Advanced Video Reporting

Students will build on their basic television reporting, filming and editing skills acquired in Integrated Journalism to work on a collaborative semester-long project. The goal of this course is to expose students to a professional working environment, in which the class comes up with an idea and, working with a real broadcaster, executes the idea to produce a magazine-length television report. By the end of the course, students will have gained intense experience shooting, lighting interviews, writing documentary-length broadcast copy and advanced editing techniques.

Arts & Culture Journalism

Arts coverage is a distinct and exciting form of journalism. The arts are a passion for the journalists who cover them as much as the artists who practice them. As a beat, they offer a chance to take a break from the rough-and-tumble world of hard news, do stories with a positive outlook, and use creative and digital forms of storytelling.  In this course, students will examine the scope of the arts and arts journalism today while developing practical and creative skills on multiple platforms. They will gain insight into how arts coverage fits into the media at large, along with guidance on arts journalism as a viable career option. Assignments will include reporting, reviewing, and other forms of commentary, such as blogs; a final project of the student’s own design; and regular attendance at arts events throughout the semester.

Directed Studies in Science, Environment & Health Journalism

This course will explore how to think about and cover topics related to science, environment and health.  Faculty and students will jointly select several in-depth local investigative stories to report on. These stories will be completed in time for publication before the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference, held for the first time outside the United States, in Vancouver, February 2012. Science, environment, and health issues often develop within highly political and complex contexts that are inherently social, historical, and scientific, requiring an ability to navigate expertise, data, policy implications, and impact. As such, this course will provide students with a strong selection of academic literature and best journalism practices. Students are expected to work with faculty to expand their coursework into thesis projects.

Feature Writing

When the power of voice and narrative storytelling are joined with strong reporting and the right structure, journalism connects with the reader.

This seminar-style class allows students to develop written projects intended to make an impact. Examples: ‘Future-focused’ journalism that explores innovative solutions to social and environmental problems; first-person reported essays that convey a personal connection to a larger, critical issue; and investigative reportage that is clear and compelling in identifying need for change.

Integrated Journalism

Integrated Journalism (iJournalism) is our core journalism course, designed to familiarize students with the grammar and syntax of media across platforms, including text, audio and video. It provides hands-on experience in a simulated multimedia environment.  Emphasis is placed on accuracy, meeting deadlines, and learning the elements of journalistic style.

A team of professors teaches the course, each professor lending his or her own expertise.  Professors have worked at a variety of media outlets, including the BBC, CBC, The Globe & Mail, The Vancouver Sun, 60 Minutes, etc. 

Student projects are posted on TheThunderbird.ca, the school’s award-winning online news service. 

International Reporting

Multiple factors are currently influencing North American news coverage of international events and issues.  Over the past decade, major international news bureaus have been closed and international reporting budgets are no longer adequate to ensure both breadth and quality of reportage. As a result, “parachute journalism”, an increasingly prevalent practice in which journalists report on foreign topics on the fly without proper research and investigation, is a central concern in modern international journalism.  Global events and issues, particularly in the areas of human rights, the environment, and public health, are not investigated and reported thoroughly, resulting in a general public less informed about issues that affect international countries or the impacts that these issues might have on North Americans. 

This course addresses the emerging need for student journalists to gain experience in the field of international reporting while honing their research, organizational and technical skills. Students will develop video and multimedia projects, and enhance both their critical analyses of current global issues as well as their aptitude in digital technologies. The class will be structured around one specific issue, such as e-waste, food safety and security, and palliative health care and pharmaceuticals.

These topics are selected in preparation for a field-trip to a collaboratively-chosen global destination. A major objective of the course is to prepare students for reporting through both skill development and studies of best-practices. 

Students are selected through an application process in their second year of studies.

Investigative Journalism

This course investigates critical inquiry, the evaluation of documentary evidence, accuracy and substantiation in providing context to daily news. A case study assignment and assessment is required.

Journalism Practices and Standards

Journalism Practices and Standards, in conjunction with iJournalism, deals with the core elements of being a journalist for all media.  Hands-on training in journalism skills is regarded as fundamental for anyone working in the field: recognizing a story, researching, asking good questions, verifying the information, organizing and writing the story.  Emphasis is also placed on accuracy, meeting deadlines, and learning the elements of journalistic style.  The course will cover news values in all media and story-telling in many different ways, depending on the medium.

Innocence Project: Topics in Advanced Criminal Evidence - Preventing Wrongful Convictions or Miscarriages of Justice

This course offers an opportunity for journalism students to apply their investigative skills to real-life wrongful conviction files, as part of the UBC Law Innocence Project. Students will study how principles and rules of criminal evidence can play an important role in causing or helping to prevent miscarriages of justice. They will analyze how evidentiary rules of admissibility and exclusion operate to ensure fair trials. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in the Innocence Project casework as investigators working with law students to review documents, interview witnesses, and determine new avenues of evidence. Students are admitted to this course by application process.

Media Ethics and Leadership

The course will discuss, study, and debate the leading ethical issues while encouraging students to develop an ethical framework for their journalism practice. The focus of the course is on the ethical questions raised by the current transition of journalism from traditional, ‘local’ and non-interactive media to global and interactive new media. After studying the principles of traditional journalism ethics, the course explores new ethical problems at the digital frontier.

Media Law

Students begin by learning about the Canadian legal system, court procedures and terminology, and will be exposed to court decisions and statutes, enabling them to understand and report on legal matters.

The course will then explore the legal issues and pitfalls faced by journalists, including defamation, contempt, publication bans, privacy, intellectual property, freedom of expression, roadblocks to reporting, dealing with police situations and the law affecting online media, blogs, digital forum issues and citizen journalism. Students will also learn how to use legal tools such as access to information legislation and legal research techniques to gather information and improve their stories.

Classes are designed to teach concepts and immediately engage students in applying the knowledge to real news situations. Practical examples and problems are used to teach students how to recognize and avoid legal pitfalls.

In addition to mid term and final exams, students will prepare an article in the style of a magazine feature on an area of media law they wish to explore, and its implications for freedom of the press.

Media and Society

The course examines the relationship between press and society by following the development of journalism from the early press to today’s global media. Theories of the press, as well as issues of ethics, technology and representation, will be examined in light of the historical periods of the news media.

Reporting in Indigenous Communities

This course offers students a unique opportunity to study and practice reporting in indigenous communities in the Lower Mainland. Students will learn about local First Nations cultures and history; examine historic and contemporary media portrayals of indigenous peoples in BC; and discuss strategies for in-depth coverage of indigenous issues.  Some participating First Nations include Squamish Nation, Tsleil-watuth First Nation, Tsawwassen First Nation, and Sto:lo Tribal Council.  Students produce an online news site that includes multi-media elements.  Students are admitted to this class by an application process.

Special Topics in Science and Environment Journalism

These courses introduce students to the theory and practice of science and environment journalism, to the benefit of anyone interested in how the media covers these topics. Topics change yearly.  Students will learn the practice of finding, reporting and writing science news, with particular emphasis on health, environment and energy reporting; examine the issues that science journalists face, such as dealing with controversy or ethical dilemmas; critique published science news; and explore alternative methods of science and environment writing, across many media platforms and genres. Lab visits, readings and guest lectures will be incorporated into the classes to further the learning experience.

Thesis Project

A major writing and research project in journalism and journalism studies, jointly supervised by faculty of the UBC Graduate School of Journalism and experts from academia and journalism.  The project is an in-depth exploration of a topic, issue or problem in journalism based on rigorous academic and journalistic research over several months.  The result is a major work of up to 8,000 words.