Journalism (JOUR)

Students learn journalism fundamentals as they follow and analyze past and present news coverage in addition to producing their own journalism. Required for Journalism majors and minors. University Core fulfilled: Flags: Engaged Learning.

An intermediate level writing class and an introduction to journalism. Covers the basic components of both features and news stories, interview strategies, and legal and ethical concerns. Prerequisite: ENGL 2206 or JOUR 2100. Required for Journalism Majors. University Core fulfilled: Flag: Writing.

This course explores hundreds of years of American journalism and how it has --- for better or for worse --- driven and been driven by cultural, political, and technological changes. Prerequisites: JOUR 2100. Required for Journalism majors.

A five-week hands-on course in which students learn how to use equipment and software to shoot and edit professional-quality photos. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Journalism majors/minors only. Partially fulfills Production/Media Skills requirement. Credit/No Credit only.

This is a course teaching the basics of professionally shooting and editing video for journalism. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100 or ENGL 2206. Journalism majors only. Fulfills Production/Media Skills requirement.

This is a course teaching the basics of professionally recording and editing audio for journalism. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100 or ENGL 2206. Journalism majors only. Fulfills Production/Media Skills requirement.

This is an introductory course to computer-assisted reporting, offering technical instruction in how to use coding, spreadsheets, GSI, Flash, and other tools in journalism. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100 or ENGL 2206. Journalism majors only. Fulfills Production/Media Skills requirement.

Students learn how to use basic computer designing tools to create visualizations of information and layouts. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100 or ENGL 2206. Journalism majors only. Fulfills Production/Media Skills requirement.

A five-week course that teaches students how to convey information visually using charts, maps, and other tools. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Journalism majors/minors only. Partially fulfills Production/Media Skills requirement. Credit/No Credit only.

A five-week course that teaches students basic computer programming to aid in complex reporting and research tasks. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Journalism majors/minors only. Partially fulfills Production/Media Skills requirement. Credit/No Credit only.

A five-week course that teaches students how to use social media in the service of journalism. Students develop social media profiles befitting a modern journalist, learn the basics of audience research and news publishing, and develop the skills necessary to grow and maintain an engaged audience around a specific beat or coverage area. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Journalism majors/minors only. Partially fulfills Production/Media Skills requirement. Credit/No Credit only.

This interdisciplinary course challenges students to offer critical analysis of ethical and representational issues in media. In addition to doing extensive reading, students also produce their own journalism. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Required for Journalism majors and minors. University Core fulfilled: Integrations: Ethics and Justice.

A course in writing reviews. Topics may include art, books, film, music, theatre, TV, or video games. Class may involve field trips to theatre, film, or other performances or exhibits. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Required for Journalism majors and minors. Fulfills Genre or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement. University Core fulfilled: Flag: Writing.

This course will review major legal issues affecting mass communication, including journalism, public relations, and broadcasting. Issues discussed will include: First Amendment freedoms, libel/slander, rights of privacy and the media, obscenity, regulations specifically relating to broadcasting and the Federal Communications Commission, regulations specifically relating to advertising, and copyright laws. Major cases pertinent to each topic will be studied in an attempt to help the student understand why the law is as it is. Ethical considerations will be discussed throughout the course.

This course focuses on the business side of the media industry. The concept of power and privilege in modern society will be infused into an exploration of the firms and people who own and operate media outlets.   Prerequisites: JOUR 2100, JOUR 3300. Fulfills Journalism elective requirements.

Through hands-on field work, readings, viewings, visits, and reports, students explore Los Angeles as a test-ground of culture's vast interdisciplinary condition, and report and reflect on their own understanding of the city and its people. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Fulfills Journalism Elective requirement. University Core fulfilled: Explorations: Creative Experience.

Juniors and seniors only.

This course encourages students to understand media production as an act of social justice that crosses disciplinary boundaries of journalism, creative writing, literary studies, history, and rhetoric. We analyze how American journalism as a professional practice and news media viewership as cultural consumption can function to produce or reiterate ideas about race and ethnicity. Students will learn the role journalism has played in both perpetuating and challenging racist ideologies alongside contemporary issues of race and representation in newsrooms. Fulfills Journalism Elective requirement.

Students learn the ins and outs of engaging visual storytelling by doing their own portraiture, feature and spot news, and photo essays. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Fulfills Journalism elective requirement.

From reporting and recording to editing producing a finished project, this course teaches students how to create journalistic radio stories and podcasts. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Fulfills Journalism elective requirement.

Students work 10-12 hours per week with an off-campus media outlet or on-campus as a staff member of the Los Angeles Loyolan or The Tower yearbook. No matter where they work, students are entirely responsible for obtaining their positions (which they must have concurrently with the Internship class.) Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Journalism Experience or Journalism Elective requirement. Permission of Instructor required.

Students spend the semester running the Journalism Department's digital news outlet, The Lion. They do so by reporting, writing, editing, filming, recording, illustrating, promoting and publishing stories about LMU and Los Angeles. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Journalism Experience or Journalism Elective requirement.

Students will study the history of nonfiction writing about nature and explore the current state of environmental journalism. They will experience, observe, reflect on, and write about nature. Prerequisites: ENGL 2206 or JOUR 2100. Fulfills Journalism Elective and Journalism: Reporting in Genres requirements.

An advanced course in non-fiction prose that offers students a chance to both create and analyze non-fiction. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Journalism elective requirement.

A course in which students learn advanced interview strategies for journalists. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Journalism Elective requirement.

A course that examines and teaches the deep-dive reporting and writing techniques used by professional investigative journalists, and that allows students to use those techniques while reporting investigative journalism of their own. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Journalism Elective requirement.

A course that teaches students advanced editing techniques. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Journalism Elective requirement.

Students bridge memoir and reportage to produce works of first-person long-form journalism, examining the ethical implications and creative possibilities of the writer as a character in a reported story. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Specialization or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement. University Core fulfilled: Flag: Writing.

Students examine the intersection of news and science/health, learning how to ethically and effectively translate complex information into digestible, accurate, and popular news. Pre-requisite: JOUR 2100.

Students create a work of audio storytelling — including podcast pilots and short podcast seasons — from idea to completion. Students learn how to gather audio in the field using handheld microphones and audio recorders, and how to record and edit audio in a studio setting. Students will produce podcasts in a variety of forms, including non-fiction narrative, fictional narrative, talk show format, comedy, and other genres.

Students learn how to create well-reported works of audio storytelling by gathering audio in the field, using handheld microphones and audio recorders, recording in a studio setting, and editing their audio into journalistic pieces that take advantage of the intimacy and personal connection made possible by podcasts. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Fulfills Journalism Elective requirement.

A study of diverse journalists from 1800 to the present, emphasizing how their work reflects the concerns of their age and their contributions to the ongoing tradition of journalism. Students will develop their own journalistic writing inline with this tradition. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Journalism elective requirement. University Core fulfilled: Flag: Writing.

A study of the form of the essay, with emphasis on the historical tradition of essay writing. Students will develop their own essays in response to this tradition. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Genre or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement.

This is an advanced journalism course designed to train the student in the practical and business elements involved in publishing an international journal of literary nonfiction. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Specialization or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement. University Core fulfilled: Flag: Writing. Permission of instructor required.

An introduction to culture journalism, involving writing various forms of culture criticism and reported features. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Genre or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement. University Core fulfilled: Flag: Writing.

Students will learn about the legal rights and responsibilities of journalists. The course will also focus on reporting on legal issues, including using legal sources, identifying newsworthy cases, and conducting courtroom reporting. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Specialization or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement.

Students will complete their Journalism major or minor by producing a multi-platform journalism project. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Open to senior Journalism majors and minors by permission of instructor. Required of all Journalism majors and minors.

This course gives students credits for practical journalism experience either working on the staff of the Los Angeles Loyolan, the Tower, ROAR, or Marymount Institute Press or interning off campus. Particularly appropriate for editors. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Fulfills Experience requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement. University Core fulfilled: Flag: Writing. Permission of instructor required.

This course is for advanced journalism students who have served as editors at the Loyolan, the Tower, ROAR, or Marymount Institute Press for at least one semester. Students will mentor a junior staffer. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Fulfills Experience requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement. University Core fulfilled: Flag: Writing. Permission of instructor required.

A course covering all aspects of sports reporting, writing, and editing. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Genre or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement.

A course focused on the craft of researching and writing video news stories for television and/or web. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Specialization or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement.

Students will study digital storytelling theory before collaborating to produce their own magazine for mobile devices. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Specialization or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement.

This course focuses on the craft of producing journalistic stories for television broadcast. Prerequisite: JOUR 2100. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Journalism Elective requirement.

Juniors and seniors only.

An advanced essay workshop examining the artistry of journalism as it relates to Los Angeles. Students explore LA writing by reading the most compelling practitioners and incorporating, when applicable, their craft and style techniques to in their own writing. Fulfills Journalism Elective requirement.

Political Journalism examines the function of the news media in American politics, campaigns and elections. Students study how journalists and news outlets shape narratives in political discourse and public opinion of politics and political candidates. Students study journalism being produced about current campaigns and produce some of their own coverage of local races in California and Los Angeles. Fulfills Genre or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement.

An examination of prose styles and theories of style to help students develop their own writing styles. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Journalism Elective requirement.

A study of persuasion and rhetorical strategies used by the media. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Specialization or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry or Critical/Theoretical requirement.

A study of arts criticism by women writers. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Genre or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry or Comparative requirement.

Examines the tradition of literary journalism, the telling of true stories through fictional techniques, with emphasis on helping students produce a publishable body of work in this genre. Juniors and seniors only. Fulfills Genre or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement.

By studying the works of critics throughout pop music history, students will learn to think critically about musical terms and genres and express their observations and opinions in various forms. Fulfills Genre or Elective requirement; fulfills Creative/Artistry requirement. Juniors and seniors only.