Phone: (845) 257-3450
Location: Coykendall Science Building, Room 51
Web Address: www.newpaltz.edu/digitalmediajournalism
E-mail: dmjchair@newpaltz.edu
Housed in the Department of Digital Media & Journalism, the Journalism program at New Paltz is one of the most comprehensive in New York State. Courses range from practical news gathering for multi-media journalism and news writing to explorations of the history, law and literature of journalism. Students learn not only how to put together a news story in a variety of media platforms but the reasons why our society needs news and information. In addition to learning about writing and editing print stories, Journalism majors prepare for the realities of the workplace by composing, shooting, editing, and producing their stories in our state-of-the-art computer facility. The major's core required courses build functional skills in writing, reporting, editing, ethics and multimedia storytelling.
The Journalism program also offers the James H. Ottaway Sr. Visiting Professorship, SUNY New Paltz's first endowed professorship. Visiting professors—many of them Pulitzer, Peabody, or Emmy award winners—bring real-world experience into the classroom, offering insight, mentorship and perspective that extends beyond traditional coursework. Through the Ottaway Professorship, students learn not only the fundamentals of reporting, writing, and media production, but also what it means to practice journalism today. At its core, the program is guided by a shared mission of preparing students to pursue truth and fairness through rigorous reporting and ethical storytelling. Visiting journalists are encouraged to bring their full professional selves into the classroom, creating a dynamic environment where students engage with journalism as both a craft and a responsibility.
Students wishing to declare a major in any program of the Department of Digital Media & Journalism must have a 2.0 GPA. Journalism majors are required to complete ENG170 Writing and Rhetoric or its equivalent before declaring. Students must earn a grade of C- or better in courses that count toward any major or minor in the Department of Digital Media & Journalism.
Journalism (BA, BS) Program Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the Journalism program, students will be able to:
- Report the news through comprehensive interviews, finding and verifying facts, and research that involves public documents, analyzing trends through database reporting, and using other computer-assisted reporting tools.
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Conceive and write story ideas in various story forms, including news and features, with the goal of helping the general public understand important topics by presenting them through storytelling that is comprehensive and clear.
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Edit news stories and produce pages on a news website.
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Produce multimedia news and feature stories.
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Analyze and contextualize the basic norms of professionalism, including objectivity, balance, and fairness.
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Analyze and contextualize the traditions, history, theories, and literature of journalism.
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Analyze and contextualize the contradictions and benefits borne by a commercial system.
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Be grounded in basic ethical values that should permeate all aspects of the journalist's work.
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Analyze and contextualize the role and function of news and information in a democratic society and how a journalist contributes to democratic values.
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Analyze and contextualize various aspects of important public policy issues in the nation and the world by moving beyond ‘he said/she said’ reporting and emphasizing the importance of verifiable facts.
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Explain and contextualize the paradigm shifts in journalism that led to the decline of old business models of legacy journalism, the emergence of new ones, and the exploration of ongoing innovation in journalism's form, content, and monetization.
