At a time when broadcast news is being criticized on many fronts, we seek to challenge and train a new generation of broadcast journalists to find innovative, creative and journalistically responsible ways of reporting and producing TV news.

The introductory television sequence covers two semesters and focuses on broadcast style, reporting for TV, shooting HD digital video, and editing using Final Cut Pro in the postproduction facility. These skills are vital to video news reporting and producing, and the TV sequence is a prerequisite for second-year television courses, long-form television and documentary production.

Course sequence includes: J282 Introduction to Television News, J283 Reporting for Television, J285 Longform Television.

"J-School is much more than an intellectual exercise, it's a trade school and I went there to learn a craft. At Berkeley, everything was hands on. I picked up cameras, worked as a soundperson, spent endless hours editting, and reported, reported, reported. I graduated with a solid skill set that helped me land a job as a tv news producer in a top ten market. I went on to become a local news reporter, and eventually ended up in my current job at ABC News as White House Correspondent for Good Morning America. At Berkeley, I learned how to get the story, how to tell it ethically, and perhaps most importantly, how to get it on the air on time. Those are talents I rely on to this day."

Yunji de Nies
ABC News Correspondent

Students report, write, shoot, structure and produce hard news and news feature stories, half-hour news programs and TV news magazine programs. All programs are cablecast on Berkeley Community Media, Channel 25 and UCTV. Students have won numerous student Emmys for their work, and many of their stories have aired on state and national PBS stations, commercial stations and national news Web sites. Students also keep a vimeo group account, view their recent work here and see an archive of student work here.

Television students have traveled widely in search of compelling stories, from urban and rural neighborhoods of Oakland, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Ohio, to remote villages and cities in China, Vietnam, Cuba, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, South Africa, France, and Eastern Europe.

Classes are held in the state-of-the-art Nan McEvoy Broadcast Laboratory, which includes eleven Final Cut Pro workstations and a broadcast studio. All production is digital, using Panasonic HPX 170 and HPX 500 P2 tapeless HD cameras, Sony DSR570 and Panasonic 100B DVCam tape cameras; Schoeps, Sanken and Countryman microphones, Lectronics wireless, with Sound Device mixers; and HMI, tungsten, and LED lighting equipment.