Journalism

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Associate in Arts for Transfer Program Map
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This program map from the 2024-2025 catalog year represents one possible pathway to complete this program. Your pathway may vary depending on your transfer plans and also previous college credit, including AP Test scores, concurrent enrollment courses and high school articulated courses.

I'm ready to get started. What do I do next?

  1. Review this program map to get an overview of the required courses
  2. Meet with a counselor to develop your customized student education plan www.chabotcollege.edu/counseling
  3. Use DegreeWorks, an online student education planning tool, to track your progress toward graduation www.chabotcollege.edu / admissions / degreeworks
Program Description

Journalism courses at Chabot College offer degree preparation with exciting hands-on media training for students interested in journalism or other mass communication career options. Our courses are not just for reporters, however!

Courses within the AA-T in Journalism feature writing and prepare students to become strong researchers, information gatherers, vital communicators and advocates that are needed today in industries such as journalism, reporting, news production, advertising, media relations, public information and other forms of mass communications.These skills will also help people in numerous other careers that require public interaction, information gathering and research.

Chabot College students work with qualified instructors in hands-on learning environments that promote advanced development of research, writing, leadership, oral and written communication skills. Students also develop important technical skills in industry software and learn vital production processes while building social skills.


What can I do with this major?

Here are some of the jobs that this degree will prepare you for:

  • Journalists
  • News reporters
  • Sports reporters
  • News editors
  • Copy editors
  • Designers
  • Multimedia reporters
  • Photojournalists
  • Public information officers
  • Public Relations practitioners
  • Advertising

Learning and Career Pathway
  • Communication, Language & Media

Icon Key

= Critical Course = Prerequisite for Other Courses = Prerequisite Required = Required for Major GE = General Education

Semester 1

14 units

MCOM 20
Introduction to Journalism Reporting and News Writing

3 units
This course is an introduction to gathering, synthesizing/organizing, and writing news in journalistic style across multiple platforms. Topics include the role of the journalist and related legal and ethical issues. Students will report and write based on their original interviews and research to produce news content. Experiences may include covering speeches, meetings, and other events, writing under deadline, and using AP Style.
Course Details:
  1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
  • Transfers to CSU

    • English 1- Critical Reading and Composition

    4 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    Math Course for General Education: see a counselor to choose the appropriate course.

    4 units
    GE
    MTH 43 or PSY 5 recommended

    Semester 2

    15-17 units

    MCOM 21
    Newspaper Production I

    3 units
    This course focuses on writing the student-produced school newspaper, The Spectator, and its online version, spectator.news, as a practical laboratory that creates a journalistic product for distribution to a college and community audience. Students will work primarily in the following areas: researching, writing, and editing articles for the publication; taking photographs and creating graphic illustrations; developing multimedia stories or designing pages. This course includes practical experience in design/layout, visual, online, multimedia journalism, and emerging technologies.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: MCOM 20
    2. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
  • Transfers to CSU

    • General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3-4 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3-4 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    Semester 3

    15-16 units

    MCOM 41
    Introduction to Mass Communications

    3 units
    Survey of the interrelationships of media with society including history, structure and trends in a digital age. Discussion of theories and effects, economics, technology, law and ethics, global media, media literacy, and social issues, including gender and cultural diversity.
    Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • List A Course

    3 units
    Choose one course from List A below
    See the full list: (Click here)

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3-4 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    Semester 4

    16 units

    List B Course #1

    3 units
    Choose one course from List B below
    See the full list: (Click here)

    List B Course #2

    3 units
    Choose one course from List B below
    See the full list: (Click here)

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    Elective- see a counselor to choose a course that counts for elective units (can be any credit course).

    1 unit

    List A

    Choose one course from List A below.

    MCOM 22
    Newspaper Production II

    3 units
    This course focuses on intermediate writing the student-produced school newspaper, The Spectator, and its online version, spectator.news, as a practical laboratory that creates a journalistic product for distribution to a college and community audience. Students will work primarily in the following areas: researching, writing, and editing articles for the publication; taking photographs and creating graphic illustrations; developing multimedia stories or designing pages and mentorship. This course includes practical experience in design/layout, visual, online, multimedia journalism, emerging technologies, and editorial mentorship.
    Course Details:
    1. Prerequisite: MCOM 21
    2. Strongly Recommended: MCOM 20
    3. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
  • Transfers to CSU

    • MCOM 26
    Introduction to Photojournalism

    3 units
    This course focuses on photography for the student-produced school newspaper, The Spectator, and its online version, spectator.news. This course deals with the photographer as a journalist, focusing on theory and practice in press and publications photography, emphasizing the camera as a reporting and communications tool. Covered are news and feature photography and photographic essays, including composition, impact, and creativity, for newspapers, the Internet, and other mass communications media.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: PHOT 53A
    2. Strongly Recommended: MCOM 20
    3. Eligibility for: ENGL C1000
  • Transfers to CSU

    • List B

    COMM 50
    Introduction to Communication Studies

    3 units
    A survey of the discipline of Communication Studies with emphasis on multiple epistemological, theoretical, and methodological issues relevant to the systematic inquiry of human interaction. The course explores communication theories from the humanistic, social scientific and critical traditions.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
  • Transfers to CSU

    • COMM 46
    Argumentation and Debate

    3 units
    Analysis of contemporary questions through written and spoken discourse. Analysis, criticism, and synthesis of contemporary moral, political, economic and philosophical issues of a diverse, multicultural society, using traditional and modern models of argumentation and debate.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000

    Economics Course

    3 units

    ECN 1
    Principles of Microeconomics

    3 units
    Economic analysis of market systems, price theory, including supply and demand analysis, marginal utility, elasticity, cost and revenue concepts, perfect and imperfect competition, international trade theory, pricing of the factors of production, poverty and income inequalities.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
    2. Prerequisite: MTH 53
    3. Prerequisite: MTH 53B
  • Transfers to CSU
    • or

    ECN 2
    Principles of Macroeconomics

    3 units
    Economic analysis of the theory of income determination, including national income analysis, business cycles, the consumption function, the multiplier, fiscal policy, monetary policy, money and banking, the public debt, economic growth and development, comparative economic systems and international trade.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
    2. Prerequisite: MTH 53
      3. or
    3. Prerequisite: MTH 53B
      4. or
  • Transfers to CSU

    • ENGL C1001
    Critical Thinking and Writing

    4 units
    In this course, students receive instruction in critical thinking for purposes of constructing, evaluating, and composing arguments in a variety of rhetorical forms, using primarily non-fiction texts, refining writing skills and research strategies developed in ENGL C1000 College Reading and Writing (or C-ID ENGL 100) or similar first-year college writing course. Primary texts will showcase diverse writers, including marginalized voices. Theme-based units will emphasize the techniques and principles of effective written argument in research-based writing across disciplines. Formerly ENGL 7A (prerequisite formerly ENGL 1).
    Course Details:
    1. Transfers to CSU

      2. STAT C1000
      Introduction to Statistics

      4 units
      This course is an introduction to statistical thinking and processes, including methods and concepts for discovery and decision-making using data. Topics include descriptive statistics; probability and sampling distributions; statistical inference; correlation and linear regression; analysis of variance, chi-squared, and t-tests; and application of technology for statistical analysis including the interpretation of the relevance of the statistical findings. Students apply methods and processes to applications using data from a broad range of disciplines. Descriptive statistics, including measures of central tendency and dispersion; elements of probability; tests of statistical hypotheses (one and two populations); correlation and regression; ANOVA; applications in various fields. Introduction to the use of computer software package to complete both descriptive and inferential statistics problems. Formerly MTH 43. May not receive credit if Mathematics 35 has been completed.
      Course Details:
      1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
      2. Strongly Recommended: MTH 53
      3. Strongly Recommended: MTH 55
    2. Transfers to UC/CSU

      3. PHOT 50
      Introduction to Photography

      3 units
      Introduction to the processes, principles, and tools of photography. Topics include the development of technical and aesthetic skills, elements of design and composition, camera technology, materials and equipment, and contemporary trends in photography.
      Course Details:
    3. Transfers to CSU

      4. POLS C1000
      American Government and Politics

      3 units
      This course is an introduction to government and politics in the United States and California. Students examine the constitutions, structure, and operation of governing institutions, civil liberties and civil rights, political behaviors, political issues, and public policy using political science theory and methodology. Formerly POSC 1.
      Course Details:
      1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000

      POSC 20
      Comparative Politics

      3 units
      Introduces the diverse domestic politics of countries around the world. The politics and problems in democratic, semi-democratic, and authoritarian states will be covered through an investigation of institutions, identity (race, gender, class, nationalism, religion, culture), social movements, political economy, political violence, and globalization. Students will be introduced to the diverse decision-making regimes that exist throughout the globe, such as parliamentary, semi-presidential, presidential, unitary, federal, and confederal systems.
      Course Details:
      1. Strongly Recommended: POLS C1000
        2. and
      2. Strongly Recommended: ENGL C1000
      Total Units: 60-63 units
      This program map is not a guarantee of course availability or financial aid applicability.