1. The Missouri School of Journalism
1.1. Missouri is the world's first school of journalism, founded in 1908 by Walter Williams. Williams believed students learn best by doing, otherwise known as the Missouri Method.
1.1.1. The foundations of the Missouri Method can be found in the values Walter Williams gave in "The Journalist's Creed."
1.1.1.1. "I believe in the profession of journalism. I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is a betrayal of this trust. I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism. I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true. I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible."
1.1.1.2. For more information on the Journalist's Creed, click the arrow.
2. Real world media outlets
2.1. Students at the Missouri School Journalism learn the Missouri Method by practicing storytelling in one or multiple of the school's media outlets.
2.1.1. The School of Journalism allows students to gain experience and exposure to whatever field of storytelling interests them in one of the following media outlets or communication agencies. Click the arrows to learn more about each outlet.
2.1.1.1. AdZou
2.1.1.1.1. The Columbia Missourian
2.1.1.2. Missouri Digital News
2.1.1.2.1. Missouri Business Alert
2.1.1.3. KOMU-TV, an NBC affiliate)
2.1.1.3.1. KBIA, an NPR station
2.1.1.4. Reynolds Journalism Institute
2.1.1.4.1. Major research opportunities are available through RJI
2.2. Faculty set higher and more rigorous expectations for students in courses where students are working at real world media outlets.
2.2.1. Students will likely spend much more time preparing for newsroom shifts, labs and presentations compared to time spent on coursework in non-journalism courses.
2.2.1.1. Many students describe the hand-on newsroom/agency coursework as more demanding than that of courses taken outside of the School of Journalism.
2.2.2. Working at a real-world news outlet
3. What does this mean for students?
3.1. During a student's first two years at the Missouri School of Journalism, they will take core requirements that will best prepare them from the real world experience they will experience during their junior and senior years.
3.1.1. Students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better during their first two years of study to maintain eligibility for the program.
3.1.1.1. During this time, students should gather as much information as possible about what they'd like to pursue in the different interest areas during their junior and senior years.
3.1.1.2. To learn more about what to expect from your freshman and sophomore years at the Missouri School of Journalism, click the arrow.
3.1.2. While taking the required pre-requisites, students should consider joining student campus-wide organizations through the Organization Resource Group. Click the arrow to learn more about over 600 student organizations.
3.1.2.1. There are journalism-specific organizations students can join as well, such as Women in Media, Journalism Student Council, Magazine Club, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Online News Association and Society of Professional Journalists. To learn more, click the arrow.
3.1.3. Students are encouraged to get tuned in to the Missouri School of Journalism's newsrooms and media outlets. You can read, watch, listen online, on-air and follow them on social media.
4. Why come to the Missouri School of Journalism and practice the Missouri Method?
4.1. News professionals from CollegeMagazine.com, E-How, The Huffington Post, International Student, Media Bistro, News Pro, StateUniversity.com, TVWeek, World Ranking and others select the Missouri School of Journalism as a top J-school in the country.
4.2. The Missouri School of Journalism has incredible global reach through its international study programs and from alums. Click on the arrow to visit the MU Journalism Study Abroad page.
4.2.1. There are over 20 international study programs through the school.
4.2.1.1. There are internship and study programs available in Brussels, London, New York, Washington D.C. and Barcelona.
4.2.1.2. There are many options for short-term programs in Costa Rica, Florence, Cape Town, China and more.
4.2.1.3. There are exchange programs around the world in Auckland, Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Milan, Paris and more.
4.3. The Missouri School of Journalism has close ties to media professionals and the industry. The alumni network includes but is not limited to ESPN, the Wall Street Journal, Hearst Corporation, Meredith Corporation, ABC News and FleishmanHillard.
4.3.1. For more information about the vast network of Missouri School of Journalism alumni, otherwise known as the Mizzou Mafia, click the arrow.