BA Communications
The Department of Communications at Brigham Young University seeks excellence in communications by stressing personal integrity, research and rigorous scholarship, moral virtues and values, professional competence and ethical conduct.
Students in the department edit and publish the Daily Universe as a laboratory newspaper for the campus, produce daily television broadcasts on local cable, produce @NewsNet.byu.edu for the Internet, plan advertising and public relations campaigns, solve media sales and management problems, and use “new media” in diverse situations.
Advertising Emphasis Grounded in a broad liberal arts education, students learn how to use research to study diverse audiences, analyze communications problems, and evaluate communications programs. They write problem-solving strategies and create advertising messages to specific target audiences. This major prepares for career opportunities in advertising account management, creative production, research, media planning, and media sales.
Broadcast Journalism Emphasis The study of journalism entails the mastery of working with people to present news and features in a way that reflects events accurately and fully. Students acquire skills in analytical thinking, lucid writing, effective interviewing, and electronic production to present a clear and forceful picture of their subject in words and images. This major prepares for careers in television and radio reporting, writing, producing, and directing.
Communications Studies This program is designed for the student who wants a broad, general background in communications and does not necessarily want to specialize in one of the professional tracks. This may be the student who plans to pursue advanced academic degrees rather than work in the industry. The focus of the program is on studying the interaction between the mass media and society and is highly theoretical and conceptual.
Print Journalism Emphasis The field of journalism offers the allure of working in a profession that has its finger on the pulse of society. Whether reporting for a newspaper, community press, magazine or online publication, journalists find themselves rubbing shoulders with important people and recording important events. A career in journalism implies not only skill in words, but the ability to make sound judgments and to ferret out facts. This program requires students to have a broad liberal education to complement their reporting and writing skills.
Public Relations Emphasis Public Relations manages communication to build mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its vital publics. The public relations program emphasizes the following: research and measurement; strategic planning, professionally designed, written and targeted tactics; and ethical practice. We prepare students with critical skills in thinking, writing, research program planning and management, creative problem solving, and relationship building with publics typical to the public relations challenges of diverse organizations. Those publics include but are not limited to media, consumers, employees, government and other regulatory bodies, and communities.
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