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 JOUR 101, JOUR 107 & JOUR 108, JOUR 207 & JOUR 208 before being formally admitted to the Reynolds School 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 must earn C's or better in 101, 107, 108 207 and 208. 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 may 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.
JOUR 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.
JOUR 107 Multimedia News Reporting & Writing I
In this class, you’ll learn how to gather, organize and report information. Prepare for a challenge.
JOUR 207 Multimedia News Reporting & Writing II
This class involves advanced multimedia reporting and writing.
JOUR 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.
JOUR 305 Media Ethics
Learn to identify, consider and resolve ethical problems in journalism.
JOUR 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.
JOUR 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.
In addition to core journalism classes, you’ll need 15 more credits that focus on your chosen emphasis and other selected electives. Here are suggested emphases in the major:
Print JournalismJOUR 310 Advanced Reporting
Hone your interviewing and writing skills while learning to interpret the oft-perplexing array of events and information confronting your audience.
JOUR 411 News Editing
Associated Press style, headlines and grammar.
JOUR 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
JOUR 323 Radio News & Production
Broadcast news writing and production culminating in radio news programs and documentaries.
JOUR 421 Television News & Production I
TV news formats, writing, video journalism and TV news editing.
JOUR 423 Television News & Production II
An extension of 421 including regular TV newscast productions, advanced TV reporting, anchoring and producing.
Public Relations
JOUR 351 Public Relations and Advertising Principles for IMC
Learn the principles behind public relations efforts in today’s society.
JOUR 442 Public Relations Case Studies for IMC
Learn how corporate communicators have handled specific public relations tasks.
JOUR 443 Public Relations Problems for IMC
Get hands-on experience developing a public relations strategy for a local non-profit organization.
Advertising
JOUR 351 Public Relations and Advertising Principles for IMC
Learn the principles behind public relations efforts in today’s society.
JOUR 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.
JOUR 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.)
JOUR 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:
JOUR 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.
JOUR 303 Media Graphics
Study and practice using graphics and typography to create effective visual media products.
JOUR 313 Photojournalism
Use digital photography and computer technology to create photography that tells a story.
JOUR 317 Travel Journalism
What makes you want to travel? This course will expose you to the best travel writers whose work creates space and place, and you'll write compelling that makes others want to join you.
JOUR 354 Game Design for Journalists
Learn why play is the best way to learn about and share information. Create a computer game that informs and engages as well as entertains.
JOUR 360 Media and Politics
Explore the intersection of communication, citizenship and political decision-making.
JOUR 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.
JOUR 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.
JOUR 451 Interactive Media
Study and produce multimedia products for websites.
JOUR 481 Race, Gender & Media
Explore the ways that media create and challenge social constructions of gender and race, with emphasis on women and minorities.
JOUR 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.
JOUR 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.
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