New Multimedia Journalism program combines majors

In an effort to better prepare students to work in the ever-evolving media landscape, Grand Valley is merging its journalism and broadcasting majors into a unified Multimedia Journalism program this fall.

Vandana Pednekar-Magal, School of Communications director and journalism professor, said this change comes at a time when the demands on professional journalists are greater than ever.

“In the new media environment, the distinctions between newspapers, radio and television are increasingly irrelevant as they have converged onto an integrated platform of online media,” she said. "In this milieu, a journalist, after researching, writing, shooting, voicing and editing a story for traditional newscasts, must also be able to rewrite it for the Web or mobile devices. He or she may also be expected to produce short videos for the Web.”

Pednekar-Magal added that Grand Valley joins four-year colleges and universities across the U.S. who are advancing their journalism programs by reflecting these changes in the media landscape.

“This merged program will offer journalism instruction that considers the nature of each medium in the convergence model and enable students to learn and eventually operate in the integrated media platform,” she said.

While audio and video technologies, as well as digital media, will be components of the new curriculum, Pednekar-Magal said at the heart of the program will be teaching students the art of storytelling.

“We want students to learn to tell stories in all media by getting the facts right, pursuing public interest, doing the tedious legwork that we call journalistic inquiry, and knowing the ethics of journalism,” she said. “Yet, ultimately students are learning how to tell a great story in the mediums they understand or like to work in. They can use their story telling skills in unimaginable ways that new technologies now seem to allow.”

For more information about the new Multimedia Journalism program, visit www.gvsu.edu/soc.