Overview

The curriculum for the Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, offered by the Department of Journalism, takes a community-focused approach to reporting, writing, editing, videography, podcasting, data visualization, and design. Students develop critical thinking along with skills in news gathering and multimedia journalism. This requires a broad educational background coupled with rigorous professional training.

Graduates of the program will be able to:

• Produce work that includes the voices of all members of a diverse society—not just the official, the well-connected and the powerful—and seek to minimize harm by recognizing stereotypes and pushing to correct them.
• Produce audio and visuals to effectively communicate information using industry-standard tools and technologies.
• Be adept at crafting effective messages by writing correctly and clearly in multiple styles and media formats appropriate for various audiences.
• Utilize critical thinking skills to verify factual information, to identify misinformation and to detect biases in their reporting and their media consumption.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the history and role of journalism, including contributions of marginalized groups traditionally overlooked.
• Apply the principles and laws of freedom of speech and press in the United States and understand how these principles and laws differ from those in other countries.
• Demonstrate an understanding of professional ethical principles and create work that aligns with the SPJ Code of Ethics and other format-specific professional organizations.
• Correctly apply numerical and statistical concepts where applicable.
• Edit their own work and that of others for accuracy and fairness, clarity, appropriate style, grammatical correctness, and legal and ethical compliance.
• Compete effectively in media job markets.

Journalism students must complete the department's nine required courses as well as 18 credits of journalism electives, which often form an area of emphasis. Students in their junior year cover community news in Philadelphia and contribute to PhiladelphiaNeighborhoods.com. Finally, a capstone experience combines urban community journalism with specialized training in particular media formats.

Students who major in Journalism enter a variety of careers, including those as web reporters and producers, newspaper reporters and editors, still and video photographers, radio and television reporters and producers, magazine writers and editors, and many other areas that value communication, storytelling, multimedia, and the accurate gathering, assessment, and reporting of information and ideas.

Although students must ultimately be responsible for their own academic programs, freshmen and first-semester transfer students will first meet with a Lew Klein College of Media and Communication academic advisor. During the sophomore and junior years, a student must meet at least once each year with a faculty advisor who is knowledgeable about the area of study the student is following.

Campus Location: Main

Program Code: CO-JRN-BA

Accreditation

Temple's Journalism department is one of only three journalism programs in Pennsylvania accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC).

Student Associations and Awards

The department has a chapter of the national journalism and mass communication honor society, Kappa Tau Alpha. Additionally, every spring the department awards thousands of dollars in scholarships to deserving majors.

Contact Information

Logan Molyneux, Department Chair
logan@temple.edu

Sarah Landwehr, Assistant Department Chair
journ@temple.edu

Rosalind Williams, Senior Administrative Specialist
Annenberg Hall, Room 315
215-204-7433
rwilliam@temple.edu

Learn more about the Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

These requirements are for students who matriculated in academic year 2025-2026. Students who matriculated prior to fall 2025 should refer to the Archives to view the requirements for their Bulletin year.

Summary of Requirements

The degree of Bachelor of Arts may be conferred upon a student majoring in Journalism by recommendation of the faculty and upon satisfactory completion of a minimum of 124 semester hours of credit with a cumulative average of 2.0 overall and in the major.

Students must meet:

1. University requirements:
   1. All students are required to complete the General Education (GenEd) curriculum.
   2. All students must take a minimum of two writing-intensive courses in the major at Temple University. The specific writing-intensive courses required for this major are JRN 1196 and JRN 3696.
2. Lew Klein College of Media and Communication requirements, including KLN 1001 and KLN 1002.  
3. Department credit requirements and limits:
   1. Minimum 46 credits in the Department of Journalism required. For Department of Journalism courses to fulfill the 46-credit requirement in the Journalism major, students must earn a grade of C- or higher. Students may take no more than 62 credits in the Department of Journalism.
   2. Students must complete a minimum of 62 credits outside the Department of Journalism.
4. A maximum of 6 credits may be earned for internships and a maximum of 3 credits for independent studies. If students plan to take multiple internships, please keep in mind the six-credit maximum. Internships may be taken for 1-3 credits.
5. Only 8 credits will be accepted from Kinesiology and Dance activity courses.
6. No more than 30 credits may be taken in any single CLA department without special written permission from the Department of Journalism. These requirements are to ensure a broad-based liberal arts education for each major.
7. Journalism-related coursework must be evaluated for transfer (including courses taken through study abroad programs after enrolling at Temple University) by the Department Chair. No more than 12 credits in total will be accepted for transfer from an accredited journalism/mass communication program; maximum 9 credits from a non-accredited program. Under no circumstances will credit be allowed for duplicate courses.
8. The department does not award credit for academic or life experience. Students with extensive experience may present evidence and petition for a waiver of department course requirements.
9. Coursework taken in Business Education, lower-level credits in Military Science, and the Extern Program are not applicable towards graduation.

Departmental Requirements for the Major

It is the student's responsibility to meet all course prerequisite requirements.

¹

Completion of JRN 1111 and JRN 1196 with grades of C- or better is required before students enroll in any Journalism classes numbered higher than 1111.

²

Students required to take ENG 0701 Introduction to Academic Discourse must complete that requirement before enrolling in JRN 1196 Writing and Reporting.

Required Liberal Arts Courses for the Journalism Major

Suggested Academic Plan

Please note that these are suggested academic plans. Depending on your situation, your academic plan may look different.

Bachelor of Arts in Journalism

Suggested Plan for New Students Starting in the 2025-2026 Academic Year