Historical development of freedom, responsibility, and ethics in the mass media, including communication theories, pressures, ownership.

Explores the role of journalism in shaping perceptions of scientific issues and task. Emphasis on methods of effectively communicating about science, health, and the environment.

The role of journalism in shaping perceptions of environmental and scientific issues and tasks. Emphasis on methods of effectively communicating about science and the environment.

The development of a complete, well-coordinated integrated communications plan that incorporates research and analysis techniques, critical thinking, team work, creative and tactical skills.

Review of the analytical process of resolving complex ethical issues and cases in public relations; study of the philosophical approaches to communication ethics.

Theory and practice of persuasive communication and the role of persuasion in shaping public opinion.

Writing techniques used in the preparation and marketing of major nonfiction articles for national, regional, and local publications.

Graphic and motion-based principles and techniques for visual communications within multimedia structures.

To gain an understanding of theory and practice of public/civic journalism, seen by its advocates as socially responsible journalism that attempts to build civic participation and empower communities.

Content and style; writing of editorials, analyses, and commentaries.

Acquiring, analyzing and presenting data using spreadsheets and other tools to uncover stories and provide depth and context to journalism.

Production of public affairs programs.

Concentrated analyses of reporting in special fields, particularly in the South, including coverage of government, business, labor, the arts and sciences.

Theory and practice of professional broadcast announcing. Lecture-demonstration-laboratory course in principles underlying professional performance before microphones and cameras and the various broadcast performance functions.

Explore diverse PR/communication practices around the world: the political, economic, socio-cultural, and media factors that influence PR practices in different nations; current international advocacy communication; global PR campaign cases.

Domestic study away course will focus on topics in journalism and mass communications and will be taught away from the University of South Carolina Columbia campus. Individual topics will vary by title. Prerequisites to be announced in class schedule.

Study abroad course will focus on topics in journalism and mass communications and will be taught as a study abroad experience. Individual topics will vary by title.

Supervised professional experience. Maximum of three hours credit. Contract approved by instructor, advisor, and department head is required.

Experiential Learning: Experiential Learning Opportunity

Individual mass media projects. Contract approved by instructor, advisor, and department head is required for undergraduate students.

Advanced topics in journalism and mass communications. Individual topics and prerequisites to be announced by title in class schedule.

Recent ideas, procedures, and techniques that aid in the conduct of professional and scholarly work in mass communication.

Methods and techniques of quantitative mass communications research: content analysis; survey research applications; media effects studies.

Theoretical approaches to the study of mass communication including empirical, interpretive, and critical perspectives.

In this course, graduate students will explore communication theories and practices that will help them better understand how to communicate through media to specific external constituencies, including clients, vendors, regulators and the general public as well as internally within the organization. Special emphasis on communications strategies will allow managers to understand which communication tools will allow them to best communicate with all stakeholders.

Social issues and responsibilities affecting the management of the mass media.

Integration of advertising, public relations, and marketing communication within an organization or agency.

General legal philosophy and law affecting the mass media.

Current issues in mass communication including control, ownership, and conflicts affecting the media.

Communication within organizations including theories, research, and current issues of concern in the field.

Methods and techniques for designing, conducting, and analyzing research related to mass communication.

An examination of the ethical dimensions of media practices and their impact on social change, including the ways individuals, institutions, and societies engage with media content, misinformation, and social movements.

The strategic planning process applied to integrated communication principles.

Introduction to content analysis for communication topics. Quantitatively analyze communication content of many kinds from newspaper articles to social media and online content.

Periods, movements, and developments in mass communication.

Theories, pedagogies, and practical applications for teaching media literacy to journalism and mass communication students.

Principles and strategies of integrated communication to prepare a communication campaign for a client organization.

Overview of the role of advisors in student media organizations, with a focus on the unique challenges of guiding and mentoring student journalists.

Overview of the principles and practices of content creation tailored for mass communication educators, including developing proficiency in producing multimedia content, including video, audio, and written materials, with an emphasis on pedagogical strategies for teaching these skills.

Literary and creative aspects of journalism and mass communication as exemplified in the works of English and American prose and verse writers.

New technologies related to the mass media.

History, nature, production-performance, evaluation, and means of improvement of educational/instructional broadcasting.

Independent study in an area of journalism and mass communications relevant to the student’s professional and/or research goals.

Methods for locating, evaluating, and abstracting information from literature relevant to the study of mass communication.

Course is designed to teach the foundations of multimedia journalistic storytelling. It will expose students to core concepts and practices associated with news gathering, news writing and field production.

Current management-related issues confronting the media, including management of creative people, budgeting, time management on deadline.

Media organizations as economic institutions, including microeconomic analysis, basic trends in revenues and expenditures, evaluation of financial health, and performance in covering business and economics.

The media representation of issues in science, technology and environment from a social science perspective, with emphasis on consequences in areas such as public opinion, public policy, public understanding attitude formation, persuasion and behavior change.

The critical examination of classic and contemporary empirical research on risk communication as it pertains to health and environment issues, as well as emerging technologies.

An analysis of the theoretical foundation and issues relevant to the practice of public relations.

Theories of persuasion, principles and best practices of strategic communication, as applied to health and cause communication campaigns. Recognize, and develop effective, persuasive communications for social and health topics.

Seminar that examines the social uses and impacts of interactive / emerging media technologies.

Seminar and supervised professional management experience in a media organization.

Seminar and supervised teaching experience in the field of mass communication.

Discussion of competing theories that attempt to explain current issues in global communication.

A capstone experience for data and communication students to implement concepts and skills in data analysis learned throughout the program.

Selected readings course designed to facilitate student’s specialized research interest. Permission of instructor required.

Specialized topics in mass communication, individual topics to be announced by title. May be repeated for credit.

Individualized scholarly activity to develop and execute special projects relevant to the study of mass communication.

Principles and applications of quantitative and qualitative communication research designs.

Ethical reasoning approaches in production and consumption of media messages.

Meta-theoretical issues relevant to building theory in mass communication, concept explication, and forms of theory.

Application of historical research methods to the study of mass communication.

Teaching and learning methodologies and theories appropriate to mass communication instruction.

Application of legal research methods to the study of mass communication.

Advanced methods and techniques for analyzing empirical data for communication research.

Designing and conducting critical, cultural and naturalistic research.

Issues involving the governmental protection and regulation of speech, and how that affects those involved in mass communication.

Working closely with a faculty member, a student will design, and conduct a research project, with the objective of submitting the final report for publication or for presentation at an academic conference in the discipline. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours.

Explores the intersection of communication leadership and instructional communication in contemporary organizational, educational, and corporate settings, with an emphasis on examining communication theories, strategies, and practices that influence leadership effectiveness and instructional outcomes.

Examination of various communication and instructional models, along with the programs of research produced from these models, the delivery models of instruction (both in-person and computer-aided venues), and the various methods for assessing teaching and learning.

This course marries traditional areas of concern for instructional communication with emerging technologies to explore the landscape of teaching and learning, and it examines ethical, technological, professional, and scholarly questions related to technology in instructional communication settings.

Examines communication training and consultation as a research and instructional focus for students interested in applied communication, with an emphasis on identifying and assessing communication competence and how to develop training programs to enhance communication competency.

Examination of theory and praxis of leadership from a communication perspective.

Specialized topics related to the nexus of leadership, communication, and society; individual topics to be announced by title. May be repeated for credit.