Major Requirements
Here’s what it takes to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno’s Reynolds School of Journalism:
Undergraduate majors
In your freshman and sophomore years, you’ll be a journalism pre-major. You’ll be eligible to take Journalism 101, 107, 108, 207 and 208 before being formally admitted to the RSJ journalism program.
During these first two years of your university education, you should be working on getting your core curriculum requirements completed—and making sure that you can satisfy the journalism school’s foreign language requirement.
To be admitted to the program, you need to have sophomore standing with an overall UNR grade point average of 2.5 or higher and a journalism grade point average of 2.5 or higher. You need to earn grades of a C or better in 101, 107 and 207. Journalism majors must maintain these GPAs to continue taking classes in the program.
Journalism majors who fail to meet the GPA requirement for two successive semesters will be suspended from the major and may not take further journalism courses until their grades rise to the standard. (The dean of journalism can grant written permission to proceed on a semester-by-semester basis if good progress is shown.)
Best advice: Study hard. Pay attention to deadlines. Hold yourself to high expectations.
Core curriculum
These are the core classes that all students have to take to earn a journalism degree at RSJ. Whether you’d like to pursue a career in advertising, broadcast journalism or newspaper reporting, you’ll have to master the skills taught in these classes first.
Journalism 101 Critical Analysis of Mass Media
A healthy dose of media literacy to get you cruising down the pop culture-strewn highway toward the land of clear thinking.
Journalism 107 Multimedia News Reporting & Writing I
In this class, you’ll learn how to gather, organize and report information. Prepare for a challenge.
Journalism 207 Multimedia News Reporting & Writing II
This class dvanced multimedia reporting and writing.
Journalism 108 and 208 Media Production I and II.
Learn to use images, video, sound and text to create engaging media products.These courses must be taken concurrently with Jour 107 and 207.
Journalism 305 Media Ethics
Learn to identify, consider and resolve ethical problems in journalism.
Journalism 401 The First Amendment & Society
Freedom of the Press—an essential component of American democracy that we hope you’ll come to love as much as we do.
Journalism 499 Professional Internship
Put classroom ideas into practice in the professional realm by going to work for a newspaper, TV station, ad agency or public relations firm.
After completing core journalism classes, you’ll need 15 more credits that focus on your chosen emphasis and other selected electives. Here are established emphases in the major. You can also select five classes of your own choosing, referred to as the "non-sequence" option.
Print journalism
Journalism 310 Advanced Reporting
Hone your interviewing and writing skills while learning to interpret the oft-perplexing array of events and information confronting your audience.
Journalism 411 News Editing
Associated Press style, headlines and grammar.
Journalism 453 Online Reporting & Editing
Explore brave new frontiers of journalistic story-telling for a broad Web-based audience. Broadcast journalism After completing core journalism classes, you’ll need 15 more credits that focus on your chosen emphasis and other selected electives.
Broadcast journalism
Journalism 323 Radio News & Production
Broadcast news writing and production culminating in radio news programs and documentaries.
Journalism 421 Television News & Production I
TV news formats, writing, video journalism and TV news editing.
Journalism 423 Television News & Production II
An extension of 421 including regular TV newscast productions, advanced TV reporting, anchoring and producing.
Public Relations
Journalism 341 Public Relations Principles for IMC
Learn the principles behind public relations efforts in today’s society.
Journalism 441 Public Relations Problems for IMC
Get hands-on experience developing a public relations strategy for a local non-profit organization.
Journalism 442 Public Relations Case Studies for IMC
Learn how corporate communicators have handled specific public relations tasks.
Advertising
Journalism 331 Introduction to Advertising for IMC
You've seen, heard and been targeted by them all of your life. Now start learning how and why ads are created. Understand advertising as one weapon in the integrated marketing communication arsenal.
Journalism 430 Advertising Media for IMC
The most wonderful ads in the world won't work if they aren't seen or heard by the right people. Discover how to plan and buy media--TV, radio, billboards, online, skywriting and even personal tattoos--to reach the right people.
If advertising were war, this would be officers' training. Develop strategies and learn how to make them happen.
Journalism 432 Advertising Copywriting for IMC
Creating ads is about words, pictures, music and whatever appeals to your audience. You'll develop a killer portfolio--or die trying. (Figuratively speaking.)
Journalism 433 IMC Competition
Join advertising, public relations and marketing students to prepare an integrated marketing communication plan for a real national or international client. Battle other top schools in the American Advertising Federation's National Student Advertising Competition.
Journalism electives
In addition to the three classes in your chosen emphasis, you'll also need to take two additional journalism electives. They can be any course from this list:
Journalism 300 Visual Communication
You see a dozen magazines in the grocery store check-out line. One catches your attention and you pick it up. Why? This course examines visual literacy, perception, cognition, aesthetics and design principles.
Journalism 303 Media Graphics
Study and practice using graphics and typography to create effective visual media products.
Journalism 313 Photojournalism
Use digital photography and computer technology to create photography that tells a story.
Journalism 335 Corporate Communications
Explore the media planning, selection, copy writing and graphic design that advance a corporate or non-profit organization’s public relations strategy.
Journalism 413 History of Journalism
Ben Franklin. William Randolph Hearst. Matt Drudge. A look at the roots of the journalistic craft from colonial press days to the Internet era.
Journalism 418 Magazine Writing
Emily Dickinson called publication “the auction of the mind of man.” Learn how to get some dough for your mind—that is, your published writing—in this class.
Probe the nature of images as a tool for persuasive media messages, like advertising.
Journalism 450 Media Technologies & Society
Examine the impact of public communication technologies on social discourse and public perceptions.
Journalism 451 Interactive Media
Study and produce multimedia products for websites.
Journalism 481 Race, Gender & Media
Explore the ways that media create and challenge social constructions of gender and race, with emphasis on women and minorities.
Journalism 487 Leaders & Issues
Visits from leading media professionals—national and local—give you an idea about what it’s like to run a newspaper, ad agency or Web site.
Journalism 490 Special Problems
Pursue a special interest in journalism. Under this course number, RSJ instructors offer a variety of intriguing courses that vary from semester to semester. Stay tuned for details.
