Journalism majors are distinguished by their ability to research, interview and write under deadline pressure across a variety of platforms using the most appropriate forms of audio, photo and video to best tell stories that inform communities. As a journalism major, you learn from practitioners in the field and researchers with journalism backgrounds about how to share information, engage communities and make where you live a better place.
DePaul’s Journalism Program features an array of courses in reporting, writing, multimedia production, broadcast journalism, photography and social media to prepare you to dig into content areas of your choice such as politics, sports, arts and entertainment, and community news.
The Journalism program is located in downtown Chicago, at DePaul’s Loop campus, giving you access to many surrounding media outlets and allowing you to meet and work professionally with leading companies in the industry. You will have access to DePaul’s state of the art equipment, recording studios, and student media spaces. Students gain experience in national award-winning co-curricular student organizations and can complete multiple competitive internships at news outlets in the city during the regular school year as part of their regular coursework.
| Program Requirements | Quarter Hours |
|---|---|
| College Core Requirements | 16 |
| Liberal Studies Requirements | 84 |
| Major Requirements | 48 |
| Open Electives | 44 |
| Total hours required | 192 |
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
- Write, interpret and report the news of the day.
- Evaluate the journalism profession and media industry many of them will be entering.
- Demonstrate the role technology, social media and repurposing stories for multimedia platforms are playing in the current and future world of newsgathering and dissemination.
- Analyze journalism's relationship to society, power, politics, locally and globally.
College Core Requirements
Modern Language Requirement
Language for Liberal Studies Option
All majors in the College of Communication consist of a four-course common core plus an additional combination of program requirements and electives.
College Core Requirements
Four core courses are required of all College of Communication students:
| Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
|---|---|---|
| CMN 101 | INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN COMMUNICATION | 4 |
| CMN 102 | INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION | 4 |
| CMN 103 | INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION | 4 |
| CMN 104 | PUBLIC SPEAKING | 4 |
Students are encouraged to complete all four prior to taking additional coursework in the major.
Modern Language Requirement
Students who intend to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in the College of Communication will be required to demonstrate a measure of competence in a modern language, as defined by the college. Such competence may be demonstrated in one of several ways:
- completing the last course in a second year high school course work in a modern language or Latin
- completing the last course in the first-year college sequence of any language
- completing a college course beyond the first-year level in any language
- achieving a satisfactory score on any of the Modern Language placement examinations administered at DePaul
- achieving a satisfactory rating in a proficiency examination accepted by DePaul
- achieving a score of 3 or higher on the Advance Placement (AP) test for any language (must be completed during high school)
- achieving a score of 5 or higher in the Language B assessment from a Standard or Higher Level International Baccalaureate (IB) program
- achieving a satisfactory score on the CLEP examination.
Modern Languages courses with an E-designation are taught in English and may not be applied to the Modern Language Requirement. Students with some modern language training should consult with the Modern Language Department about the course with which they should begin. Students with little or no previous work in the language will be required to complete the entire three-course introductory sequence.
Language For Liberal Studies Option
The Language for Liberal Studies Option is available to all BA students who wish to study a modern language beyond the level necessary to meet the College’s modern language requirement. Students selecting the option may substitute a three-course language sequence for three learning domain courses, or two upper-level courses in the same language for two learning domain requirements. Language for Liberal Studies waivers cannot be applied to courses in the Math and Computing Domain or courses in the Scientific Inquiry domain. Modern Language courses with an E-designation are taught in English and may not be applied to the Language for Liberal Studies Option.
Any substitutions must be consistent with the principle that students complete at least one course in each learning domain.
Liberal Studies Requirements
Honors program requirements can be found in the individual Colleges & Schools section of the University Catalog. Select the appropriate college or school, followed by Undergraduate Academics and scroll down.
| First Year Program | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago Quarter | ||
| LSP 110 or LSP 111 | DISCOVER CHICAGO or EXPLORE CHICAGO | 4 |
| Focal Point | ||
| LSP 112 | FOCAL POINT SEMINAR | 4 |
| Writing | ||
| WRD 103 | COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC I 1 | 4 |
| WRD 104 | COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC II 1 | 4 |
| Quantitative Reasoning | ||
| MAT 120 | QUANTITATIVE REASONING 2 | 4 |
| Sophomore Year | ||
| Race, Power, and Resistance | ||
| LSP 200 | SEMINAR ON RACE, POWER, AND RESISTANCE | 4 |
| Junior Year | ||
| Experiential Learning | ||
| Required | 4 | |
| Senior Year | ||
| Capstone | ||
| JOUR 396 | JOURNALISM CAPSTONE | 4 |
- 1
Students must earn a C- or better in this course.
- 2
Readiness for MAT 120 is determined by the math placement test taken online after admission. Students may need to take developmental coursework prior to MAT 120. Students who complete MAT 120 and both a Computational Reasoning course and a Statistical Reasoning course in the Math and Computing Learning Domain take one less Learning Domain course. Students may not apply the course reduction to any Domain where only one course is required, and cannot be applied to the Scientific Inquiry Learning Domain. The MAT 120 requirement may be waived by passing a dedicated proficiency exam or it may be fulfilled by credit for advanced math coursework earned in-residence at DePaul (MAT 135, MAT 136, MAT 147, MAT 148, MAT 149, MAT 150, MAT 151, MAT 152 MAT 155, MAT 156, MAT 160, MAT 161, MAT 162 MAT 170, MAT 171, MAT 172, or equivalent) or earned externally either as transfer credit from another college/university or as test credit through AP, CLEP, IB, or International A and A/S Level exams. Calculus course(s) may be used to fulfill any of the three QR/MCD requirements.
Learning Domains
Arts and Literature (AL)
- 2 Courses Required
Historical Inquiry (HI)
- 2 Courses Required
Math and Computing (MC)
-
2 Courses Required
[1 CR Course and 1 SR Course]
Philosophical Inquiry (PI)
- 2 Courses Required
Religious Dimensions (RD)
- 2 Courses Required
Scientific Inquiry (SI)
- 2 Courses Required
[1 Lab Course and 1 SWK Course]
Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Inquiry (SCBI)
- 2 Courses Required
Note
Courses offered in the student's primary major cannot be taken to fulfill LSP Domain requirements. If students double major, LSP Domain courses may double count for both LSP credit and the second major. Students who choose to take an experiential learning course offered by the major may count it either as a general elective or the Experiential Learning requirement.
In meeting learning domain requirements, no more than one course that is outside the student’s major and is cross-listed with a course within the student’s major, can be applied to count for LSP domain credit. This policy does not apply to those who are pursuing a double major or earning BFA or BM degrees.
Major Requirements
Course Requirements
| Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | 20 | |
| INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISM | ||
| PHOTOJOURNALISM | ||
| NEWS REPORTING | ||
| INTRODUCTION TO MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM | ||
| ADVANCED MULTIMEDIA REPORTING | ||
| Select one of the following: | 4 | |
| REPORTING FOR 14 EAST MAGAZINE | ||
| PHOTOJOURNALISM FOR STUDENT MEDIA | ||
| REPORTING FOR GOOD DAY DEPAUL | ||
| REPORTING FOR THE DEPAULIA | ||
| Select four additional courses from the following: | 16 | |
| ADOBE CREATIVE CLOUD WORKSHOP (2.0 quarter hours) 2 | ||
| ADOBE INDESIGN (2.0 quarter hours) 2 | ||
| ADOBE AUDITION (2.0 quarter hours) 2 | ||
| ADOBE PREMIERE VIDEO EDITING (2.0 quarter hours) 2 | ||
| MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR COMMUNICATION INTERNSHIP | ||
| COMMUNICATION INTERNSHIP SPECIAL TOPICS | ||
| RESEARCH PRACTICUM 1 | ||
| INDEPENDENT STUDY 1 | ||
| NEWS EDITING | ||
| FEATURE WRITING | ||
| NEWS DOCUMENTARY | ||
| TOPICS IN VISUAL COMMUNICATION | ||
| JOURNALISM WORKSHOP (VARIABLE TOPICS) (2.0 quarter hours) 2 | ||
| REPORTING FOR 14 EAST MAGAZINE | ||
| BUSINESS WRITING AND REPORTING | ||
| ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNALISM | ||
| INTRO TO DATA JOURNALISM | ||
| SPORTS TALK & MULTIMEDIA | ||
| CLIMATE CHANGE COMMUNICATION | ||
| SOUND AND VISION | ||
| EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING | ||
| POLITICS & GOVERNMENT REPORTING | ||
| WRITING FOR BROADCAST | ||
| SOCIAL MEDIA & THE NEWS | ||
| JOURNALISM AND THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | ||
| TOPICS IN MEDIA LAW | ||
| AUDIO REPORTING | ||
| SOCIAL JUSTICE REPORTING 1 | ||
| SOCIAL JUSTICE REPORTING II | ||
| NEWSCAST PRODUCING | ||
| PHOTOJOURNALISM FOR STUDENT MEDIA | ||
| POLITICAL COMMUNICATION | ||
| JOURNALISM LAW AND ETHICS | ||
| INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING | ||
| TELEVISION NEWS I | ||
| MAGAZINE REPORTING | ||
| INTERNATIONAL REPORTING | ||
| SPORTS REPORTING | ||
| ADVANCED REPORTING I | ||
| ADVANCED REPORTING II | ||
| COMMUNITY JOURNALISM | ||
| LONG FORM JOURNALISM | ||
| TOPICS IN JOURNALISM | ||
| SPECIAL TOPICS IN JOURNALISM | ||
| REPORTING FOR GOOD DAY DEPAUL | ||
| ADVANCED PHOTOJOURNALISM | ||
| TELEVISION NEWS II | ||
| LIFESTYLE REPORTING | ||
| REPORTING FOR THE DEPAULIA | ||
| NEW YORK JOURNALISM | ||
| Select two electives from any College of Communication offerings or from the following College of Computing and Digital Media courses: | 8 | |
| DIGITAL CINEMA PRODUCTION I | ||
| VIDEO EDITING FOR NON-MAJORS | ||
| EDITING I | ||
- 1
Students may take up to 4 hours of credit in this course toward graduation requirements.
- 2
A maximum of 8 credits from two credit College of Communication courses can be applied to major requirements.
Internship Credit
Students in the major may take CMN 394 and/or CMN 395 (when work relates to the major). In order to take CMN 394 or CMN 395, students must have completed two of the four communication core classes (CMN 101, CMN 102, CMN 103, CMN 104), two courses in the chosen major and have fulfilled internship program eligibility requirements.
Open Electives
Open elective credit also is required to meet the minimum graduation requirement of 192 hours.