• The professional track is designed to educate students for professional careers in public relations, advertising, journalism and

• The mass communication track gives students the background needed for teaching or research.

Electronic Communication
The Electronic Communication area is designed to give students hands-on knowledge of shooting, editing, writing, reporting, and producing audio and video content for radio, television and online applications. News is our emphasis but most of the skills we teach translate very easily to entertainment, documentary, and other applications. At the core of the track are the school's two award-winning news programs. Carolina Week airs twice weekly live in Chapel Hill, and is rebroadcast to a 16-county area by Time Warner Cable. Carolina Connection airs weekly on local news/talk station WCHL-AM 1360.

News Editorial
The news-editorial area provides students with the skills they need to succeed in all forms of print media and as online news providers. Students receive training in news writing, reporting and editing, and the opportunity to develop skills in feature writing and opinion writing and in specialized areas such as community journalism, business and economic reporting, medical writing, database journalism and newspaper and magazine editing.

Visual Communication
The Visual Communication faculty is composed of award-winning journalists who maintain close ties with industry leaders and professional media associations. Graduate students in visual communication may choose to specialize in graphic design, informational graphics, multimedia or photojournalism. Within each of the sequences students develop professional portfolios while learning about industry standards, ethics, current issues, history and theory. All visual communication graduate students are expected to assume leadership roles in our award-winning documentary multimedia storytelling projects (i.e.: www.atacamastories.org, www.rcrusoe.org and www.whitecitystories.org).

Public Relations
Public relations students prepare for careers leading to management positions in corporations, non-profit organizations, government or public relations agencies. Their paths include skills and theory courses in public relations as well as outside areas of interest, including business, organizational and speech communication, and health communication.

Advertising
Students preparing for careers leading to management and research positions in advertising may choose courses in advertising management and planning, research, new technologies, sales or some other area. Courses from business, psychology, sociology, and information and library science are suggested as outside courses.

Paths in the mass communication sequence can be just as diverse. Students learn the theory and research methods they need to teach at a small college or to pursue a doctorate in mass communication. They can study mass communication law or history, media effects, new communication technologies or international communication, among other subjects. Depending on the course of study they select, they may also be prepared for a variety of research positions in the public and private sectors. Students in this sequence do not take professional skills courses such as news writing and editing.

Medical Journalism Program
The Medical Journalism Program teaches the skills needed to work as a practicing medical journalist in print and electronic media. Students also gain the knowledge and background necessary to pursue further research in medical journalism.
For more information about the medical journalism program, click here.

M.A./J.D. Program
The dual degree program is intended to create an efficient yet academically sound program of study for students interested in pursuing graduate studies in journalism and mass communication, and in law. The program is intended for students who plan to practice mass communication law, plan to practice professionally in a communication-related field such as journalism or public relations with a law-related emphasis, plan to pursue academic careers in law and mass communication fields, or plan to pursue a Ph.D. in a related field.

For more information about the M.A./J.D. program, click here.

Requirements
Master’s students must earn at least 30 graduate-level credits (10 courses numbered 400 or above) including three credits for a thesis or non-traditional thesis option. Course requirements are divided into three categories: basic competencies, core courses and path courses. At least six courses (including the thesis or non-thesis option) must be numbered 700 or above. The path courses must include a research methods course appropriate to the thesis or non-thesis option. Generally, this will be JOMC 703 or 704. Two to four of the graduate-level courses must be taken outside the school. Students may select from courses offered by other departments or schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and North Carolina State University.

Any graduate student who receives any funding for his or her education from a school-based source is required to maintain at least a P average each year. This applies to both master’s and doctoral students. Grades are reviewed each spring in order to make this determination. L grades must be balanced by H grades to maintain this average. If a student gets an L in one of the core courses (JOMC 701, JOMC 705 for mass communication sequence only, and JOMC 740), that L is not removed by passing the examination or by getting a P upon retaking the course. That L must be balanced by an H.

Basic competencies
All master’s students must pass the school’s spelling and grammar test by the end of the first semester. They first take the exam during orientation. This exam is a basic requirement for graduation for our undergraduate students and normally poses no major problems for graduate students. Information about the spelling and grammar test, including instructions on how to study for it, is included in the orientation packet sent to new students each summer.

Master’s students also must demonstrate competency in other basic skills related to their chosen paths. For example, students following the news-editorial path must demonstrate competency in news writing and editing, plus one related area such as reporting, photography, graphic design or feature writing. Regardless of track, three competency courses are required and no credit toward graduation is given for those courses. Competency courses may be at any level, including undergraduate. Occasionally students may instead pass exemption exams, which usually are given during orientation.

Core courses
All master’s students must take JOMC 701, “Mass Communication Research Methods,” and JOMC 740, “Mass Communication Law and Ethics.” Master’s students in the mass communication sequence must also take JOMC 705, “Theories of Mass Communication.”

If the student receives an L in a core course, he or she must pass a comprehensive examination given during the following semester. If the student fails the exam, he or she will be allowed to retake the course once. If the student again earns an L, he or she will not be allowed to continue in the program.

Path courses
The master’s program is designed to allow students, under the direction of their advisers, to design a course of study that addresses their research and skills interests. This course of study, or path, may follow traditional sequence lines (i.e., advertising, news-editorial or public relations) or be integrated to provide a more convergent program of study (i.e., integrated marketing communications, strategic communications, multimedia), depending on student interests and needs. Regardless of the course of study chosen, each student must define a coherent and articulated theme connecting courses in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and outside the school, and the courses taken must be appropriate to the thesis or project.

Exams
All students must pass the appropriate examinations, which include a comprehensive written examination covering the material in the student’s path courses. All course work must be completed before a student may take his or her path exams, which generally are administered in February of the second year of study. Each student must also pass an oral examination on the thesis or professional project, given by the student's advisory committee.

Thesis, articles or project
In the mass communication sequence, a student must do a traditional research thesis. In the professional sequence, a student has the option of writing a thesis or presenting a professional-quality series of articles or project. The articles or project requires the same effort and professionalism as the thesis. In addition to the professional product itself, the articles or project option requires an extensive review of the literature and statement of methods.

Each master’s student must take at least one methodology course pertinent to his or her thesis, articles or project.
Students enroll in Master’s Thesis (JOMC 993) or Non-Traditional Thesis (JOMC 992) for three credits as they write the thesis or the professional equivalent. If additional time is needed to complete the thesis, they enroll for three more credit hours of JOMC 992 or JOMC 993 as needed. A maximum of three thesis credits can be counted toward the 30 credits required for the master’s degree.

Length of program
Most students complete the master’s program in two years, typically attending classes full time during three consecutive semesters and completing the thesis, articles or project in the fourth semester. Some students take a semester off to work as interns in other cities; others stay on during the summer to complete course work or their theses, articles or special projects. Although it is possible to complete the degree by taking classes part-time, we do not recommend it, and students who want to pursue the degree part-time must receive permission from the director of the master’s program.

Master’s students must complete the degree within five years of admission to the program.

Graduate committee
To gain the most from the program, students should select a three-member advisory committee early. Led by a member of the school’s graduate faculty who serves as the student’s adviser, the committee acts as a resource as well as referee of the thesis, articles or project. One member of the committee should be from outside the school and should be someone with whom the student has taken a class.