The Journalism major teaches students the skills necessary to be successful regardless of which branch of the profession they choose to enter.
Journalism students learn and practice news writing and editing for multiple platforms, multimedia production, design, and photojournalism. They also learn to navigate the ever-changing social media landscape to promote their own work or crowdsource a story. Students are able to report breaking news and complete longer investigative projects for print, broadcast and online media, cover sports, design publications, and frame major events through their lenses. Students learn to think critically, produce creatively, write precisely, process information quickly, interview thoughtfully, manage people, and develop an excellent work ethic.
The skills required of a journalist are the foundation for any job that requires researching, talking to people, asking questions and synthesizing what is learned into a cohesive, coherent article or report. Our alumni have won Pulitzer Prizes and Emmy Awards, among other kinds of recognition for their work. You will find our alumni working in traditional journalism fields of broadcast, multimedia and print, but they have also parlayed their skills into other fields. You can find Eastern Journalism alumni working in the movie industry, lobbying, social media marketing, political campaigns, public relations, law enforcement, the legal profession, and book editing and publishing. What can you do with a Journalism degree? In short, just about anything you desire.
* Curriculum Guide, 2024-2025 (pdf)
* Curriculum Guide, 2023-2024 (pdf)
Journalism students may select any JOU prefix course as an elective, except JOU 1000G.
Buzzard Hall 2521
217-581-6003
cmnjou@eiu.edu