Indiana University School of Journalism

Topical course dealing with changing subjects and material from semester to semester. May be repeated once for credit with a different topic. Will not count toward journalism major requirements.

Survey of the institutions of journalism and mass communication, their philosophical foundations, history, processes, economic realities, and effects.

A nine-week online course emphasizing basic research techniques used by media writers to gather information for news releases, newspaper articles, magazine pieces, and other forms of journalistic-style writing. Skills covered include researching Internet and non-Internet sources. Ideally this course is taken concurrently with J 200.

Prerequisite: Member of the Media Living Learning Center. This course brings together students with shared academic and professional interests for events, speakers, readings and discussions about journalism and media in the 21st century. The primary goal is to establish a unique model of individual learning, a “College of One,” based on the value of experiences beyond the classroom.

Prerequisite: ENG-W 131 or its equivalent and fundamental computer skills. Working seminar stressing the creation of journalistic stories for diverse audiences. Students will learn to develop story ideas, gather information, combine visual and verbal messages, and to write and edit news.

Topic: Online Journalism. Students will explore non-linear methods of storytelling and how Web-based tools can enhance their written work. In addition to building existing skills, they will use photography and embedded audio to create story packages for an online magazine. (This is a required course for students starting at IU before fall 2007.)

Theories of visual communications including human perception, psychology of color, and principles of design. Application of those theories to photography, video, and graphic design in news communication.

This course provides a general introduction to the issues of U.S. press performance. One of the main goals of this course is to hone critical thinking skills through the discussion of specific issues–critical issues in journalism. In doing this we will question assumptions, evaluate evidence, analyze systems and structures of power, and generate knowledge that can strengthen journalism.

From the film Slumdog Millionaire’s runaway success in the U.K and the U.S to the boom in newspapers and magazines in China, the rise of the Islamic fashion industry in Turkey, and the popularity of basement Bhangra and Bollywood beats in New York, it seems that we live today in the paradoxical and connected world that globalization has created. This course will begin with an exploration of globalization’s historical foundations in colonialism and its highly contested meanings and definitions. Then, we will shift to the media’s place within social, political, and economic processes of globalization through considerations of global media ownership and production, media content, and media audiences. The global media addressed in course lectures and readings will include traditional and online news, advertising, public relations, and citizen-generated media.

Wordsmithing: grammar, usage, punctuation & journalism style Workshop on the mechanics of writing and editing. The course builds on the basics, focuses on the practical and strengthens your confidence as a practitioner.

Prerequisite: sophomore standing. History and philosophy of laws pertaining to free press and free speech. Censorship, libel, contempt, obscenity, right of privacy, copyright, government regulations, and business law affecting media operations. Stresses responsibilities and freedoms in a democratic communications system.

Survey course about the field of advertising with a focus on its function as a means of communication. Learn how marketing, psychology, research, mass media, law and ethics are important to professionals working in the industry. Class will emphasize use of strategy to develop creative advertising.

Survey course about the theory and practice of public relations. Examines public relations' function within organizations, its impact on publics and its role in society. Topics include the evolution of the field, the range of roles and responsibilities that public relations practitioners assume in a variety of settings, ethics, and significant issues and trends that have shaped the practice. Course provides a foundation for more advanced study in the field. Also useful for those planning another professional or managerial career that requires an understanding of public relations concepts and management practices.

Techniques of gathering, analyzing, and writing news and features for newspapers. Practice in interviewing, observation, and use of documentary references that include computer information retrieval and analysis skills.

Techniques of gathering, analyzing, and writing material for specialized and general circulation magazines. Practice in interviewing, observation, and use of documentary references that include computer information retrieval and analysis skills.

Techniques of gathering, analyzing, and writing news and features for broadcast. Practice in interviewing, observation, and use of documentary references that include computer information retrieval and analysis skills.

This is an intermediate photojournalism course focusing on the basics of light, camera operation, and the use of the digital darkroom. It includes instruction in spot news and feature photography as well as instruction in ethics, privacy, and law.

Develop the professional writing skills expected of beginning public relations practitioners, including different approaches required for a variety of audiences and media. Focus on the basics of good writing as well as the art of writing. Brush up on AP style. Learn how to work effectively with clients.This course is a service learning course.

Workshop in fundamentals of editing newspapers, including both individual and team projects. Emphasis on news judgment, fairness, accuracy, editorial balance, and language usage. Practice in writing news summaries, editing copy, writing headlines, laying out pages, and using computer editing technology.

Workshop in fundamentals of editing specialized and general interest publications. Individual and team functions are stressed. Attention is given to editorial voice and judgment, fairness, accuracy, and language usage. Practice in writing headlines and titles, layout, design, and use of computer editing technology.

Continuing workshop in reporting, writing, and editing for broadcast. Individual and team functions are stressed. Emphasis on news judgment, fairness, accuracy, editorial balance, and language usage. Practice in editing copy, audio and video tape.

Prerequisite: Junior standing. This course will explore two distinct areas of business journalism: First, becoming prepared as a journalist to critically report on business topics that are timely and of relevance to the public is becoming more important. Learning how to approach the gathering, framing, and interpretation of the information will be examined. Second, the media is undergoing constant change and ongoing critiquing of its objectivity. Technology is having an impact on each medium, and the business issues faced by mass media organizations, independent owners, editors, reporters, broadcast outlets, agencies (advertising and public relations) and employees in communications functions of corporations have diverse and far reaching prospects. Assessing the change and approach to the evolving journalism career landscape will be discussed.

Sports journalism chronicles the seemingly immortal prowess of the games’ brightest stars. It trumpets the titanic showdowns between the best of its gladiators. And, journalists do it all in an attempt to feed America’s insatiable appetite for sports. This course will explore the state and practice of sports journalism, through case studies of some of this decade’s most controversial sports stories. Were sports journalists fair? Did they report these stories with context? Did they explore the larger societal issues? Did they explore the economics behind these stories? Did they portray the characters in these sagas as real people?

We will explore these issues through evaluating coverage, reading related texts and talking directly to prominent sports journalists, executives and athletes.

This class taught via videoconference from IUPUI. This course will introduce students to sports and will take a macroscopic approach in discussing sports’ societal influence. It will study sport from a socio-cultural-historical perspective as well as from a contemporary position. It will focus on the converging worlds of print journalism, electronic media, public relations, advertising, documentary, and emerging technologies as expressed in the new commercial reality of sport. Students will have mid-term and final exams and will also write critical analyses and a media journal.

This class taught via videoconference from IUPUI. This upper-level course will study sports journalism’s key policies, trends, and issues. It will examine sociological, political, legal, ethical, and technological issues in college and professional sports. It will focus on current events and controversies in the world of sports journalism. This course will discuss the symbiotic relationship between sport media and race, gender, doping, steroids, sexuality and homophobia, politics and nationalism, sports fans, loyalty, and violence, disability in sport, and other provocative issues. The class will include discussions in a seminar format integrating lectures, debates, and questions. Students will turn in critical analyses, a media journal, and will conclude the semester with a presentation and final paper or project.

Prerequisite: At lease sophomore standing. Will give students hands-on experiences in reporting, producing and presenting stories for the twenty-first century media environment. Students will create three major projects, and present them on the web in a job portfolio site: 1) Photograph a picture story, gather natural sound and interviews, and edit them together into a sound-slide show for the web. 2) Shoot and edit a video story for the web. 3) Create an animation in Flash for the web. Students will create their websites in Dreamweaver and Flash. The course will build on the photography and videography skills from J210, but will go beyond them. Flash represents a new skill, not included in J210. J360 may be taken without J210 with instructor permission, and may be repeated once for credit with a different topic.

Survey and analysis of how news and entertainment media represent issues of race and gender. History of women and people of color as media professionals and media consumers. Discussion of contemporary problems and potential solutions.

Corequisite: J425 and J453. Laboratory or field experiences for prospective journalism teachers at the middle school or high school level. May be repeated. Graded S or F only.

Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. Students study the law relating to the content of news media and the processes by which that content is created. Discussion includes the legal issues triggered by story framing, selection of sources, interviewing, photography, and access to information. The course involves reading and research using primary legal materials.

Prerequisite: Senior standing. Examination of the functions and impact of the mass media in society with primary focus on the United States. Discussion of the values of media organizations and the professional and ethical values of journalists. Critical analysis of the relationship of the media and society and the effect of political, economic, and cultural factors on the operation of the media.

Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. Structure and function of international communication systems and barrier to flow of information among nations. Emphasis on gathering and disseminating information around the world. Study of the major newspapers of the world, international news agencies, and international broadcasting and satellite networks.

Intensive practice in producing effective advertising concepts, copy, and design prototypes for newspaper, magazine, direct mail, outdoor, radio, television and converged campaigns.

Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. Behavioral study of nature, operation, molding, and influence of public opinion, with practice in its measurement and evaluation. Discussion of major political, social, economic, and cultural problems.

Prerequisite: 12 credit hours of journalism. Corequisite: J403. Lectures, projects and discussion on legal and ethical aspects of advising school media and on designing, producing and financing school-produced student media, including print, broadcast and online media. Required for Education 2nd concentration.

Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. Theories and principles relevant to public relations research and strategic planning, including development of goals and objectives, client relationships, budgets, and research methods.

How to develop a campaign proposal to meet a client's business objectives and how to pitch it. Part of the course focuses on media relations and crisis communications training.

Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing. Seminar in current developments in advertising as an economic and social force. Examines contemporary issues in the profession. Students will conduct independent and original research projects.

Prerequisite: Application to instructor. This course is a capstone, professional service learning experience designed to model the operations, functions, business practices and service offerings of world-class integrated communication agencies. Through the agency structure, students will develop and implement public relations, advertising and related communication consultancy services or actual business clients. Students will work in teams as they would in an agency setting. They will encounter the real-world challenges of managing their time and projects, being accountable for results to their clients and learning how to work together. Necessary industry professional skills, proficiencies and business practices will be developed through the hands-on learning experience. J 460 may be repeated twice for credit with different topics.

Prerequisite: Any one of the required courses suffices. This advanced reporting and writing class will teach students how to craft narratives that combine classic journalistic skills with timeless storytelling strategies. We will cover how to report for dialogue and detail and scene, how to practice invisibility as you immerse yourself inside your subjects’ lives, how to identify a structure inside the chaos of your notes, how to assemble an account that sings with the vivid power of what you’ve witnessed in the field. We will learn how to use these skills quickly on breaking stories and how to practice them in greater depth for profiles and magazine pieces.

This graphic design course incorporates electronic photo editing, graphics, and page design. Students are instructed in design theory, computer publishing skills, and creative problem solving.

Prerequisite: prior approval of internship coordinator; journalism majors only. Supervised professional experience in communications media. May be repeated, but a student may take no more than 3 credit hours total of internship credit for the B.A.J. degree, either through journalism or any other academic unit.

Prerequisite: consent of the School of Journalism undergraduate dean. This non-credit course is for journalism students studying off campus temporarily as part of the B.A.J. degree program.

Prerequisite: consent of the School of Journalism dean. Planning of research project during year preceding summer abroad. Time spent in research abroad must amount to at least one week for each credit hour granted. Research paper must be presented by end of semester following foreign study.

Prerequisite: consent of the School of Journalism dean. Opportunity for independent reading, research, and experimentation on relevant issues in mass communications. Work with faculty member on individual basis.