Broadcast Journalism

Broadcast Course of Study

Broadcast students study and learn at UMTV, the college-owned cable TV station that reaches more than 500,000 households in suburban Washington and Baltimore City. Graduate students in their last semester enroll in Capital News Service and serve as field reporters, producers, writers and anchors for Maryland Newsline, a nightly news show that airs on UMTV.

The broadcast journalism program is led by Professor Lee Thornton, a former CNN senior producer and CBS-TV White House correspondent who is the college's Richard Eaton Chair in Broadcast Journalism. Other broadcast faculty members bring rich professional backgrounds to the College: Cassandra Clayton, a former NBC correspondent, is director of the Capital News Service TV operation, where Sue Kopen Katcef, former State House correspondent for Maryland Public Television, serves as executive producer.

Required courses for the broadcast news specialization:

• JOUR 772 Methods in Computer Assisted Reporting (3 credits)
• JOUR 601 Theories of Mass Communication (3 credits)
• JOUR 660 Seminar in Broadcast Journalism (3 credits)
• JOUR 661 Television Reporting and Production (3 credits)
• JOUR 668B Broadcast News Producing (3 credits)
• JOUR 667 Broadcast News Bureau (6 credits)

Courses that may be required, depending upon the professional and academic backgrounds of the student:

• JOUR 501 Fundamentals of Writing and Editing (3 credits) (does not count toward 30-credit total)
• JOUR 503 Fundamentals of Broadcast Journalism (3 credits) (does not count toward 30-credit total)
• JOUR 700 Law of Public Communication (3 credits)