Journalism Major

The Journalism Major is offered in three concentrations: Chinese Journalism, International Journalism and Data and Media Communication.  All choices share a core of Required and Elective Courses dealing with the activities and responsibilities of the print, broadcast and internet journalist.  Each choice requires bilingualism, but stresses the particular language and professional skills appropriate for the specializations of Chinese Journalism, International Journalism or Data and Media Communication. 

Students in the Journalism Major pursue studies in three major areas: (1) professional journalism, in which students learn the principles and skills of gathering, presenting, and producing news and current affairs; (2) the theoretical foundations of the profession, in which students develop a conceptual understanding of the profession and its role in society through legal, ethical, political, historical, economic and media communication theory courses; and (3) complementary studies of the relationship between broadcast or print or internet journalism and society as well as the way politics, government, business, and law operate in both local and international communities. In all these areas, emphasis is in Hong Kong and mainland China, with due attention to the international context in which both communities operate. 

Except for Data and Media Communication Concentration, all students are expected to undertake a professional internship during the summer following the third year. Students in each concentration will take elective courses in which to explore aspects of journalism in greater depth or to increase their knowledge of some specialized types of reporting. At the end of the programme, students integrate their conceptual and practical knowledge in their final year project. 

Chinese Journalism (CJ): CJ comprises the three “writing” courses, of which two are offered in Year 2, one is offered in Year 3. The two two-unit production courses in Year 2 help the students to develop professional news reporting and production skills with multimedia elements in multiplatform; the journalism practicum courses which run for at least two semesters from Year 3 to Year 4, provide the opportunity to put the resulting news gathering, reporting and editing skills into practice. At the same time students will undertake a conceptual course which stresses the theoretical aspects of journalism and its practice. Journalism Major Elective is provided, in Year 3, by which time we hope students will be qualified to make intelligent choices. Law and Ethics for Journalists is required in Year 3. The Honours Project (3 units) is taken in the final semester of the programme. 

International Journalism (IJ): IJ has the similar structure with CJ in terms of the writing, production and practicum courses are concerned. It follows the sequencing of writing, production, and practicum courses, and finishing with the Honours Project. Students will take one theoretical course in the second semester of Year 3 and 2 Major Elective Courses in Year 3. 

Every CJ or IJ student is required to take one stream out of the three choices: Broadcast Journalism (BJ), Financial Journalism (FJ) and General Stream. Students will take two Stream Required Courses and one stream practicum course in Year 3. Students who wish to specialise in traditional broadcast journalism will take News Anchoring, Advanced Broadcast Production and Investigative Reporting, and BJ practicum. Those who are interested in FJ will take two theoretical courses and a FJ practicum course. There are no specific courses in the General Stream. Students are required to select 6 units from the Major Electives (except BJ and FJ courses) and take one more practicum course of CJ or IJ Concentrations. 

Data and Media Communication (DMC): DMC aims to provide solid journalistic education and training with specialised data analytics to students, with set of courses jointly offered by the Department of Journalism and the Department of Computer Science. Students from the Department of Journalism will take two bridging courses offered by the Department of Computer Science in the first semester of Year 3. After laying the foundations of data science, students will take four concentration core courses, offered by the Department of Journalism and the Department of Computer Science in the second semester of Year 3 and the first semester of Year 4. Students will complete a final project and take a Concentration Elective Course in the final semester of the programme. Students will be able to make use of the data collected from various sources and analyze these data according to the journalistic practices to produce analytics, solutions and insights for media organizations and others connecting to the industry. DMC students do not need to take any streams due to the limited curriculum space. 

Requirements