Undergraduate Prerequisites: COMJO 200; Graduate Prerequisites: COMJO 721. COMJO 502 offers a variety of relevant topics in the field of journalism for undergraduate and graduate students to explore. This course is designed to give students a deeper understanding of a particular topic, allowing them an opportunity to test their skills as a journalist.
FALL 2025 Schedule
| Section |
Instructor |
Location |
Schedule |
Notes |
| A1 |
Baynard |
COM 303 |
R 12:30 pm-3:15 pm |
Topic: Video Magazine Storytelling. In this class students will learn to go past the news releases and press conferences to find context and meaning behind the story and use creative and meaningful ways to tell that story. The students will learn how to find a story and explore it in detail before producing, shooting, and editing a multilayered, well-crafted video story. The class will explore the TV news magazine format through viewing and discussion of various programs and guest speakers who have created or worked on TV magazine programs. The students will create their own online Multimedia News Magazine Program with the stories that they produce as well as create the framework of the online program, Our Times. The prerequisite for COMJO 502 is COMJO 200. |
FALL 2025 Schedule
| Section |
Instructor |
Location |
Schedule |
Notes |
| B1 |
M. McDuffie |
COM 321 |
W 2:30 pm-5:15 pm |
Topic: TV Feature Reporting. The prerequisite for COMJO 502 is COMJO 200.
6 seats reserved for incoming grad students. |
SPRG 2026 Schedule
| Section |
Instructor |
Location |
Schedule |
Notes |
| A1 |
Gordon |
SOC B65 |
TR 5:00 pm-6:15 pm |
Topic: Journalism in the Age of AI
Description: This course explores how artificial intelligence is transforming journalism. Students will examine practical shifts in newsroom workflows, from automated content generation to AI-assisted research and editing. We’ll investigate the growing threats of misinformation and disinformation, and the ethical responsibilities journalists face in an AI-driven media landscape. The course also highlights new forms of creative storytelling enabled by generative tools, inviting students to experiment with innovative formats. Through case studies, hands-on projects, and critical analysis, students will gain both conceptual insight and practical skills to navigate journalism’s AI-inflected future. |
SPRG 2026 Schedule
| Section |
Instructor |
Location |
Schedule |
Notes |
| B1 |
Tuohey |
SOC B67 |
W 6:30 pm-9:15 pm |
Topic: Audience Engagement
Description: Audience knowledge and digital abilities are among the most valued skills in journalism today. Just as we need journalists with superior reporting, writing, editing, and storytelling skills, we also need ones who can connect our audiences to journalism, nimbly catch the waves of emerging technologies, and communicate natively across digital platforms.
Many newsrooms have developed entire departments dedicated to these skills, which are core to both editorial strategy and company success. They represent not only a growth area in the industry, but also an important potential starting point for eager journalists looking for a foot-in-the-door. As an editor who has worked with college-aged journalists for many years, I’ve always been surprised at how little audience and digital skills they’ve been taught in J-schools. This course would help correct that.
More specifically, this course will give students a thorough grounding in the principles and skills of audience engagement and digital journalism today. They will learn not only the core concepts behind these disciplines, but also develop hands-on abilities that they can use in the real world for internships and full-time jobs. We’ll employ lectures, journalism critiques, guest speakers from around the industry, and real-world assignments to educate our students. |
SPRG 2026 Schedule
| Section |
Instructor |
Location |
Schedule |
Notes |
| C1 |
Blakely |
COM 106 |
T 8:00 am-10:45 am |
Topic: The Evolution and Revolution of Sports Media
Description: This course explores the modern sports media landscape and how it has been transformed from a print entity to a multi-platform industry whose reach has few barriers. There will also be attention paid to the impact of technology and distribution in sports journalism, from the early days of horse-and-buggy distribution to high-speed internet where results are just a finger swipe away in a matter of seconds after a sporting event ends. There will also be discussions about the business side of sports media with media executives from local, national and global news organizations. Doing all this allows students in this course to leave with a stronger fundamental understanding of sports media’s evolution and how the honing of certain skills will better equip them to survive and thrive in the ever-changing world of sports media. |
SPRG 2026 Schedule
| Section |
Instructor |
Location |
Schedule |
Notes |
| D1 |
Irons |
COM B27 |
W 8:00 am-10:45 am |
Topic: Voice, Vision, Verve: Writing with Impact
Description: Voice, Vision, Verve: Writing with Impact is a vibrant, immersive, story-driven course where students dive into the art of feature writing for digital newsrooms. We’ll spend the semester writing stories such as profiles, news features, historical features, “Day in the Life” and “Behind-the-Scene” pieces, brights and mini memoirs. We’ll report in person, write stories that inspire, inform, and have impact, giving particular focus to communities and issues that often get overlooked in the media. We’ll also spend time reading and deconstructing great examples from major and local papers, unpacking what makes them sing, and practicing how to bring that same energy to your own reporting. Expect to juggle multiple stories, deadlines, and editors—just like in the real world. |
SPRG 2026 Schedule
| Section |
Instructor |
Location |
Schedule |
Notes |
| F1 |
M. McDuffie |
COM 310 |
T 12:30 pm-3:15 pm |
Topic: TV Reporting
Description:
This class is for beginners and advanced students.
You will learn how to shoot, edit and write for broadcast video stories.
You'll learn how to produce video packages on deadline.
You'll learn how to create work that can be distributed through all social media video platforms.
You'll learn how to become a reporter embedded in a Boston community.
You'll learn how to develop and maintain sources.
For the more advanced, this class partners with Boston Neighborhood Network, and you'll have an opportunity to have your work aired on the network that reaches approximately 150,000 households in Boston area communities. |
SPRG 2026 Schedule
| Section |
Instructor |
Location |
Schedule |
Notes |
| G1 |
Marinovich |
COM 303 |
T 8:00 am-10:45 am |
Topic: The Art of the Documentary
Description: Recommended for students in the TV journalism specialization who are interested in long-form video storytelling. Students will explore the art and craft of the documentary through the study of seminal documentaries of different genres to understand story structure and visual language. The role of the filmmaker and ethical considerations during documentary production will also be examined. Students will work throughout the semester to develop, produce, shoot, and edit an eight-minute documentary short, learning how to build a story from an idea to the final edited story. |
Note that this information may change at any time. Please visit the MyBU Student Portal for the most up-to-date course information.
