Print Media Stream

Education and training in the ACJ’s Print Media stream are designed to turn incoming students into capable journalists who, by the time they graduate, are ready to perform confidently in any newsroom. Students begin by learning to read a newspaper in its entirety (not just those sections in which they may have a personal interest), paying close attention to the content, structure, and language of different types of stories. Through lectures, classroom writing, and outside reporting assignments, they are taught to gather news and to report it in the clear, precise English required for newspaper readers.

The curriculum includes instruction in writing leads and stories, editing copy, composing headlines, writing picture captions, cropping photographs, selecting typography, and designing attractive page layouts. Midway through the year, students in the print stream begin to apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills to the publication of a laboratory newspaper, The Word. In this team effort, students rotate editing, reporting, and pagemaking functions, so that each student gains experience in every aspect of journalistic work. The third term is devoted to writing “beyond the inverted pyramid?” A series of modules including workshops by visiting faculty instruct students on long-form feature writing ad profile writing. The best of the students work is sometimes published in national dailies and magazines.