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Students interested in reporting and editing for broadcast, web and print news operations will find the training and development they need in this concentration.

The course of study includes a mix of theoretical and practical skills courses. Students learn to write and edit news, features, editorials, reviews, magazine articles and other story forms. The concentration includes the study of media history, law, ethics, editing, research and international communication, as well as visual communication.

Leon Alligood
Mass Comm 229D
615.898.2205
alligood@mtsu.edu

Leon Alligood, associate professor, joined the MTSU faculty in the fall of 2008 following a 29-year career as a print reporter. For 22 years he was based in Nashville, first at the Nashville Banner, then The Tennessean. While at The Tennessean, he primarily wrote human interest and narrative stories on a variety of beats. He also was an embedded reporter covering the 101st Airborne Division in Afghanistan and Iraq. His writing has won awards in national, regional and state contests. He currently teaches Reporting, Feature Writing, Interactive Media, and Immersion Journalism. He is married to Bertie, an elementary school principal. They have two grown sons and one granddaughter.

Kenneth Blake
Mass Comm 224
615.898.2226
kblake@mtsu.edu
Website: www.mtsu.edu/~kblake

Dr. Ken Blake, associate professor of journalism, earned his Ph.D. in Mass Communication in 1997 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He teaches courses in writing, reporting and quantitative research methods. Additionally, he is operations director for the MTSU Poll, a once-a-semester telephone poll measuring the opinions of residents living in the 39 counties that constitute Middle Tennessee. The poll is funded by the Office of Communication Research, the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellend in First Amendment Studies, and the MTSU School of Journalism. Dr. Blake’s research interests include mass media and society, public opinion theory and methodology, and Internet-based instruction. A former newspaper reporter, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va.

Larry Burriss
Mass Comm 204
615.898.2983
lburriss@mtsu.edu
Website: www.mtsu.edu/~lburriss

Dr. Larry Burriss, professor of journalism, teaches introductory and media law courses. At the graduate level he teaches quantitative research methods and media law. He holds degrees from The Ohio State University (B.A. in broadcast journalism, M.A. in journalism), the University of Oklahoma (M.A. in human relations), Ohio University (Ph.D. in journalism) and Concord Law School (J.D.). He has worked in print and broadcast news and public relations, and has published extensively in both academic and popular publications. He has won first place in the Tennessee Associated Press Radio Contest nine times. Dr. Burriss’ publications and presentations include studies of presidential press conferences, NASA photography, radio news, legal issues related to adolescent use of social networking sites, legal research, and Middle Earth.

Dr. Burriss has served as director of the School of Journalism, dean of the College of Mass Communication and president of the MTSU Faculty Senate. He was appointed by Gov. Phil Bredesen to serve on the Tennessee Board of Regents. He was a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force and served on active duty in Somalia, Bosnia, Central America, Europe and the Pentagon.

Christine Eschenfelder
Mass Comm 262
615.898.5301
Christine.Eschenfelder@mtsu.edu

Dr. Christine Eschenfelder began teaching at the MTSU School of Journalism in the fall of 2015, bringing to the classroom years of professional experience in television news. She worked for more than a dozen years in television news as a reporter, anchor, assignment manager, and producer in local television markets. She is dedicated to diversity and generating stories with viewer benefit. Christine also believes in the power of great storytelling; bringing an issue to life through exceptional writing and captivating images. She has been honored with several industry awards including the prestigious Edward R. Murrow award.

Dr. Eschenfelder earned her Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Florida. She is passionate about teaching the skills, theories, and ethics of the profession to young journalists. Dr. Eschenfelder is strongly focused on the future of journalism and has a commitment to excellence in teaching. The courses she teaches at MTSU include Media Ethics and Electronic News Writing. Dr. Eschenfelder taught broadcast journalism courses at the University of Florida before joining the journalism faculty at MTSU.

Her research focuses on newsroom diversity, women in television news, work-life balance, and broadcast journalism educational.

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Dan Eschenfelder
Mass Comm 271A
615.898.2704
Daniel.Eschenfelder@mtsu.edu

Dan Eschenfelder is a graduate of Southern Illinois University with nearly twenty years of experience in broadcast news and production. He has worked as a news Photojournalist, Bureau Chief, Chief Videographer, and News Director in television markets in Missouri, Illinois, and Florida.

Prior to his current appointment as Lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University, he held the executive position of News Director for GTN News, the CBS/NBC affiliate in Gainesville, Florida. Mr. Eschenfelder also worked for more than eight years as the Chief Videographer at the University of Florida, UF News Bureau.

He is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Edward R. Murrow award for excellence. He has also been honored with numerous Tellys, a Communicator, an Addy, and the Golden CASE award.

His work has appeared on the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Dateline, Good Morning America, ESPN, CNN, Fox News, and many more. Dan has been a member of the National Press Photographers Association, the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Radio Television Digital News Association. Dan also served for six years in the Army Reserves achieving the rank of Sergeant.

Katherine Foss
Mass Comm 216
615.494.7747
Katie.Foss@mtsu.edu

Dr. Katherine Foss, associate professor, earned her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2008. Her teaching interests include health communication, gender and media, cultural studies approaches to media and qualitative methods. Her current research focuses on breastfeeding discourse in media (from advertising to entertainment television), constructions of health responsibility and representations of deafness and hearing loss. Her past research projects have examined gender and victimization in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Criminal Minds, the discourse of television theme songs, pioneer medicine in television and portrayals of journalists in comic book films.

Her work has appeared in Health Communication, Disability Studies Quarterly, Women & Health, International Breastfeeding Journal, Communication Quarterly and other peer-reviewed journals, along with book chapters in Beyond Health, Beyond Choice: Breastfeeding Constraints and Realities and The Harms of Crime Media: Essays on the Perpetuation of Racism, Sexism and Class Stereotypes.  She was an invited speaker at the 2012 Great Nurse-In, a breastfeeding advocacy event held on the West Lawn of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. She also won the 2012 James W. Carey Media Research Award for her co-authored article (with Dr. Kathy Forde), entitled “‘The Facts—the Color!—the Facts’: The Idea of a Report in American Print Culture, 1885-1910,” published in Book History.

Edward Kimbrell
Mass Comm 264
615.898.2814
ekimbrel@mtsu.edu

Dr. Edward Kimbrell, professor emeritus of journalism, holds degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Missouri. Dr. Kimbrell is the founding chair of MTSU’s Department of Mass Communication and served as dean of the College of Mass Communication from 1989 through 1991. He has received MTSU’s Outstanding Teacher Award, Gamma Beta Phi’s Teacher of the Year Award twice, the MTSU Public Service Award, and the MTSU Foundation’s Career Achievement Award (2005). Prior to his retirement in 2016, he taught Freedom of Expression, Mass Media Law, and American Media and Social Institutions. Dr. Kimbrell has been a reporter, photographer and editor for the Chicago City News Bureau and other newspapers, radio and television stations, and he has also worked in higher-education public relations. He is the winner of four Emmys for his weekly media commentary on WSMV-TV Nashville, and he hosted the bimonthly interview show “Metro Journal,” for which he won a national TELLY Award in 1995.

Jane Marcellus
COE 345
615.898.5282
jmarcell@mtsu.edu

Dr. Jane Marcellus, professor, earned her Ph.D. in Communication and Society (Media Studies) at the University of Oregon, where her research examined representation of employed women in early twentieth-century magazines. She also holds a bachelor’s in English from Wesleyan University, a master’s in journalism from Medill at Northwestern, and a second master’s in English from the University of Arizona. Dr. Marcellus’s classes include media history, feature writing, and cultural studies theory.

She is the author of Business Girls and Two-Job Wives: Emerging Media Stereotypes of Employed Women (Hampton Press, 2011). She is also co-author, with Erika Engstrom, Tracy Lucht, and Kimberly Wilmot Voss, of Mad Men and Working Women: Feminist Perspectives on Historical Power, Resistance, and Otherness (Peter Lang, 2014), which was named to Teen Vogue magazines “most epic feminist reading list ever” in 2015. (See teenvogue.com/gallery/feminist-literature-womens-equality-day/25.) Her work has also been published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, American Journalism, Feminist Media Studies, Women’s Studies—An Interdisciplinary Journal, and the Journal on Excellence in College Teaching. Book chapters have appeared or are forthcoming in Friends, Lovers, Co-Workers, and Community: Everything I Know About Relationships I Learned from Television, Prison Narratives From Boethius to Zana, and Bad Men and Damaged Women: Gender, Violence and 21st Century Television. She is on the editorial board for Journalism History and the “Women in American Political History” series from Lexington Books. Her research has received several national awards from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and the American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA). She has served on the AEJMC Publications Committee, which she chairs in 2015-2016, as head of the Cultural and Critical Studies division, and on the selection committee for AJHA’s Blanchard Dissertation Prize.

Whitney Matheson
COE 346
615.494.8676
Whitney.Matheson@mtsu.edu

Whitney Matheson joined the School as its Journalist in Residence in Spring 2015. Previously, she spent 15 years covering entertainment for USA Today, where she founded and wrote the award-winning blog Pop Candy. She has contributed pop-culture commentary to several TV and radio outlets, including MSNBC, BBC America, VH1 and NPR. She continues to write for several publications, including Slate, Mental Floss, Playboy and ETonline.

Rhyne Piggott
Mass Comm 229E
615.904.8331
Rhyne.Piggott@mtsu.edu

Rhyne Piggott is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. At USA Today he helped launch one of the first multimedia and video departments in the industry. He also served on the team that built and launched Al Jazeera America, where he was an executive in the digital department. His teams have won awards from the Online News Association, SPJ, the Society for News Design, the Webby Awards and many others. In 2015 and 2016 he was a judge for the Online News Association awards. He received an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003. Currently, he’s an assistant professor of journalism at Middle Tennessee State University.

Gregory Pitts
Mass Comm 249
615.615.494.8925
Greg.Pitts@mtsu.edu

Gregory Pitts is a professor and director of the School of Journalism at Middle Tennessee State University. He has been a mass communication faculty member at both public and private universities for more than 20 years. He previously chaired the Department of Communications at the University of North Alabama, where he led the mass communication program to earn its initial accreditation review by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Other leadership roles include: Director of Faculty and Student Programs for the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) Educational Foundation and media management trainer for the International Broadcasting Bureau, a unit of the U.S. Department of State.

He is an active member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and completed the Journalism and Mass Communication Leadership Institute for Diversity (JLID) Fellowship through AEJMC. He is also a member of the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) and is a past board member.

Dr. Pitts is the recipient of two Fulbright appointments (Zambia and Montenegro) and two Fulbright Specialist appointments (Ukraine). He is co-author of The Radio Broadcasting Industry (with Alan Albarran) and has published in Communication Technology Update, Communication Law & Policy, Journal of Radio Studies, Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, Ecquid Novi and Feedback. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Jan Quarles
Mass Comm 229D
615.898.5482
Jan.Quarles@mtsu.edu

Dr. Jan Quarles, professor, earned her doctoral degree in Mass Communications from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She teaches courses in global news and world media cultures and masters courses in media management and has an extensive background in public relations. She first worked in Washington D.C. in health care public relations and subsequently earned her doctorate at the University of Tennessee in 1986 while working part time as a copy editor at the Knoxville News-Sentinel. She has taught for more than 30 years in universities in the United States. She also taught at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, where she directed a degree program in Public Relations and worked with graduate students. She has served as Associate Dean, Director of the School of Journalism and Director of the Masters program at various times during her tenure at MTSU.

Dr. Quarles is the author, along with Bill Rowlings of Australia, of Practising Public Relations: A Case Studies Approach, the first case studies text for Australian students. She is a lifetime member of the Public Relations Institute and worked on the initial accreditation structure for Australian public relations programs. She is actively involved in ACEJMC and with its accreditation process.

She has published in Media Asia and has a chapter on Cambodia in Alozie’s Advertising in Developing and Emerging Economies. Her current research focuses of the flow of cultural products around the world, cultural policy and the impact of the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity.

Dr. Quarles has received two Fulbright grants, a post-doctoral grant to study Australian reporters and newsrooms in Melbourne, and a Senior Specialist Grant to the Royal University of Phnom Penh. She has traveled widely and worked on projects in St. Petersburg, Russia, in Australia and New Zealand and across Southeast Asia. She is a Salzburg Fellow, a graduate of the Journalism Leadership in Diversity program and a graduate of the HERS program at Bryn Mawr. She was an initial founder of the group Tennesseans Against Genocide.

Jason Reineke
Mass Comm 266
615.494.7746
jreineke@mtsu.edu

Dr. Jason Reineke, associate professor, holds masters and doctoral degrees in Journalism and Communication from The Ohio Sate University, and a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Miami University. His research and teaching interests are focused mainly on public opinion and political communication, especially involving freedom of expression and support for censorship, as well as research methods and statistical analysis.

Dr. Reineke is the associate director of the MTSU Poll, a statewide survey conducted twice each year to assess Tennessee residents’ opinions on a variety of issues. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, the Journal of Communication, the Journal of Health Communication, and Mass Communication and Society.

Jennifer Woodard
Mass Comm 205
615.898.2766
Jennifer.Woodard@mtsu.edu

Jennifer Bailey Woodard was trained and educated in journalism as an undergraduate at MTSU. She joined the faculty of the School of Journalism after graduating from the University of Georgia with an M.A. in mass communication. She received her Ph.D. at Indiana University—Bloomington in mass communication. While at IU, she concentrated on scholarship that would enhance her ability to teach students the value of a diversified newsroom and the role that technology would play in their future job opportunities.

She currently teaches courses on convergence, digital writing, podcasting, audio journalism, women in the media and race, class and gender. Dr. Woodard has published articles and reviews in such journals as Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Journal of Black Studies, Journal of Communication, and The Communicator. She is a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication where she has served on numerous committees including chairing the Minorities and Communication division. She is also a member of the Broadcast Education Association.

JOUR 1020 American Media and Social Institutions

Three credits. (Same as EMC/RIM 1020.) The power of the mass media and its effect on social institutions and practices. Develops skills of qualitative and quantitative social science research in the area of mass communication processes; examines media as social, cultural, and economic institutions that shape the values of American society,its political dialogues, its social practices, and institutions.

JOUR 2132 Introduction to Video Journalism

Three credits. Essential production techniques and applied technical skills necessary to arrange, shoot, edit, and produce a television news story in the field. All facets of electronic media news field production covered including camera work, lighting, audio, and editing. Three-hour lecture plus up to three-hour lab per week.

JOUR 2710 Media Writing

Three credits. Prerequisite: Grade of C or better in ENGL 1010 and 1020 or equivalents. Theory and practices of writing for print and electronic media according to the techniques, styles and formats of various media. Lab required.

JOUR 2720 Digital Media Skills

Three credits. Prerequisite: JOUR 1020/EMC 1020/RIM 1020. Professional skills necessary to create digital platform stories that integrate audio, photo, video, and text.

JOUR 3000 Introduction to Motion Pictures

Three credits. Prerequisite: Junior standing or permission of instructor. The development and role of motion pictures in America, including the history of films and filmmakers, the influence of film on American culture, and film criticism.

JOUR 3050 Principles of Health Communication

Three credits. 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

Three credits. (Same as EMC 3070.) Prerequisites: EMC 2500 and EMC 3060. 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

Three credits. Prerequisite: JOUR 2710. Theory and practice of basic journalism skills including content gathering, storytelling, evaluating, writing and processing of news.

JOUR 3100 Introduction to Popular Music Studies

Three credits. (Same as RIM 3100.) Prerequisite: RI major - admission to candidacy; others - permission of instructor. Introduces students to different academic and theoretical approaches to popular music as a social and cultural phenomenon. A discussion oriented class that is both reading and writing intensive.

JOUR 3430 Electronic Media News Writing

Three credits. Stresses reporting, writing, and presenting radio news. The history, philosophy, and regulation of electronic media news. Laboratory required. Three-hour lecture plus up to three-hour lab per week.

JOUR 3450 Editing

Three credits. 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 Electronic Media News Reporting and Producing

Three credits. Prerequisite: JOUR 2132 and JOUR 3430 with minimum grade of C. Theory and practice in the gathering, editing, and writing of news for electronic media. Attention given to on-the-air presentation. Laboratory required. Three-hour lecture plus up to three-hour lab per week.

JOUR 3510 Media History and American Culture

Three credits. (Same as EMC 3510.) Development of American journalism and the mass media from Colonial times to the present, including the role and influence of mass media on American culture, technical advances, and contributions of individual personalities.

JOUR 3520 Special Topics in Professional Issues

Three credits. (Same as ADV/PR/VCOM 3520.) Prerequisites: JOUR 3090 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

Three credits. 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.

3580 MC Practicum

One to three credits. Prerequisites: junior standing and 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

Three credits. Prerequisite: JOUR 3530. Types of magazines and editorial needs; practice in magazine article writing.

JOUR 3600 Digital and Media Literacy

Three credits. (Same as EMC 3600). 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 3650 Free Expression, Mass Media, and the American Public

Three credits. (Same as EMC/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

Three credits. 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 3740 Advanced Electronic Media News Reporting and Producing

Four credits. Prerequisites: JOUR 3430, JOUR 3500, and EMC 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 4000 MC Internship

One to three credits. Prerequisites: upper-division standing; permission of 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

Three credits. (Same as EMC 4210.) 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 4240 Television, Culture, and History

Three credits. 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

Three credits. (Same as EMC 4250.) Prerequisites: JOUR 1020 and 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

Three credits. 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 4440 Advanced Reporting

Three credits. Prerequisite: JOUR 3090. Advanced theory and practice in news reporting, emphasis on coverage of governmental affairs and other public affairs-related assignments, including an introduction to interpretive and investigative reporting techniques.

JOUR 4660 Scientific Approaches to Media

Three credits. 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

Three credits. 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

Three credits. 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

Three credits. 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

Three credits. (Same as EMC 4790.) 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 roles of global advertising and public relations.

JOUR 4800 Seminar in Media Issues

Three credits. 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 be repeated up to 6 credits.

JOUR 4810 Global Comparative Media Systems

Three credits. (Same as EMC 4810.) 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

Three credits. (Same as EMC 4820.) 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

Three credits. (Same as EMC 4850.) 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

One credit. 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

One to three credits. (Same as EMC 4900.) Prerequisites: admission to candidacy; permission of instructor. Independent study projects or research related to media issues or professions. Pass/Fail.

JOUR 4910 Research in Media Issues

Three credits. 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.

You should meet with the advisor for your concentration to create your course plan and to make sure that you meet all graduation requirements for your concentration. A list of Media and Entertainment advisors is here: Media and Entertainment Advising Center.

You should also use the upper division form for your concentration to make sure to meet all requirements. Download the Journalism upper division form: UD_Journalism.2016.pdf

Required courses in the School of Journalism are listed on the main MTSU site here:
Journalism Concentration