Mission of the Journalism Department of Central Michigan University

The mission of Central Michigan University's journalism department has been developed to coincide with and reflect the mission of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC).

Mission of Journalism and Mass Communication

Journalism and mass communication transmit and interpret culture and bind society together, making them among the most vital forces in the maintenance of any society and fundamental to democratic government and a free society.

The mission of journalism and mass communication is mainly to communicate information and ideas that enable people to fulfill their responsibilities as citizens in a diverse, democratic government and a free society.

Because freedom of expression and freedom of the press are indispensable to a free society, professional programs should encourage dissent, inquiry and free expression as guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Mission of Education in Journalism and Mass Communications

Programs in Central Michigan University's Department of Journalism will prepare students for journalism and mass communications:

  • As a discipline with a body of knowledge and a system of inquiry and scholarship that inform and enrich professional preparation;
  • As a job in which they are accountable for their performance to employers;
  • As a craft in which they are accountable for their competencies and the quality of their work to citizens, clients or consumers; and
  • As a profession in which they are accountable for their knowledge, ethics, competence and service to the public interest.

Students should understand the civic and social importance of journalism and mass communications in a democratic society. They should also understand the economic environment in which journalism and mass communication function mainly as profit-seeking enterprises in a competitive, free enterprise economy and also in an increasingly interdependent global economy.

Educational Outcomes
Students with a major in journalism at Central Michigan University can expect to receive a liberal education with a balanced curriculum that will provide professional competency, knowledge, values and specialized competencies.

Liberal Education
Central Michigan University will provide education in disciplines that develop knowledge about the modern world that includes understanding of the different ways of thinking and knowing in the arts and humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and natural and mathematical sciences.

Through its Department of Journalism, this education will include understanding of how government, commerce, philanthropy, and multicultural diversity have evolved and function in the communities in which journalists and communicators live and work. Knowledge about the modern world should also include understanding of the history, functions, processes and effects, law, and ethics of journalism and mass communication.

Balanced Curriculum
Central Michigan University's Department of Journalism will provide education in a typical undergraduate format. Graduates can expect to be knowledgeable in liberal arts and sciences, theories and concepts of journalism and mass communications, and competent in the skills of the profession.

Students are required to take a minimum of 80 semester hours in courses outside the major area of journalism and mass communications, with no fewer than 65 hours in the liberal arts and sciences; and a minimum of 12 semester hours within the major in theoretical and conceptual courses, such as in the history, processes, effects, law and ethics of journalism and mass communication; the courses must be academic (as opposed to professional in nature) and must be genuinely liberal arts and sciences in content.

Supervised experience in journalism and mass communication is also encouraged with no more than three semester courses (or their equivalent) allowed for academic credit. These hours do not count in the requirement for theoretical and conceptual courses.

Professional Competency
Central Michigan University's Department of Journalism ensures that students will learn to gather, analyze, organize, synthesize and communicate information to audiences in formats appropriate to particular forms of journalism and mass communications and systems of delivery, and that students learn to use language, images and numbers effectively.

Knowledge
Irrespective of their particular specialization, all graduates of Central Michigan University's Department of Journalism should know:

  • How ideas, knowledge and understanding are created and communicated in the arts and humanities, in the social and behavioral sciences, and in the natural and mathematical sciences;
  • How government, business and industry, and philanthropy function in communities at the local, state and national levels to serve the public interest and private interests;
  • How ethnicity, race, gender and class interact with law, public policy, employment, social relations and culture in American society;
  • How technology affects the availability, communication and use of information and ideas in individual societies and in an interdependent world.

Values and Specialized Competency
Individual professions in journalism and mass communications may require certain specialized values and competencies. Irrespective of their particular specialization, all graduates should be able to:

  • Understand the principles of the First Amendment and the law appropriate to their professional practice, such as access, defamation, privacy, confidentiality, free press/fair trial, commercial speech and intellectual property;
  • Work ethically with an informed concern for truth, accuracy, fairness, diversity, and respect for the rights and well being of other people with whom their work brings them into contact;
  • Judge what is important, relevant, timely and interesting in events, information and ideas for the audiences and purposes they are serving;
  • Identify credible and diverse sources of information and commentary on events and issues important to the audiences they are serving;
  • Gather information by observation, interview, and use of documentary and electronic sources;
  • Organize information clearly and effectively into forms appropriate for the communication profession, audiences and purposes they are serving;
  • Understand and use basic numerical and statistical concepts such as percentages, ratios, correlations, probability, sampling, and margins of error;
  • Understand and use the tools and technologies appropriate for the communication professions in which they work, including the use of computers and such applications as word processing, file management, data searching and analysis, and spread sheets;
  • Write correctly, clearly, and concisely in forms and styles appropriate for the communication profession, audiences and purposes they are serving;
  • Edit their own work and the work of others for grammatical correctness, appropriate style, clarity, conciseness, accuracy, fairness, and internal logic and coherence;
  • Understand and apply fundamental visual concepts in the use and presentation of images and information.