Journalism

University of California, Berkeley

About the Program

The Journalism Minor at UC Berkeley gives students hands-on training to modernize their skills across a wide range of media platforms. Classes are offered on a range of topics that include narrative writing, web skills, social media, photography, video, and audio reporting.

No matter your major or intended profession, literacy today requires the ability to communicate with text, pictures, video, and sound. In these courses, you will learn how to shape information into compelling, well-reported narratives. Instruction will focus on teaching students to use the latest digital tools to engage with audiences in their work and to think critically and responsibly about information.

The minor degree is open to all Berkeley students. For visitors—including students from abroad, other UC campuses, or from other universities—a certificate option is available. Courses are also open to students who are neither seeking the minor or a certificate, and just want to learn a new skill or gain a better understanding of journalistic media forms.

The Journalism Minor is housed in the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, which is widely regarded as one of the top professional journalism programs in the United States. Its teaching faculty is composed of distinguished current and former professional journalists who bring real-world expertise to the classroom. The Master of Journalism program was launched in 1951 and established as a professional school at UC Berkeley in 1968.

Declaring the Minor

Students with a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor. These programs have set requirements. Students intending to complete the journalism minor degree should fill out a Declaration of Intent form (available on the program home page) and submit it to the Berkeley Journalism Student Services department no later than the start of their final course.

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Minor Requirements

The Journalism minor requires completion of five courses. 

There are two required introductory courses. The first, J100, covers journalistic reporting, writing, principles and ethics.  The second course --J110 -- covers new forms of digital media and techniques of online storytelling.

After successfully completing the two required courses, students then choose three elective courses from among a menu of eight. The electives give students deeper hands-on training in specialized reporting and/or multimedia production. 

General Guidelines

  1. The minor degree requires 15 units (five 3-unit courses).
  2. All courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be taken for graded credit.
  3. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required for courses used to fulfill the minor requirements.
  4. All minor requirements must be completed prior to the last day of finals during the semester in which you plan to graduate.
  5. The minor is open to enrollment for all Berkeley students.
  6. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.
Required Courses
JOURN 100Introduction to News Reporting3
JOURN 110Introduction to Multimedia3
Electives (Choose Three)
JOURN 111Social Media and Journalism3
JOURN 115Advanced Multimedia3
JOURN 112Intro to Podcasting3
JOURN 113Photojournalism3
JOURN 122The Future of Visual Storytelling3
JOURN 124Introduction to Data Journalism 3
JOURN 130Special Topics3
JOURN 134International Reporting3
JOURN 136Media Ethics3

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Contact Information

Graduate School of Journalism

121 North Gate Hall

Phone: 510-642-3383

Fax: 510-643-9136

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Dean

Geeta Anand

121 North Gate Hall

jschool_dean@berkeley.edu

Academic Coordinator

David Thigpen

121 North Gate Hall

davidthigpen@berkeley.edu

Student Affairs Advisor

Riah Gouvea

121 North Gate Hall

Phone: 510-643-1174

journalismminor@berkeley.edu

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