Journalism

University of California, Berkeley

About the Program

UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism is looking for the leaders of the next generation of journalists—strongly motivated individuals with reverence for truth, a hunger to discover and to inform, a deep regard for thorough analysis, and an ardent embrace of civic engagement.

The digital explosion has created an unparalleled appetite for news as more and more people hunger to witness, experience, and learn about what’s happening around them. That’s why, more than ever, our world needs professionals who are committed to reporting on contemporary realities with precision and eloquence. You’ll be prepared not just to make a living, but to make a difference.

Our Master of Journalism degree (MJ) demands a rigorous two-year immersion. That commitment is what’s needed for you to achieve the full range of proficiencies you’ll need as a twenty-first-century journalist: narrative writing, audio, photography, broadcast and online video production, multimedia storytelling, data, and investigative-based journalism.

By the end of your second year you will have created a portfolio of ambitious, high-quality work, much of it published—with the help of our exceptional faculty of seasoned journalists. What’s more, a vibrant worldwide network of media professionals, many of them alumni, will be open to you; professionals who fully appreciate what having a Berkeley Master of Journalism degree means. Concurrent degree programs with Asian Studies and Public Health are available.

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Admissions

Admission to the Program

The Journalism Program requires two statements (Statement of Purpose and Personal History Statement), one PDF of your transcript (official transcript requested if admitted), letters of recommendation, journalist work samples, and resume. All admissions are subject to Graduate Division approval. For full details, see the admissions page on the school's website.

Admission to the University

Applying for Graduate Admission

Thank you for considering UC Berkeley for graduate study! UC Berkeley offers more than 120 graduate programs representing the breadth and depth of interdisciplinary scholarship. A complete list of graduate academic departments, degrees offered, and application deadlines can be found on the Graduate Division website.

Prospective students must submit an online application to be considered for admission, in addition to any supplemental materials specific to the program for which they are applying. The online application can be found on the Graduate Division website.

Admission Requirements

The minimum graduate admission requirements are:

  1. A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;

  2. A satisfactory scholastic average, usually a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 (B) on a 4.0 scale; and

  3. Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in your chosen field.

For a list of requirements to complete your graduate application, please see the Graduate Division’s Admissions Requirements page. It is also important to check with the program or department of interest, as they may have additional requirements specific to their program of study and degree. Department contact information can be found here.

Where to apply?

Visit the Berkeley Graduate Division application page.

Master's Degree Requirements

Unit Requirements

The Master of Journalism (MJ) degree at Berkeley requires the completion of at least 36 semester units of coursework and the submission of a satisfactory master’s project. A minimum of 24 units must be earned from coursework in the Graduate School of Journalism. All students are expected to graduate in four consecutive semesters.

Total number of units needed to graduate is 36.

Curriculum

JOURN 200Reporting the News (first semester)3
JOURN 211News Reporting Laboratory (first semester)3
JOURN 219Mini-Special Topics1
JOURN 255Media Ethics1.5
JOURN 256Journalism Law1.5
JOURN 294Master's Project Seminar (1 unit in 3rd semester; 1 unit in 4th semester)2
JOURN 297Field Study in Journalism (300 supervised hours)2
JOURN 298Group Study - Special Topics2-4

 Additional Required Courses for Multimedia, Video Storytelling and Documentary

Multimedia
JOURN 216Multimedia Reporting (third and fourth semester)2,3
JOURN 222Interactive Narratives3
Select at least one or more for second semester:3-9
Coding For Journalists [2]
Introduction to Data Visualization [3]
Reporting for Television [5]
Video Reporting and Storytelling
JOURN 219Mini-Special Topics (Picture and Sound; third semester)1
JOURN 283Reporting for Television (Second semester TV/Documentary)5
JOURN 284Documentary Production (third and fourth semester Documentary)4
JOURN 286History of Documentary (second semester required for Documentary, optional for TV)3
JOURN 285Longform Video Reporting and Storytelling (third and fourth semester TV)4

Additional Requirements

  1. One advanced reporting course is required for each semester after the first semester.
  2. Two units from the JOURN 297 can count toward the 36 units requirement. Therefore, 34 of 36 units required for the MJ degree must be from coursework.
  3. Submission of an approved master’s project with all valid approvals is required by the announced deadline.
  4. Twelve units per semester are required for all Berkeley graduate students.
  5. All courses must be taken at Berkeley; credit from other institutions is not transferable.
  6. Students may take up to 4 units of JOURN 601 each semester without approval. Approval is required for more than 4 units JOURN 601 in a semester. JOURN 601 units cannot be counted towards the 36 total units requirement.
  7. Submission of all required Graduate Division paperwork is required by the announced deadline.
  8. All required classes must be taken for a letter grade except for the JOURN 297. Only one-third of total UC master’s credits can be S grades.
  9. Up to 12 of the required 36 units for the MJ degree can be from other departments at Berkeley. Graduate-level courses (numbered 200-299) and upper division undergraduate courses (numbered 100-199) are acceptable.
  10. Concurrent degree students may have additional or modified requirements and should confirm requirements with a student affairs officer.

Internship/Field Work/Practicum

The Master of Journalism degree requires two (S/U) units of JOURN 297 Credit. The internship requirement is met once a student completes 300 hours of journalistic work under the tutelage of a mentor/supervisor who can vouch for the student's professional progress. A 2-3 paragraph report is due from both the student and the mentor/supervisor at the end of the internship period. You may combine the hours of two different internships. You may also get additional credits during the academic year as needed if an employer requires this.

Capstone/Master's Project (Plan II)

The master’s project represents the culmination of two years of study. It can take many forms: a polished piece of in-depth writing, a long-form television story or series of stories, a series of shorter print stories on a single connected theme, a documentary, a radio, photography, multimedia or editing project incorporating original journalistic content. The faculty added a new category that allows a student to fulfill the master’s project requirement as a community site fellow. 

Successful completion of the master’s project is a requirement for graduation. While we will encourage you to try to publish your project, the publication is not a requirement for graduation. Work may originate in another course, such as investigative reporting, magazine writing, multimedia, or television. In other words, it does not have to be a special project developed for the master's tutorial alone. However, the quality of the final project must be more polished and substantial than the work originally produced for another course.

Professional Development Activities

The program’s career services offer a full complement of career planning workshops and opportunities for professional development including resume building, interviewing skills, and branding. Students learn about internship and job opportunities throughout the year and are coached to make their best decisions.

Professional Experience

To work in journalism, students need professional experience. One of the solid benefits of Berkeley’s two-year program is our students’ unmatched opportunities to get hands-on experience both inside and outside the classroom—covering news and developing enterprise projects for their courses and for individual and group projects, and producing freelance work as reporters or interns for scores of media outlets in the Bay Area and nationally.

Students first build skills and confidence through the J‑School’s own publications and broadcasts. In the fall of their first year, students learn the basics of reporting while contributing to Richmond Confidential and Oakland North, the School’s hyperlocal websites, and creating specialized content for the topical reporting classes. Later, they write long-form articles intended for publication; they produce broadcasts for Berkeley’s student radio station, and they develop magazine-style and theme-based television shows that are showcased throughout each semester and welcomed by web-based sites and broadcasters with whom the school has collaborative relations.

Opportunities abound at local news operations, startups, network affiliates, and national news organizations—among them the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Al Jazeera America, Bloomberg, and the Associated Press.

Career Services

Our students are well supported when the time comes to plan their moves to internships or jobs in the field. The J‑School maintains an extensive database of the best and newest internship and job opportunities drawn from industry newsletters, internet job listings, and contact lists in print, broadcast, and new media. We cull the most interesting prospects and distribute them to students in frequent email bulletins and a weekly internal newsletter. What’s more, individual faculty make it a point of pride to keep their own networks fresh and vibrant, and routinely link students to promising opportunities.

Most importantly, we work one-on-one with students. Students fill out questionnaires and meet regularly with our career services director to discuss their aspirations and changing interests, and to develop a strategy to achieve those objectives through freelancing, part-time school year internships, full-time summer internships between the first and second years of the program and finally, a rewarding job—or a demanding startup opportunity—in the the media workforce.

We offer workshops to prepare students for interviewing, writing CVs and cover letters, clip selection, job-hunting strategies and making the most of their first internships or jobs. Each year, print, broadcast, and new media organizations send representatives to Berkeley to recruit and interview our students.

Our commitment to students doesn’t end at graduation. We are now developing a comprehensive career resources program for students and alumni so that we can provide long-term alumni career services. At the same time, we value and cultivate relationships with graduates who can serve as mentors and contacts for our students.

More information can be found on our website.

Courses

Journalism

Contact Information

Graduate School of Journalism

121 North Gate Hall

Phone: 510-642-3383

Fax: 510-643-9136

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Dean and Professor

Geeta Anand

geeta_anand@berkeley.edu

Career Development Director

Betsy Rate

betsyrate@berkeley.edu

Director of Admissions

Liana Hsu

journalism_admissions@berkeley.edu

Assistant Director of Student Services

Daniel Marquez

jschool-studentservices@berkeley.edu

Associate Dean

Koci Hernandez

koci@berkeley.edu

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