Journalism
JOUR 1020 - Introduction to Media and Entertainment
3 credit hours
(Same as EMC 1020/RIM 1020.) An introduction to media and entertainment, exploring the history of media and entertainment as it pertains to ethics, law, free expression, diversity and inclusion, economics, research, globalization, and other important concepts. Examines the evolution of technology, from the first printing presses to social media and gaming, as well as media industries that include advertising and public relations.
JOUR 2020 - Introduction to Environmental Journalism and Communication
3 credit hours
Introduces the theories and methods, principles and practices of environmental journalism and communication. A general overview of environment and climate change topics and issues covered in a variety of media from the local, regional, national, to the global contexts.
JOUR 2132 - Video Journalism Practices
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: EMC 1020/JOUR 1020/RIM 1020. Video journalism techniques and skills necessary to arrange, shoot, edit, and produce a television or video news story. Field production techniques covered include camera work, lighting, audio, and editing.
Three-hour lecture plus up to three-hour lab per week.
JOUR 2710 - Media Writing
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: Grade of C or better in ENGL 1010 and ENGL 1020 or equivalents. Theory and practice of writing for print and electronic media according to the techniques, styles, and formats of various media.
JOUR 2720 - Digital Media Skills
3 credit hours
Professional skills necessary to create digital platform stories that integrate audio, photo, video, and text.
JOUR 2800 - Journalism and Media Topics
1 to 3 credit hours
Examines a specific topic in the field of journalism or media. Variable credit. Topic and available academic credit will be announced prior to scheduling of the class. May include Study Abroad; Study Abroad fees may apply.
JOUR 2880 - Careers in Journalism and Media
1 credit hour
Career options for students in journalism and media, focusing on understanding career paths and options, and professional development through experiential learning.
JOUR 3000 - Journalism and Media in the Movies
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of instructor. The development and role of motion pictures in America, including the history of films and filmmakers and how they've used film to portray journalists and media influencers to impact American society and culture.
JOUR 3020 - Community Engagement Journalism
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: JOUR 2710 and JOUR 3090. Explores the key concepts, best practices, and philosophy of engaging with communities usually ignored in a meaningful way by mainstream media. Foundational course in the Social Justice Journalism concentration.
JOUR 3050 - Principles of Health Communication
3 credit hours
Introduces students to fundamental issues in Health Communication. The development of health communication, the role of interpersonal communication in health care, the design and challenges of public health campaigns, intended and unintended health messages in news and popular media, the structure of health care organization, and key ethical issues in creating and disseminating health messages to diverse audiences.
JOUR 3070 - Introduction to Social Media Practice
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: JOUR 1020 and JOUR 2720. Introduces social media history, approaches, and practical application. Overview of social media usage within and on behalf of organizations and institutions through a practical analysis approach that focuses on the application of social media techniques.
JOUR 3090 - Reporting
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: JOUR 2710. Theory and practice of basic journalism skills, including content gathering, storytelling, evaluating, writing, and processing of news.
JOUR 3170 - Digital Analytics and Certifications
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: EMC 1020/JOUR 1020/RIM 1020 and JOUR 2710 or consent of department. A journalistic and strategic understanding of digital analytics, leading to analytics certifications for users. Includes examination of creative direction and digital media practices and theory behind digital approaches.
JOUR 3240 - Mobile Storytelling
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: EMC 1020/JOUR 1020/RIM 1020 with C or better; JOUR 2710. Focuses on reporting, writing, and editing stories for mobile platforms using mobile technology. Creative use of different social media and mobile content to engage an audience. Covers ethical issues facing journalists using both mobile platforms and social media, including breaking news best practices. Mix of fieldwork, in-class exercises, and lectures.
JOUR 3430 - Radio News Reporting
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: JOUR 2710 and JOUR 2720. Stresses reporting, writing, and presenting radio news. The history, philosophy, and regulation of electronic media news. Three-hour lecture.
JOUR 3450 - Editing
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: JOUR 3090 with minimum grade of C. Theory and practice in the art of copy editing, including editing, language skills, newspaper style, news judgment, headline writing, photo editing, cutline writing, and page design.
JOUR 3500 - Video Reporting and Editing
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: JOUR 2710 or JOUR 2132 and JOUR 3430 with minimum grade of C. Theory and practice in the gathering, editing, and reporting video news. Attention given to on-the-air presentation. Laboratory required. Three-hour lecture plus up to three-hour lab per week.
JOUR 3520 - Special Topics in Professional Issues
3 credit hours
(Same as ADV/PR/VCOM 3520.) Prerequisites: JOUR 3090 or JOUR 3430 or permission from the School of Journalism. Special topics in journalism, advertising, public relations, and visual communication focusing on practical applications. Topics change each semester and have included investigative, environmental, sports, and political reporting; visual editing; international public relations; and advertising account management. May be repeated up to 6 credits.
JOUR 3530 - Feature Writing
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: JOUR 2710 or permission of instructor. Theory and practice of writing feature stories for newspapers and magazines. Assignments in writing for professional publications as well as the student newspaper.
JOUR 3560 - Podcasting in Journalism
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: JOUR 2720 and JOUR 3430 or permission of instructor. Develop skills in creating audio journalism products and podcasts. Hands-on practice in research, news gathering, interviewing, writing, reporting, audio recording and editing. Includes discussion of legal and ethical considerations of audio journalism and podcasting.
JOUR 3570 - Broadcast Announcing and Performance
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: JOUR 2132.
Responsibilities and skills required of the individual performer in preparing, announcing, and narrating of various types of materials for television and radio.
Three-hour lecture plus up to three-hour lab per week.
JOUR 3580 - MC Practicum
1 to 3 credit hours
Prerequisites: Junior standing; permission of instructor. Practical experience in an on-campus mass communication setting. Note: Total credit for practicum and internship courses cannot exceed 3 credits. Pass/Fail.
JOUR 3590 - Magazine Writing and Editing
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: JOUR 3530 with minimum grade of C. Types of magazines and editorial needs; practice in magazine article writing.
JOUR 3600 - Digital and Media Literacy
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: EMC 1020/JOUR 1020/RIM 1020. Enables students to develop an informed and critical understanding of media messages and media culture as well as their social, cultural, and political contexts and implications. Students develop the critical thinking skills and methods of analysis necessary to interpret media content in a digital age. Offers ways to think critically about media as they relate to citizenship and democracy.
JOUR 3640 - Entertainment and Lifestyle Storytelling
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: JOUR 2710 and JOUR 2720 with C or better. Entertainment and lifestyle are broad categories that include topics such as travel, leisure, music, art, nature, theatre, food, and various indoor and outdoor activities. Covers a variety of activities and produces media content for multiple platforms.
JOUR 3650 - Free Expression, Mass Media, and the American Public
3 credit hours
(Same as EMC 3650/RIM 3650.) A general introduction to the issues surrounding free expression and its relationship to mass media in contemporary America. Comprehensive analysis of the history, philosophies, cases, and controls associated with freedom of expression.
JOUR 3660 - Strategic Communication Research
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: JOUR 2710, permission of instructor, or permission of the School of Journalism. Introduces research methods used in advertising, journalism, public relations, and strategic communication. Provides experiences in scientific research and data analysis, including quantitative and qualitative methods, content analysis, experiments, surveys and focus groups for diagnosing, planning, managing, and evaluating situations.
JOUR 3720 - News Producing
3 credit hours
Prerequisites: JOUR 2710, JOUR 2720, and JOUR 3430 with C or better. Helps students develop the skills required to produce television and online newscasts and sportscasts. Focuses on sources for news and sports content, selecting stories, using graphics, writing headlines and teases, writing news and sports scripts, working with newsroom and production staff, law and ethics, and the role of social media in television news. In addition to learning how to use television news producing software, students will also learn about producing online news content. Has a mandatory lab component in order to practice live news producing skills.
JOUR 3740 - Advanced Electronic Media News Reporting and Producing
4 credit hours
Prerequisites: JOUR 3430, JOUR 3500, and VFP 3570/JOUR 3570. Theory and practice of television journalism, including use of electronic news-gathering equipment, evaluating and processing news for broadcast, and delivery of television news. Laboratory required. Three-hour lecture plus up to three-hour lab per week.
JOUR 3800 - Journalism and Media Topics
1 to 3 credits credi
Examines a specific topic in the field of journalism or media. Topic and available academic credit announced prior to scheduling of the class. May include Study Abroad. Study Abroad fees may apply.
JOUR 3841 - Data Skills for Media Professionals
3 credit hours
Introduces applied data analysis concepts and techniques useful to professionals working in media-related disciplines. Topics include spreadsheet-based data analysis, online data visualization and mapping, relational databases, inferential statistics, and code-based data acquisition through API access and web scraping.
JOUR 3850 - Crime, Gender, and Media
3 credit hours
Addresses origin and history of "rape myths" and crime-related legislation as contextually-situated, gender disparities in the "cultivation of fear," sex trafficking, intimate partner violence, and other topics as constructed in media messages about crime, criminals, victimization, and the prison system, positioned across the inequality of various social intersections.
JOUR 4000 - MC Internship
1 to 3 credit hours
Prerequisites: Junior standing; permission of the internship coordinator. Advanced students gain practical experience in a professional setting. Note: Total credit for internship and practicum courses cannot exceed 3 credits. Pass/Fail.
JOUR 4210 - Mass Communication and Society
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior standing. Theories of the process of mass communication, how media affect society, the evolution within a social and cultural context, ethical and social dimensions. Extensive reading in theory, history, and research. Media-content emphasis varies depending on instructor's expertise.
JOUR 4220 - Media, Environment, and Climate Change
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior standing or above or instructor approval. Interdisciplinary study of media, environment, and climate change; local and regional contexts of environmental and climate change issues in Middle Tennessee and the South; role of media in environmental and climate justice movements in the U.S. and around the world.
JOUR 4240 - Television, Culture, and History
3 credit hours
Examines television as a cultural product, communication tool, "mirror on the world," and as an agent for social change. Explores censorship, sponsorship, ethics, and the impact of context on content. Focuses on role that television has had and continues to have on constructing notions of gender, race, class, and difference.
JOUR 4250 - Mass Media Law
3 credit hours
(Same as EMC 4250.) Prerequisites: JOUR 1020 and JOUR 2710; junior standing. Examination of legal guarantees and restrictions on the flow of information using the case study method. Focus on libel, privacy, obscenity, and the special restrictions placed on advertising, broadcasting, cable TV, and the Internet.
JOUR 4300 - Reviewing and Criticism
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. Theories and practice of reviewing and criticism in the mass media. Overview of current trends in film, theatre, music, books, and other entertainment media. Practice in critical and analytical writing.
JOUR 4350 - Children and Media
3 credit hours
Explores media content created for and by children, examining the many ways that graphic novels, music, social media, videos, and other forms of media influence the way that kids see the world. Topics include history of the child consumer; children's marketing; ethics in children's media; constructions of gender, race, ability; and other positions of intersectionality, role-playing, identity, and video games, and other salient topics in this area.
JOUR 4440 - Advanced Reporting
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: JOUR 3090. Advanced theory and practice in reporting, emphasis on coverage of public affairs-related assignments or other relevant topics, including an introduction to interpretive and investigative reporting techniques.
JOUR 4510 - Media History and Culture
3 credit hours
Viewing history as the study of change across time, examines "new media" from different periods (symbols, writing, printing, telecommunications, Internet) and their role in shaping journalism and media content historically. Includes discussion of alternative media, including the Black Press and Woman Suffrage Press.
JOUR 4660 - Scientific Approaches to Media
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior standing. Provides a critical overview of the historical, intellectual, and theoretical foundations of scientific inquiry with specific emphasis on quantitative research methods. Introduces major theories and methods of scientific inquiry in the field of communication including psychological and sociological perspectives, survey research, content analysis, experiments, observational research, and statistical analysis. Explores audience analysis, media effects, message testing, campaign evaluation, political communication, public opinion, and new media technologies.
JOUR 4670 - Cultural Approaches to Media
3 credit hours
Provides a critical overview of the historical, intellectual, and theoretical foundations of cultural studies with specific emphasis on research methods. Explores popular culture, comparative media systems, global media flows, and new media technologies, among other topics pertinent to media and journalism.
JOUR 4700 - Mass Media and National Security
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior/Senior standing or permission of instructor. Examines the role of the mass media in maintaining national security. Topics include history, legal, and operational concerns from both media and the government perspectives. Discusses the tension between maintaining national security and American traditions of civil liberties and the role of both the media and government in these discussions.
JOUR 4780 - Media and Markets
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior standing. Approaches to understanding media audiences. Examines tensions between the business and public functions of media, and social and ethical conflicts related to media marketing.
JOUR 4790 - Global News and World Media Cultures
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior standing. Systems and philosophies associated with gathering international news and news coverage in different regions. Looks at global communication systems and ownership; examines how cultures shape news and the role of the individual in reporting news internationally. Includes discussion of development issues and role of global advertising and public relations.
JOUR 4800 - Seminar in Media Issues
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior standing. Examination and critical evaluation of issues relevant to the operation and functions of mass media, including their relationships to each other and to government, advertisers, consumers, and other publics. May be repeated up to 6 credits.
JOUR 4810 - Global Comparative Media Systems
3 credit hours
A close comparative study of chosen media systems in regions of the world. Examines print, broadcast, entertainment, and new media in Western and Eastern Europe, Asia and the Pacific Rim Region, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas. Media interactions with an influence on the geographic, demographic, linguistic, cultural, economic, and political structures of countries.
JOUR 4820 - Race, Gender, and Class in Media
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing or permission of instructor. Critical examination of diversity in mass communication with particular emphasis on media representations of race, gender, and class. Also examines audience interpretations of media texts.
JOUR 4850 - Ethics and Mass Communication
3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Junior standing. Examination of ethical concerns of media practitioners illuminated by study of selected current ethical issues and an overview of the cultural and philosophical basis of socially responsive mass media.
JOUR 4880 - Professional Development
1 credit hour
Prerequisite: Senior status. Issues faced by graduates upon entering the professional world or graduate school. Topics include preparation of the professional portfolio, the resume and cover letter, post-graduate study, and professional advancement. Should be completed by majors in the School of Journalism in either of their last two semesters prior to graduation.
JOUR 4900 - Independent Study In Mass Communication
1 to 3 credit hours
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor. Independent study projects or research related to media issues or professions.
JOUR 4910 - Research in Media Issues
3 credit hours
Students work on developing good writing skills while conducting original research in their areas of interest. Students will critique each other's writing in a peer-workshop environment, as they edit and revise their own writing--building to a journal-quality research paper presented to the class in a conference-like setting.
