Courses

Journalism Program

College of Humanities and Social Sciences - Montclair State University

MSC's journalism program has been revised and expanded to reflect growing student interest and career opportunities in this exciting field. Taught as an 18-credit minor within the English Department, with which it shares faculty, the program seeks both to develop students' journalistic skills, preparing them for possible careers in journalism, and to give them an academic overview of the field.

    This is a hands-on program requiring extensive writing. Students learn by doing. They study interviewing techniques, learning to probe and to ask the tough questions. They go out in the field, both on and off campus, in pursuit of stories.

    Students learn to write under realistic deadline conditions, composing directly on computers as is standard newspaper practice. Emphasis is on the practical and demanding skills needed to succeed in today's challenging marketplace.

    The program develops good journalistic skills: Research, accurate social observation, and the ability to write vivid, specific, and economical prose. Emphasis is on developing students' initiative and perseverance in "getting the story." Editing skills including news judgment and avoiding libel are also taught.

    Because the minor emphasizes practical experience, students have an opportunity to learn if journalism is an attractive career for them. They cover breaking news stories with tight deadlines, and write pieces with longer deadlines such as features, magazine articles, lifestyle, editorials, columns, and news-analysis "think" pieces.

    Journalism students write frequently for MSC's award-winning weekly newspaper, The Montclarion. They visit newspaper city rooms. They meet with working reporters and editors on campus in specially arranged seminars. Through MSC's co-operative education program, students often are able to work for college credit at local newspapers, publishing houses, public relations agencies, and corporations.

    Journalism students have gone on to fulltime jobs at papers including the Hartford Courant, Star-Ledger, The (Bergen) Record, New York Post, The Elizabeth Daily Journal, Asbury Park Press and others.

     The journalism program is bolstered by the publication on campus of The Montclarion, written and produced entirely by MSC students. The paper covers all campus news, ranging from the on-campus announcement of Sen. Bill Bradley's reelection campaign to guest lectures and local police reports.

    Besides its extensive news sections, The Montclarion includes sections devoted to arts, sports, features, editorials, and op-ed opinion pieces.

    Editors and staff writers for the paper are largely journalism minors. Editors of the paper have been accepted by the leading journalism graduate schools in the country. including Columbia University, New York University. and Syracuse University's Newhouse School.

    There is growing opportunity for African- American, Hispanic, and other students of color in all areas of journalism.

    Both domestic and international news organizations are Vigorously recruiting African-American and Hispanic reporters. Many journalism internships and job-training programs seek minorities. The journalism program at MSC encourages students of color to consider the minor.

    The program also has relevance for aspiring fiction writers. Many novelists began as reporters, including Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser, Stephan Crane, Nathaniel West, Dorothy Parker, and Ernest Hemingway. The eye for detail, and the emphasis on lively prose, are journalistic qualities that will stand future fiction writers in good stead.

    While the journalism minor is primarily for those exploring careers in journalism and related fields (broadcasting, public relations, advertising. communications), the minor offers all students an insight into how the press functions.

    Students in government. political science, history, sociology, and American studies will benefit from understanding how news is gathered and written, and from class discussions on topics like the history of journalism and ethics.

    The faculty of the journalism minor has worked extensively-and continues to publish-in the field.

    Faculty members have been staff reporters on papers including Newsday and the New York Post, and on New Jersey papers like the Ocean County Observer and The (Bergen) Record. They have authored cover stories for national magazines like Parade, Town
Country, and Us. They have done travel writing from around the world for papers including The New York Times, Boston Globe, and Baltimore Sun. The faculty has experience in all forms of journalism, from editing regional newspapers, to local TV reporting, to news writing for CBS News.

• Prof. Ron Hollander
• Dr. Dan Bronson
• Dr. Grover Furr
• Dr. Rita Jacobs

In order to have a minor in journlism appear on his/her diploma, a student must take 18 credits in journalism. Most courses carry 3 semester hour credits.

The following three courses are required of every candidate in the minor:

Every student must complete 3 of the following courses.