Reminder: Fall 2025 Course Registration Will Take Place in Workday!
Please Speak with Your Primary Advisor BEFORE Your Registration Appointment Time to Get the Hold Released on Your Account. Information and Trainings on Student Registration in Workday Are Found Here: https://wakeday.wfu.edu/workday-student-support-for-students/.
Journalism Program Courses
Please note that the course information below is subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, please reference JOU course sections in Workday. Course sections for Fall 2025 will be published in Workday on Friday, March 7, 2025.
JOU 270 A/B/C
Introduction to Journalism (3 credit hours)
A: TR 2:00-3:15pm – Prof. Justin Catanoso
B: WF 11:00-12:15pm – Prof. Ivan Weiss
C: M 10:00-12:20pm – Prof. Michael Venutolo-Mantovani
The gateway to a minor in journalism, this rigorous, skills-based course emphasizes how to independently find stories, select sources, verify information, conduct interviews, strengthen observation skills and write compellingly in journalistic styles. We will learn and apply Associated Press Style. And along the way, we consider vital questions about objectivity, the media landscape, equity, bias, facts and Truth. We develop our cultural competency – how to relate to and understand people different from ourselves so that we can convey their stories truthfully. This course is foundational to all other courses in the journalism minor.
Class size: 16
JOU 278-A
News Literacy (3 credit hours)
Prof. Justin Catanoso
TR 5:00-6:15pm
The mission of the course is to teach students to become informed and discerning consumers of news in a media landscape that is flooded with both information and misinformation. Students learn how to evaluate news coverage; how to read for bias, fairness, integrity, and accuracy; how to use new media to increase their knowledge of world events; how to research their own facts as a way to check the accuracy of the media outlets they rely upon; what happens when governments and media owners try to control news coverage; and the dangers of both censorship and media outlets run amok.
Class size: 18
JOU 321-A
Prof. Lisa Sorg
Environmental Journalism (3 Credit Hours)
M 8:30-10:50am
Learn to report on science, law, policy, nature and people to write compelling narratives in environmental journalism. Dig into environmental data and public records to uncover hidden stories. Interview community members disproportionately harmed by pollution. Explore issues of air, water, waste, and climate change to help readers make sense of what’s at stake: locally, regionally and worldwide. This class will require several out-of-class writing assignments.
Class Size: 12
JOU 330-A
Prof. Ivan Weiss
Podcasting (3 Credit Hours)
WF 12:30-1:45pm
As the world of nonfiction audio grows rapidly, students will learn the building blocks and best practices of audio journalism, including sound editing, interviewing, and narrative. Students will immerse themselves in a variety of podcasts and radio pieces, and will complete a series of creative exercises and projects, laying the groundwork for them to grow as audio producers.
Class Size: 12
JOU 340-A/WRI 344-A
Prof. Barry Yeoman
Magazine Writing (3 Credit Hours)
M 1-3:20pm
Students in this class will learn and practice the skills needed to produce magazine stories for publication. Focusing on a single topic of their own choosing all semester, they will be encouraged to write creatively and often. They will learn advanced principles of interviewing, document research, story structure, character development, and explanatory journalism. They will also read and analyze some of the best magazine stories written over the past thirty years.
Class size: 12
JOU 345-A
Prof. Justin Catanoso
Sports Journalism (3 Credit Hours)
TR 12:30-1:45
This course will survey the art and craft of sports writing in all forms, across all mediums. Students will cover players, teams, issues and the business of sports. The emphasis will be on storytelling—in short and longer form—that goes beyond play-by-play and the final score of a contest. Students will write a lot, sometimes on deadline, as well as produce a podcast and possibly a video. Students will write breaking news, features and personal commentary. They will be encouraged to develop their writer’s voice, as most successful sports writing often reflects the views of the writer. Students will cover a game on campus and off. They will hear from athletes, professional sports writers, coaches and sports newsmakers directly involved in Demon Deacon sports. Students will, by the end of the semester, gain insight into the real life of the student-athlete and understand better the pressures connected to the constant changes in Division I athletics.
Class size: 12
JOU 380-A
Deep Dive: Race, Class, Culture and the Media
Prof. Allen Johnson
W 5:00-6:15pm (1.5 Credit Hours)
This course, taught by a visiting journalist from the Winston-Salem Journal, will challenge our beliefs and assumptions about race and media and press us to venture outside of our comfort zones. It will be based on readings; critiques; occasional insights from guest speakers; and, most importantly, candid and informed classroom discussions. We’ll delve into racial, social and economic disparities and how media has covered them over the years, for better and for worse. We’ll also consider how media can approach matters of race, class and culture more honestly and completely. We’ll talk about language, ethics, resources, technology and social media.
Class Size: 12
Courses in Other Departments with Seats Reserved for Journalism Minors
COM 365-A
The Imagination Project–Archival Storytelling
Prof. Cara Pilson
M 12:30-3:00pm (3 Credit Hours)
In this course, both undergraduate and graduate students will analyze archival storytelling methods and the role of archival films in enriching our understanding of past political, cultural, and societal events. Students will also engage with archival material to craft short archival films, gaining a deeper understanding of visual storytelling techniques and how these methods are used to create compelling narratives.
2 Seats Reserved for Journalism Minors