Mission

The Department of Journalism strives to prepare its students to become well-educated, principled citizens who are capable of initiating careers as skilled journalists, public relations practitioners and other related communication professionals.
 

Our vision statements:

Students: Learn to be excellent writers and communicators who tell factual stories in a variety of forms and platforms for a diverse public and whose work reflects creativity, innovation, analytical thinking, ethics and democratic values.

Faculty: Innovate to produce excellence in teaching, research, service and creative activities.

Department: Foster culture of collaboration among students, faculty, staff, alumni and diverse communities to become a resource, a town square and a network for those interested in journalism.

Program Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to report and write for diverse publics, using proper grammar and punctuation, word usage and spelling, sentence and storytelling structures across multiple journalistic formats.
• Students will be able to gather and analyze information, including basic numerical concepts, using reporting techniques, such as interviewing, observation, and researching primary and secondary sources.
• Students will be able to think critically, creatively and independently.
• Students will demonstrate an understanding of professional ethical principles and work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness, and diversity.
• Students will apply tools and technologies appropriate for the news media professions in which they work to communicate for and with diverse publics.
• Students will be able to understand and apply the historical, theoretical, legal and societal contexts for producing and consuming news media for consumers, ranging from local to global publics.

Public Accountability

To provide public accountability as required by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication's standards, the CSUN Journalism Department maintains and annually posts information on several indicators of student success. The data include retention and graduation rates for first-time freshmen and new transfer students over a five-year period.

Read more about our Public Accountability