Until further notice, the University of Arizona, in accordance with the guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, encourages all employees to work remotely. Our offices are closed to the public, but you can reach the School of Journalism Monday–Friday 9am-5pm:

Get COVID-19 updates and information for the University of Arizona community. Also, see SBS resources for continuing instruction and learning.

  1. Undergraduate
  2. B.A. Journalism

B.A. Degree Requirements

These requirements are for the 2020-21 catalog year and beyond. If your catalog year is before 2020, please talk to your undergraduate advisor about your degree requirements.

Journalism Requisites

The following are required to enroll in JOUR 203, 205 and 208:

  • B or better in ENGL 101, 102 or 109H
  • C or better in MATH 107, 112; or LING 123, PHIL 110
  • C or better in JOUR 105
  • Overall UA GPA of 2.5 or higher

General Education

  • 6 units Tier 1 Individuals & Societies
  • 6 units Tier 1 Traditions & Cultures
  • 6 units Tier 1 Natural Sciences
     
  • 3 units Tier 2 Humanities
  • 3 units Tier 2 Natural Sciences
  • 3 units Tier 2 Arts
  • 3 units Diversity
  • 4th semester second language proficiency

Minor

Required, minimum of 18 units (or double-major)

Required Courses

  • Complete the courses below (33 units). Note: JOUR 307 is not required for students pursuing a broadcast specialization.
This survey course provides an overview of news journalism, its history, future and role in a democratic society. It will cover the basics of journalism values, principles, law, ethics, writing and reporting.
Reporting news through images and graphics; introduction to all aspects of photojournalism, including law, ethics, history and critical decision-making.
Gathering, evaluating, and writing news. Completion of this course with a grade of C or better also satisfies the Mid-Career Writing Assessment (MCWA) requirement.
Basic legal concepts for print, broadcast, online, and photojournalism, including access to courts, public records and meetings; subpoenas and shield laws; prior restraint; libel; privacy; source confidentiality; intellectual property; obscenity; and FCC regulations.
Comprehensive and accurate news presentation with emphasis on interview techniques and coverage of major news stories. Completion of this course with a C or better also satisfies Mid Career Writing Assessment (MCWA).
Introduces you to multimedia reporting, which is some combination of text, still photographs, video clips, audio, graphics and interactivity presented on a website. Through interactive exercises, you will learn about four basic elements: audio; shooting still photographs and video; editing; and storytelling using a variety of multimedia platforms. NOTE: This course is not required for students pursuing a broadcast specialization.
Study and practice of newsgathering on executive, legislative, and judicial levels in city, county, state and federal governments, with emphasis on both deadline writing and in-depth stories.
Theory and techniques of copy editing and headline writing; introduction to layout and design.
Writing the feature articles for newspapers, magazines or other media; specialized reporting and writing techniques.
Analysis of ethical theory and how it relates to journalists' roles and responsibilities in a democratic society. Case studies involve questions of bias, accuracy, privacy and national security.
Students in Arizona Sonora News produce strong enterprise stories in written and multimedia formats, which are then provided to media for professional publication. Students learn the techniques of search engine optimization and key word construction, and apply what they have learned in their other classes through the major. This engaged learning news service class enables students to demonstrate that they can produce professional quality work.

Elective Courses

  • Complete two Journalism electives (6 units) from the list below. Additional elective courses may be taken to fulfill the 120 total units or 42 upper-division units.
This course is divided into two main parts. In the first part, students explore and analyze the history of Latinxs in the United States as well as U.S.-Latin American economic and political relations and the ways in which they have intertwined over the past two centuries. In the second part, students explore and analyze the history and economics of Latino-oriented, Spanish-language and bilingual news media, as well as news coverage of Latinos and Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S., in order to understand both how this major ethnic group has produced news media and how Latinxs have been represented.
This course introduces the study of migrations, diasporic transnationalism and the media in Latin America. Students examine historical perspectives and contemporary trends in migrations from Latin America to Europe, Asia and North America (South-North) as well as migration news within Latin American (South-South).
This 5-week course is strongly recommended for students preparing for an internship through the School of Journalism as well as students about to enter the workforce. It addresses anxiety, stress, resilience and how to reduce anxiety and stress and increase resilience by being prepared for internships, jobs and life success. This interactive class is designed to coach students to work on-site for a news or news-related organization under the supervision of an experienced media professional either in an internship or entry-level position. It also will help students develop a Plan B by identifying available jobs that use journalistic skills outside of journalism itself. Students will finish with a workshopped set of application materials including cover letters, resumes and an online work portfolio. They will develop a job-search plan and practice skills expected in the professional workplace.
This course is an introductory class on broadcast news writing, focusing mainly on writing for television with some instruction on writing for audio/radio. Students spend the semester learning basic television and audio/radio writing formats. Ethics in broadcast journalism are introduced and discussed. Toward the end of the semester, students may combine their own original video to use in some assignments.
Whether you are aspiring to be a sports journalist or just a more well-rounded sports fan, this course will help you look at sports and the media in a more critical and engaged manner. This course will explore the nexus between sports and media, focusing on the glory days of print journalism to the 24-7 news cycle. It will address race, gender and coverage bias issues and examine ethical cases that involve controversy. And finally, the course will expose challenges facing the sports media, while offering ways to improve the industry.
Gathering, evaluating and writing sports news in an ethical and effective manner.
The course will investigate the intersection of journalism, gender and multiculturalism in the U.S. media. It will survey efforts to increase and improve diversity in the news media. Course will be offered online
Course introduces students to television reporting and production and the ethical decision-making skills needed to success in the advanced TV course, JOUR 490C Arizona Cat's Eye.
This course will develop your skill at writing engaging, insightful travel stories. You'll sample excellent pieces by great travel writers. You'll sharpen your skills of observation, journaling, researching and reporting while writing a travel/place essay and a destination story. You'll also explore how to identify markets for your stories and craft a pitch letter to publish your work.
This course will investigate the interplay between terrorism around the world and media content about terrorism. It will focus on how news media portray terrorism and terrorists, and the effects of terrorism and media portrayal of terrorism on the public. While many of the assigned readings are about terrorism in the United States, including the 9/11 attack, perspectives from countries around the world are also explored. Students should keep up-to-date with developments in terrorism around the world, primarily through news reports. If events related to the course occur, be sure to bring the real-world perspectives into class discussions. Please note that some of the readings for this class will be challenging. Several explore academic theories and/or utilize complex statistical data analysis. While background in theory or data analysis can be helpful, no special knowledge is necessary to understand the material overall.
Internship with a news organization supplemented with professional development, analysis of industry trends and best practices. Graduate-level requirements include a major research paper.
This class will examine the law of digital communications, including but not limited to freedom of expression and information online, cybersecurity, intellectual property, cooperation/collaboration, libel, privacy, hate speech, FCC and other regulatory mechanisms. This course will teach you how to follow the current law as you engage with digital communications, such as the Internet and mobile devices. While you will learn historical and theoretical foundations of the law of digital communications, you primarily need to concern yourself with making professional, ethical, and legal decisions as a citizen about digital communications, in an international context. From issues ranging from Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street to cyberbullying, we will think about the long-term implications of digital communications law and our decisions.
Theory, principles and practice of layout, typography, and design for a variety of media.
This hands-on course will give you experience in print and online magazine documentary photography, with an emphasis on developing your personal vision and the skills to produce publishable images and create in-depth, longform photo essays and multimedia projects with short audio or video clips. Current trends, copyright and ethical issues, as well as strategies for funding projects and pitching stories to editors, will also be discussed. Open to all students in summer.
Through historical, economic and political exploration of a country or the region, this course will provide students with an understanding of current events in the Middle East and of the challenges journalists face reporting from a region with competing narratives, authoritarian regimes, and sporadic or ongoing conflict.
This course will be a hands-on class in which you research and develop an idea for a news product and begin implementing the necessary steps to see your idea launch. By the end of the class you should have a beta version of your product that serves your identified audience.
This class will give students the lay of the land for journalists and others working in information and content in Washington DC. Students will learn about Washington media, past and present. They'll learn about how members of Congress and their staffs do their jobs. Federal agencies, laws, and policymaking will be examined. Students will explore how different interest groups, PACS, lobbyists, and others operate, as well as how to make sense of all of the voices. (Spring — even years only)
This course will survey the history and functions of social justice publishing. Students will consider the theoretical and practical frameworks of social justice media, which serve a swathe of social movements involving human and civil rights, education, labor, immigration, globalization, feminism, environmentalism, ethnic and racial equality, transgender rights, and global inequity. This course will provide students with the historical and theoretical frameworks necessary to evaluate and publish social justice media.
Learn how to find, request and create databases, uncover stories using various software programs, and turn them into compelling visuals. Whether you call it data journalism, computer-assisted reporting, precision journalism, or power reporting, these skills will set you apart from your peers in any line of work.
Our relationship with food--and the way we discuss it--is complicated and deeply personal. We filter everything from restaurant reviews to nutritional news through the lens of our past and present circumstances, bringing class, history, economics, culture, race, and even DNA to the table. In this course, we'll parse out these perspectives, the array of assumptions we make when we sit down (or stand up) to eat.
This class covers the law, history and philosophy of access to government information, as well as practical tools and psychological techniques in acquiring data from agencies and the internet. Students will build the knowledge, skills, and confidence in information acquisition to apply to their careers and personal life, including backgrounding individuals, exposing dangers, and even buying a house.
This applied course teaches you to write compelling, substantive stories that illuminate environmental subjects, trends and issues, often in human terms. This course emphasizes the role of the environmental journalist not as an advocate but as a reporter who accurately and fairly reports the news. We examine the principles of journalism, the scientific process and the differences between environmental journalism and environmental communication. Guest speakers - journalists, researchers and other experts - explore key issues involved in communicating with the public about the environment. Readings and discussions examine issues of balance, scientific uncertainty, risk, accuracy and ethical codes
This class explores the role and purpose of editorial and opinion writing and the process of writing opinion pieces. Graduate-level requirements include reading additional materials, meeting with professor weekly about theoretical issues or to examine news items in more depth, and a student analysis paper.
This course is designed to introduce students to the changing role of news media in our evolving globalization and its impact on rapidly changing news events.
Science is one of the most powerful forces of change in the world. This discussion course introduces students to the professional, legal, economic and ethical factors that affect the science news agenda and the work of science journalists. We'll study the principles of science journalism, the scientific process and the differences between science journalism and science communication. We'll examine reporting methods used by print, television and online news organizations. Guest speakers -- prominent science journalists and scientists -- will explore the ways in which science news both reflects and influences the attitudes of the public and policymakers. Readings, case studies and discussions will look at issues of balance, scientific uncertainty, accuracy and ethical codes for science journalists.
Science is one of the most powerful forces of change in the world. This applied course covers the fundamental elements of producing news reports about science events and issues. We will examine the principles of journalism, the scientific process and the differences between science journalism and science communication. Guest speakers¿prominent science journalists and scientists¿will explore key issues involved in communicating with the public about science. Readings, case studies and discussions will examine issues of balance, scientific uncertainty, accuracy and ethical codes for science journalists. You'll write professional-quality science articles for general interest and specialized news media. You'll learn how to gather, evaluate and organize information in ways that will produce accurate, comprehensive information for the public. Each student will write one short piece, and in pairs you'll research and produce an in-depth article.
Students will gain an understanding of best practices and challenges specific to reporting in the borderlands, and will conduct research in and about the border region, including interviews with area residents. They will report findings in the form of essays, oral histories, research projects and in-depth reporting projects.
This is a hands-on advanced multimedia course that will provide students with the opportunity to refine their multimedia storytelling and technical production skills by producing journalistically interesting multimedia projects. The multimedia projects will be well researched and include some combination of text, video, audio, still photographs, graphics that will be presented on a website. Through interactive exercises and assignments, emphasis will be given to improving audio, video, still image capture and editing skills. This course is a combined lecture with outside lab work being required. Intermediate computer technical knowledge and skills, basic photojournalism and multimedia are required for successful completion of this course.
Drones or sUAVs are increasingly common in many industries including; journalism, engineering, research, agriculture, commerce and more. In this course you will learn about the current requirements for operating a drone for work or profit, how drone controls work, videography techniques and the rules and laws governing safe sUAV flight. This course will prepare you to pass the FAA's Drone License program and legally fly a drone for commercial purposes.
This course will be a hands-on, interactive class in which you research, and develop a mobile news application. You will develop and pitch an application, form teams and implement web technology to launch your application. By the end of the semester, you and your team will have a working application deployed on the internet. This course will take you from idea to application launch.
This course will cover skills to help you write accurate, relevant and compelling stories on health science topics. We will explore the challenges in writing accurate health stories, cover basic knowledge of health sciences research and how to interpret studies, and critique media coverage of various health topics. We will also review the basics of storytelling, narrative, interview techniques, journalistic ethics and submitting your articles to publications.
The course explores the evolution of U.S. journalism and its intersection with American politics, economics, and culture. Students will read original primary published sources as well as secondary historical works and develop skills in historical research methods. (Spring, odd years only)
Students will be exposed to qualitative and quantitative research methods, such as journalism backgrounding, media analysis, content analysis, and in-depth interviewing.
This course is designed to enhance and further develop your video news writing, reporting and production skills that you acquired in 280 and 385. It is a building block for 490C/Arizona Sonora News. Through extensive hands-on experience, you will write, report, shoot, produce, and edit hard news feature and in-depth stories for broadcast and the web. Ideally, by the end of the semester you will have produced several "air" quality news reports that you can include on your résumé reel. This course may be repeated once for credit.
Work on-site for a news or news-related organization under the supervision of an experienced communication professional. If combined with two 3-unit summer internships only a total of 7 units is acceptable.
How international media cover conflicts and other humanitarian crises, focusing on the Arab/Muslim world. Understanding of the business and culture of global news organizations.
This course will examine the history and development of U.S. press coverage of Latin America.
The course is intended to give students a forum in which to hone their skills in communicating with readers of newspapers, magazines and the Internet, through the use of still photography.
A sportscaster in the 21st century media landscape is no longer defined solely by an individual reading game highlights. Those who choose to enter the profession must become multimedia journalists who understand every element of what it takes to create their final product. In this five-week class for broadcast students, you will produce and report sports stories for broadcast television. The class will be divided into two-person crews that consist of one videographer and one reporter. Roles and responsibilities will alternate for each project. Each crew will be assigned a different local high school football team as its beat and will be responsible for attending weekly practices and games during the duration of the practicum. You will learn and apply elements of sports reporting to every package you produce, including finding the narrative, interview skills, and working on deadline.

Specializations

While taking the core courses required of all journalism majors, students also have the option of earning specializations on their transcripts and diplomas in broadcast journalism, digital journalism or global journalism.

Broadcast Journalism

  • Complete the three courses below.
  • Complete at least two Journalism elective courses (6 units minimum) from list above.
This course is an introductory class on broadcast news writing, focusing mainly on writing for television with some instruction on writing for audio/radio. Students spend the semester learning basic television and audio/radio writing formats. Ethics in broadcast journalism are introduced and discussed. Toward the end of the semester, students may combine their own original video to use in some assignments.
Course introduces students to television reporting and production and the ethical decision-making skills needed to success in the advanced TV course, JOUR 490C Arizona Cat's Eye.
This course is designed to enhance and further develop your video news writing, reporting and production skills that you acquired in 280 and 385. It is a building block for 490C/Arizona Sonora News. Through extensive hands-on experience, you will write, report, shoot, produce, and edit hard news feature and in-depth stories for broadcast and the web. Ideally, by the end of the semester you will have produced several "air" quality news reports that you can include on your résumé reel. This course may be repeated once for credit.

Digital Journalism

  • Complete JOUR 307 Principles of Multimedia and JOUR 411 Feature Writing.
  • Complete at least two of the following electives.
This course will be a hands-on class in which you research and develop an idea for a news product and begin implementing the necessary steps to see your idea launch. By the end of the class you should have a beta version of your product that serves your identified audience.
Learn how to find, request and create databases, uncover stories using various software programs, and turn them into compelling visuals. Whether you call it data journalism, computer-assisted reporting, precision journalism, or power reporting, these skills will set you apart from your peers in any line of work.
This class covers the law, history and philosophy of access to government information, as well as practical tools and psychological techniques in acquiring data from agencies and the internet. Students will build the knowledge, skills, and confidence in information acquisition to apply to their careers and personal life, including backgrounding individuals, exposing dangers, and even buying a house.
This is a hands-on advanced multimedia course that will provide students with the opportunity to refine their multimedia storytelling and technical production skills by producing journalistically interesting multimedia projects. The multimedia projects will be well researched and include some combination of text, video, audio, still photographs, graphics that will be presented on a website. Through interactive exercises and assignments, emphasis will be given to improving audio, video, still image capture and editing skills. This course is a combined lecture with outside lab work being required. Intermediate computer technical knowledge and skills, basic photojournalism and multimedia are required for successful completion of this course.
Drones or sUAVs are increasingly common in many industries including; journalism, engineering, research, agriculture, commerce and more. In this course you will learn about the current requirements for operating a drone for work or profit, how drone controls work, videography techniques and the rules and laws governing safe sUAV flight. This course will prepare you to pass the FAA's Drone License program and legally fly a drone for commercial purposes.
This course will be a hands-on, interactive class in which you research, and develop a mobile news application. You will develop and pitch an application, form teams and implement web technology to launch your application. By the end of the semester, you and your team will have a working application deployed on the internet. This course will take you from idea to application launch.
Work on-site for a news or news-related organization under the supervision of an experienced communication professional. If combined with two 3-unit summer internships only a total of 7 units is acceptable.
The course is intended to give students a forum in which to hone their skills in communicating with readers of newspapers, magazines and the Internet, through the use of still photography.

Global Journalism

  • Complete JOUR 307 Principles of Multimedia and JOUR 411 Feature Writing.
  • Complete at least two of the following electives.
This course is divided into two main parts. In the first part, students explore and analyze the history of Latinxs in the United States as well as U.S.-Latin American economic and political relations and the ways in which they have intertwined over the past two centuries. In the second part, students explore and analyze the history and economics of Latino-oriented, Spanish-language and bilingual news media, as well as news coverage of Latinos and Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S., in order to understand both how this major ethnic group has produced news media and how Latinxs have been represented.
This course introduces the study of migrations, diasporic transnationalism and the media in Latin America. Students examine historical perspectives and contemporary trends in migrations from Latin America to Europe, Asia and North America (South-North) as well as migration news within Latin American (South-South).
This course will investigate the interplay between terrorism around the world and media content about terrorism. It will focus on how news media portray terrorism and terrorists, and the effects of terrorism and media portrayal of terrorism on the public. While many of the assigned readings are about terrorism in the United States, including the 9/11 attack, perspectives from countries around the world are also explored. Students should keep up-to-date with developments in terrorism around the world, primarily through news reports. If events related to the course occur, be sure to bring the real-world perspectives into class discussions. Please note that some of the readings for this class will be challenging. Several explore academic theories and/or utilize complex statistical data analysis. While background in theory or data analysis can be helpful, no special knowledge is necessary to understand the material overall.
Through historical, economic and political exploration of a country or the region, this course will provide students with an understanding of current events in the Middle East and of the challenges journalists face reporting from a region with competing narratives, authoritarian regimes, and sporadic or ongoing conflict.
Students will gain an understanding of best practices and challenges specific to reporting in the borderlands, and will conduct research in and about the border region, including interviews with area residents. They will report findings in the form of essays, oral histories, research projects and in-depth reporting projects.
Work on-site for a news or news-related organization under the supervision of an experienced communication professional. If combined with two 3-unit summer internships only a total of 7 units is acceptable.
How international media cover conflicts and other humanitarian crises, focusing on the Arab/Muslim world. Understanding of the business and culture of global news organizations.
This course will examine the history and development of U.S. press coverage of Latin America.

PDF icon 20-21 Course Planning Guide V1.pdf