Program Overview
Journalism
Amplify stories that resonate.
Photo credit: Yvonne Gay
The Art and Craft of Journalism
Oberlin’s alumni include active reporters at most major news outlets from the BBC and the New York Times to Politico and Radiolab.
Arts and Creative Professions
Oberlin’s Career Communities provides structured opportunities for journalism students to pursue their postgraduate career plans, placing interested students at a range of news and media organizations from Salon.com to The Atlantic.
Students have the opportunity to write for an ever-growing number of student-run literary and news publications
A Legacy of Impactful Journalism
Oberlin has an excellent track record placing graduates in the fields of media, entertainment and journalism, many of whom return to campus to mentor and work with current students.
Featured Courses
PROF 171
Practicing Music Journalism
This course develops students’ critical listening and writing skills, enabling them to write lucid and evocative prose about music and its performance. In addition to reviews, writing assignments include essays, interviews, think pieces, program and liner notes on musical subjects and artists, both historical and current. The course explores a variety of musical styles including, but not limited to, Western classical, jazz, world music, electronic music, and musical theater.
- Taught by
- Mike Telin
POLT 200
Mass Politics in a Media Age
American politics has fundamentally changed over the past quarter century. Sound bites are shorter, cynicism is higher, hard news is giving way to soft news, and new media have made political information ubiquitous. In this media-driven world, do we fulfill our obligation to be “good citizens”? Do we make rational voting decisions? In this course, we develop an understanding of the relationship between citizens, the media, and politicians in a rapidly changing media age.
- Taught by
- Michael Parkin
RHET 207
Literary Journalism
From New Journalism to the personal essay, literary techniques are reshaping the way journalists write about sports, nature, politics, science, and the arts. This course explores the way journalists use the tools of fiction and poetry in their writing while remaining true to the standards of reporting. Students will balance the reading of literary journalism and essays with time spent crafting their own writing.
- Taught by
- Hal Sundt ’12
CINE 320
Documentary Video Production
This course explores both critical and creative perspectives on documentaries (in terms of structure, purpose, audience, etc.) and then gives students the opportunity to practice basic documentary production (camera, lighting, sound, non-linear editing). After engaging in various individual and small group exercises, students spend the balance of the semester working together to produce a short festival-quality documentary film.
- Taught by
- Geoff Pingree
Student Profiles
The Creative Side of Journalism
Justine Goode ’16 has always wanted to work at a print magazine in either a design or an editorial capacity. Today, the former editor of the Grape, Oberlin's alternative student newspaper, is fulfilling both career goals at Vanity Fair.
Producing at NPR
At Oberlin, Anna Bauman ’17 landed a reporting internship for Cleveland’s 90.3 WCPN Ideastream. After graduation, Bauman decided to continue with radio and took an internship with NPR’s On Point, where she is now an associate producer.
Writing Science for Radio
As an environmental studies and creative writing major at Oberlin, Angus Chen ’13 edited Headwaters, a campus environmental magazine. He is now a science reporter at NPR where he has covered topics ranging from futuristic cranberries to the effects of loneliness on the immune system.
What does Journalism at Oberlin look like?
Students in Professor Jan Cooper’s podcasting Winter Term project learned the historical background of the emerging podcasting industry before producing their own audio stories.
Photo credit: Yvonne Gay
Rani Molla ’08, senior data reporter at Recode, returned to Oberlin to lead a data journalism workshop at the Oberlin College Student Journalism Symposium.
Photo credit: Dale Preston ’83
The student-run radio station WOBC offers students the opportunity to plan and host their own radio shows.
Photo credit: Jeong Hyun Hwang
Oberlin students share ideas in preparation for the upcoming journalism symposium.
Photo credit: Yvonne Gay
New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean speaks to Oberlin students about The Library Book, an exploration of the history, power, and future of libraries.
Photo credit: Chris Schumucki ’22
Alex Blumberg ’89, a producer at This American Life and founder of Gilmet Media, leads a journalism and podcasting lecture in Oberlin’s Birenbaum space.
Photo credit: Yvonne Gay
A panel on international politics consisted of professors Zeinab Abul-Magd and Sebastiaan Faber, as well as Oberlin alumni, Josh Keating, senior chair of Slate, and Max Strasser, opinion editor editor of the New York Times.
Photo credit: Yvonne Gay
Students in the field working on a documentary for StoryLens, a nonprofit run by professor Geoff Pingree that produces independent short documentaries of social relevance.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Oberlin College
