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Major in Digital Journalism
Become a strong ethical storyteller accountable to a public through the production of multimedia stories in a digital environment.
This major offers practical and applied journalistic skills supported with theoretical considerations of media law and ethics, audience analysis, and critical approaches to story.
With this major, you will be a well-prepared storyteller with confidence to work through the opportunities and challenges of today’s digital media landscape.
This is a flexible option if you have already completed studies in other areas of interest. Contact an advisor to see how your previous study can transfer and be counted towards your major.
Future employment
The field of journalism is changing but the need for engaging and ethical storytelling in the public interest is not going away. You will find opportunities across both traditional and non-traditional, public and private, areas of journalistic storytelling.
Program requirements
CMNS 1160 Introduction to Communications (3,0,0) CMNS 1160 Introduction to Communications (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students think critically about a range of communication theories tied to examples from popular culture and address how we transmit information, how we create meaning, and how we persuade others, with a focus on many communication contexts, including interpersonal communication, group and organizational communication, public space, mass media, and culture and diversity. Students explore what it means to communicate in these various contexts, and appreciate the contribution of theory to helping us understand what we do when we communicate and why it sometimes goes wrong.
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CMNS 2160 Mass Communication and the Popular Culture Industry (2,1,0) CMNS 2160 Mass Communication and the Popular Culture Industry (2,1,0)Credits: 3 credits Students are provided a perspective based on professional practices within the total media environment in which our society operates. This includes an examination of the historical, sociological and economic realities of industries such as television, film, music, advertising, public relations and journalism. |
VISA 1500 Introduction to Visual Culture (HTA) (3,0,0) VISA 1500 Introduction to Visual Culture (HTA) (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students undertake an interdisciplinary exploration of the visual components of our cultural environment. Students engage in a critical survey of early Western technological developments and how ways of seeing underscore late twentieth and twenty-first century forms of visual communication such as advertising, television, film, video, gaming, computer generated imagery, data visualization, post-photographic imaging, and other sources of image-making. We analyze the power of image-based media to entertain, influence, and condition, researching who creates it and purposes it serves. Students develop a critical framework for deconstructing images, applying visual theories and methodologies to real-world examples, reflecting upon the visual ecology that conditions their own perspectives.
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CMNS 2290 Technical Communication (3,0,0) CMNS 2290 Technical Communication (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students study a variety of technical communications used to document professional activity, including proposals, technical and formal reports, policies and procedures, technical descriptions and definitions, and instructions. Students learn the importance of documentation and accountability as part of professional due diligence, applicable across many fields including journalism, business, government, public service, consulting and research institutes. Students develop skills in assessing communication needs in a scenario, identifying communication goals, audience need and relevant media. Finally, students learn skills in research and synthesis to ensure professional engagement and presentation of research material.
Prerequisites: CMNS 1291 OR CMNS 1290 OR ENGL 1100 OR ENGL 1101 OR CMNS 1810
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JOUR 2060 Introduction to Multimedia Storytelling (3,0,0) JOUR 2060 Introduction to Multimedia Storytelling (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits In this hands-on course, students design and produce a semester-long multi-media storytelling project, connecting journalistic storytelling techniques with multi-media and social media tools used by professionals to reach diverse audiences. Creating stories in audio, video and visual media, students engage in critical approaches to multi-media analysis and design, leveraging the unique features of individual media to reach storytelling goals. Students enhance skills in applied written communication, shaping their craft for different digital contexts and audiences, including social media, blogs and websites.
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JOUR 2200 Introduction to Reporting Skills and Techniques (3,0,0)(L) JOUR 2200 Introduction to Reporting Skills and Techniques (3,0,0)(L)Credits: 3 credits Students are introduced to the basics of gathering information in journalism, including planning, networking, researching, evaluating, interviewing, summarizing, critical thinking and deadline writing. Students explore the basic issues of journalism, including media law and ethics, and the beats of journalism, such as justice reporting and municipal reporting. The practical and applied principles, values and behaviour of effective journalism are discussed.
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JOUR 2020 Media Theory and History (3,0,0) JOUR 2020 Media Theory and History (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits This is a critical introduction to media theory and history, with an emphasis on the development of journalism as part of the operation of Canadian media organizations. Students are familiarized with basic media theory, and the structure, history, and general operations of media institutions in Canada.
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CMNS 1500 Digital Photography (2,1,0) CMNS 1500 Digital Photography (2,1,0)Credits: 3 credits In this hands-on course, students enhance their visual communication skills as they explore the basics of photography with the use of a digital camera and current industry software. Students learn technical and aesthetic theories of photographic composition. They demonstrate these by articulating complex concepts for photographs and then realizing those concepts in well-composed images, produced using both natural (available) and artificial light. Students learn a variety of techniques and strategies for effective photo composition, photo finishing, manipulation, printing, and publishing, as well as effective evaluation and critique, resulting in photographs that communicate the student's vision to their audiences in meaningful and effective ways.
Note that students cannot receive credit for both DAAD 1500 and CMNS 1500 |
| Choose 12 lower level electives. |
JOUR 3700 Media Law and Ethics (3,0,0) JOUR 3700 Media Law and Ethics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine and analyze a range of legal and ethical situations and circumstances that commonly confront journalists and other media professionals. Through theory and case study analysis, students consider topics such as libel, contempt of court, freedom of information, privacy legislation, copyright, confidentiality, protection of sources, and the use of 'off-the-record' remarks.
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JOUR 3520 Journalism Research Methods (3,0,0) JOUR 3520 Journalism Research Methods (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits This course covers the basic principles and techniques of research from a journalistic perspective, showing students how to fashion and execute a focused research plan for their articles. It covers a range of topics including how to gather information, interview sources, accessing public, historical and legal records and computer-assisted reporting.
Prerequisites: JOUR 2200 and JOUR 2210 and JOUR 2060 or permission of the instructor. |
JOUR 4280 Portfolio Preparation Capstone (3,0,0) JOUR 4280 Portfolio Preparation Capstone (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students synthesize, integrate, demonstrate, and expand upon their abilities in communication developed while completing their program to demonstrate their growth as learners. Students demonstrate this growth by mapping and reflecting on their achievement of learning outcomes defined at both the program and institutional level, as well as by making connections between their learning and future professional and educational goals. Students create and reflect on a portfolio of their work that best illustrates both their professional goals as communicators after graduation and their learning in the four key themes of general education (Connection, Engagement, Exploration, and Local to Global). Upon creating a portfolio of their work and reflecting on learning outcomes and career skills, students will participate in an oral defense of their portfolio that must be passed by a panel of departmental faculty.
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| Choose nine upper level courses in journalism and communication. |
| Choose eight upper level electives. |
Suggested pathways
Consider these pathways for years one and two. However, we strongly encourage you to connect with the program advisor before beginning year two to discuss which major you want to do. Elective suggestions are optional — choose what you like! New electives are offered frequently, and courses are not always offered every year. You can begin to take most 3000 level CMNS and JOUR courses once you have completed 45 credits.
| In year one, complete the 4 Year One Required courses. |
| For the remaining course selection, select up to an additional 6 lower level open electives. These can be in any area of study, including additional communication or journalism courses. See the suggestions below. |
| Look carefully at the course schedule for the year before registration. Some courses are only offered once a year, in the Fall or Winter term, and not both. |
| Students are encouraged to select open electives that fulfill needed general education requirements. For example, the lifelong learning ILO can be met with POLI 1110 or PSYC1110; the social responsibility ILO can be met with ORGB 2810 or CMNS 2160; and intercultural awareness ILO can be met with ORGB 2810 or CMNS 1150. Check your program advising form or DegreeWorks to help with selections. Or contact your program advisor. |
| Suggestions |
CMNS 2160 Mass Communication and the Popular Culture Industry (2,1,0) CMNS 2160 Mass Communication and the Popular Culture Industry (2,1,0)Credits: 3 credits Students are provided a perspective based on professional practices within the total media environment in which our society operates. This includes an examination of the historical, sociological and economic realities of industries such as television, film, music, advertising, public relations and journalism. |
POLI 1110 The Government and Politics of Canada (3,0,0) POLI 1110 The Government and Politics of Canada (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students are first introduced to the main processes, structures, and institutions of the Canadian government including the Constitution, the Prime Minister and cabinet, Parliament, federalism, and the party system. Students are then introduced to key political issues in Canada including social cleavages, policy debates, differing political ideologies, and Indigenous-settler relations. Students gain an understanding of how Canadian politics and government change over time and gain the tools for engaging in ongoing learning as political issues continue to affect their personal and professional lives.
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POLI 1210 Introduction to Contemporary Politics (3,0,0) POLI 1210 Introduction to Contemporary Politics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine the major systems of political ideas, institutions, and structures that have shaped the modern world. Students analyze these ideologies and systems from the perspective of their historical, comparative, and philosophical antecedents, contemporary relevance, and place in the Canadian political experience. Students gain an understanding of diverse perspectives and can more informatively engage with those who bring varied viewpoints, knowledge, and tools to solving political, social, and economic issues. |
ENGL 1100 Introduction to University Writing (3,0,0) ENGL 1100 Introduction to University Writing (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore the practices of reading and writing in scholarly contexts by investigating a chosen topic or issue. Students read, critically analyze, and synthesize information and ideas found in appropriate secondary sources and coming from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. They also develop their abilities to communicate knowledge by composing in the genres and sub-genres of scholarly writing, including the incorporation of research and documentation while using a clear, persuasive, grammatically-correct style.
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CMNS 1200 Introduction to Digital Production (3,0,0) CMNS 1200 Introduction to Digital Production (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore their creative potential with this hands-on practical course in digital media production. Using a range of media equipment and software, students develop technical skills in graphic design, video and image editing, and content management software.
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| In year one, complete the 4 Year One Required courses. |
| For the remaining course selection, select up to an additional 6 lower level open electives. These can be in any area of study, including additional communication or journalism courses. See the suggestions below. |
| Look carefully at the course schedule for the year before registration. Some courses are only offered once a year, in the Fall or Winter term, and not both. |
| • Students are encouraged to select open electives that fulfill needed general education requirements. For example, the lifelong learning ILO can be met with POLI 1110 or PSYC1110; the social responsibility ILO can be met with ORGB 2810 or CMNS 2160; and intercultural awareness ILO can be met with ORGB 2810 or CMNS 1150. Check your program advising form or DegreeWorks to help with selections. Or contact your program advisor. |
| Suggestions |
JOUR 2080 Data Journalism (3,0,0) JOUR 2080 Data Journalism (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Considering how we are flooded with complex data in our personal and public lives, students consider how
professional communicators play a significant role in presenting this information in the public interest. Students
understand and develop the ability to communicate the significance of data, in accurate, effective, and ethical ways
as a core literacy across many fields, supporting organizational decision-making, journalistic storytelling,
stakeholder engagement, and public relations. Students learn to pull relevant and insightful messages from data and
develop skills in data storytelling to support the communication to diverse audiences. Students learn to use a variety
of digital tools and techniques, including the selection and design of accurate visual forms, to translate data into story
in this applied course.
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CMNS 2150 Collective and Connective Indigenous Voices (3,0,0) CMNS 2150 Collective and Connective Indigenous Voices (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Focusing on contemporary media and social networks in English-speaking Canada, students explore the recent representations, identities, and cultural politics of the individual and collective Indigenous peoples of Canada, from the questioning of who is Indigenous to cultural appropriation. |
CMNS 2550 Introduction to Public Relations (3,0,0) CMNS 2550 Introduction to Public Relations (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits In this introductory course, students consider the core principles and practices integral to the field of Public Relations. They explore the history and changing trends and practices of this professional field, examining key theories and models, the impact of innovations in media, and the role of social responsibility and cultural contexts. Students critically apply best practice strategies and techniques to assess case studies and produce components of an introductory-level press release or social media strategy. |
