, Digital Journalism. However, these classes were electives and were focused on story-production skills, such as recording and editing audio and video. Now such knowledge will be spread through the curriculum in required courses, starting with JOURNLSM 237. (JOURNLSM 315 is being deleted from the curriculum.)
The new JOURNLSM 347 will strengthen and augment those production skills by focusing on Web content “curation.” It will examine tactics such as search-engine optimization and the use of social media and Web metrics to build online audiences. In addition to helping print and broadcast students work in “converged” media, it will encourage an entrepreneurial mind-set for students whose work may define an entirely new form of digital media in the future.
JOURNLSM 486, Journalism Capstone: Public Affairs
This senior-level course replaces a former print-oriented course, JOURNLSM 406, Reporting Public Affairs. It brings together skills learned in writing, reporting and media production. Students will do advanced work in reporting with emphasis on news related to crime and the courts, government and politics, business, finance and labor. Each student will produce a capstone project in text, audio, video, still photography or a hybrid of those media.
Existing courses
Courses included among core credits in the new submajor:
JOURNLSM 420, Law of Mass Communication
This existing course is designed to familiarize students with the broad principles and key applications of First Amendment law as it relates to the mass media in the United States. Students learn about the development of the law in subject areas including freedom of information, incitement, libel, privacy, obscenity, commercial speech, broadcast regulation, the Internet and copyright. In a broader sense, the course addresses the theory of the First Amendment and the role of the press in self governance.