Journalism Program
The Semester in the City Journalism Program exposes students to the national journalism stage and the ideas that matter the most in the context of the media capital of the world. The journalism focus is offered in the fall.

Course Overviews

Introduction to Biblical Journalism, Dr. Marvin Olasky and associates
Dr. Olasky, Editor-in-chief of WORLD magazine and Provost of The King’s College, will kick off this workshop class on the writing of news features. Additional instructors will include New York City journalists, along with WORLD editors and writers. Students will report stories from the United Nations, Greenwich Village, Broadway, and other Manhattan venues. Outstanding articles will be considered for publication in WORLD and the WORLD on the Web website.

Students will attend private Q-and-A sessions with practicing journalists who visit King’s, and tour top media offices such as Bloomberg, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Fox News.

Introduction to the City, Dr. Anne Hendershott
Anne Hendershott, Professor of Sociology at the University of San Diego and author of the recently published The Politics of Abortion, will explore the factors that shape all urban areas and especially New York City, most influential city on earth. Students will travel to many diverse sections of the city and be challenged by both Manhattan’s excitement and its neediness. Students gain an understanding of the effects of urban politics and public policy in shaping a city.

Foundations of Economics, Dr. Alex Tokarev
Growing up in Bulgaria under a communist regime, Professor Tokarev saw the impact of economic policies in shaping a society; he also learned to value free markets. This course will provide a framework of key issues every journalist needs to know in understanding and writing about the economic ideas that impact daily life. Students will be able to see the practice of economics both on Wall Street and among 34th Street’s sidewalk merchants.

Logic, Dr. Peter Kreeft
Dr. Kreeft, considered one of the top philosophers in the US, is widely published on a variety of topics from grief to the literature of Lewis and Tolkien. His course will hone critical thinking skills, considered essential for every journalist.

Elective
Students may enroll in one additional elective for the semester. Elective course options will be sent after acceptance into the program.

Curriculum

JOU 110 Intro to Biblical Journalism (3)
Students will learn the history and philosophy of biblical journalism and gain practice in the how-to by writing news features, profiles, first-person accounts, and other stories, the best of which might end up on the pages of WORLD magazine or in World on the Web. They will gain practice in field reporting and in writing leads, "nut grafs," conclusions, and headlines; they will interview New York leaders and people on the street; they will learn how to line-edit and structurally edit articles by organizing them for maximum readability. They will also learn about blogging, webzines, the business aspects of contemporary journalism, and what daily life as an editor or reporter is like.

PHL 110 Logic (3)
Students study all of traditional logic, as well as the philosophical principles on which it rests, with emphasis on metaphysical and epistemological realism, and its practical applications, such as Socratic Method, debate, and writing logically organized essays and papers. Students will compare symbolic, or mathematical, logic with traditional logic and evaluate the limitations of each.

ECO 110 Fundamentals of Economics (3)
The course is designed to introduce students to both microeconomic and macroeconomic topics. Students will be introduced to ideas regarding incentives, constraints, opportunity costs, and the unintended consequences of good intentions. The course will also cover basic concepts such as rationality, the price mechanism, specialization and exchange, and Christian stewardship. On completing the course, students will be equipped with the basic mathematical skills necessary for understanding economic theory in upper level economics courses.

URB 110 Introduction to the City
An introduction to the multi-disciplinary study of cities. Students examine the role of cities in the history of civilization, with special emphasis on the role that the development of New York City has played throughout the history of American civilization. The scale, dynamism, and complexity of New York City provides students with a case study of the social structure of cities, including the cultural diversity within urban populations and the unique social problems of urban life. Students will walk through many parts of Manhattan and see the sights as they learn to put them into social and historical context. The course concludes with an overview of the ways in which urban politics and public policy have attempted to make cities function more efficiently and improve the quality of life for residents.

For more information on becoming a Semester in the City partner school, please contact: semesterinthecity@tkc.edu.