Communication, Media & Theatre Arts

Crafting the Message

Students master journalism basic skills—researching, reporting, writing, and copy editing—while working with new technologies, including digital means of disseminating news. They learn how to create effective media messages, the skills needed for insightful and meaningful reporting, the historical and social significance of both media and journalism systems, and online platforms for distributing their content.

The career options of a journalism degree are diverse. Graduates from the program have gone to work in media companies as well as in the field of public relations, social media management, publishing, corporate communications. Our alumni are stationed in The Detroit Free Press, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Associated Press, The Fast Company, and others.

Our Academic Programs

Undergraduate students majoring in Journalism study the practice, theory, ethics, and impact of covering news events. The focus is on traditional skills as well as the use of new technologies.

The Media Studies and Journalism major combines the pertinent courses of both Digital Media Production and Journalism in a single, concentrated program of study. Students learn to gather, produce, and present information in the most suitable medium including broadcasting, radio, podcasting, streaming, print and digital media. Students are required to complete internship credits before graduation.

A minor in Journalism is available for students in any major. Articulation agreements with Washtenaw Community College feed seamlessly into our Journalism major and our Media Studies and Journalism major. 

Student Activities and Involvement

The Eastern Echo

The Eastern Echo has served the Eastern Michigan University and Ypsilanti communities as an independent student newspaper for more than 140 years. 

The Echo has received 58 awards from the Michigan Press Association in just the past decade. Nora Naughton, the former editor-in-chief of the Echo and now a journalist at the Wall Street Journal, reflected on the impact of the Echo experience on her professional career in on video.

ETV Campus Cable Channel 18

ETV produces programming for students and by students. ETV provides a public service for the EMU community by keeping the university community in touch with itself through video. All ETV programming is produced, written and directed by students.

Eagle Radio

Eagle Radio is run for and by students. The station features public service programs, news, entertainment and coverage of EMU sports.

Our Students in Action

Internships or Jobs

Internships and applied learning opportunities provide critical experiences for students and secure a seamless entrance into the field of journalism. Placements with the Echo, ETV, Eagle Radio, and off-campus internships provide students with real-world experiences that translate directly to their future careers.

Alumni News

• Nathan Bomey, 2006

  Nathan Bomey, EMU Journalism ’06, business reporter for Axios and The USA Today, was the scriptwriter and producer of the Detroit bankruptcy documentary “Gradually, Then Suddenly.” The documentary won the 2021 Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film and made its public debut on April 27 during the 2022 Freep Film Festival. Nathan published the book “Detroit Resurrected, To Bankruptcy and Back” in 2016.

• Dr. Joe Misiewicz, 1968
  Dr. Joe Misiewicz, EMU’68, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Indian Broadcasters Association in November 2021.
• Kat Stafford, 2012
  Kat Stafford, EMU Journalism ’12, is the national investigative writer and global investigations correspondent for the Associated Press. She recently completed her year-long study with the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists and the Livingston Awards program to study “From Birth to Death: How Generations of Black Americans Have Faced a Lifetime of Disparities.”