BA Journalismus

Investigate your world

Mercer University’s Journalism major gives you the avenue to investigate our world and document your findings with the stroke of a pen, camera lens, voice recorder, and more. You will dive into the world of journalism and discover the importance of gathering, interpreting, and disseminating the truth. You will bring truth to power, and by doing so, you will impact the community in which you live. Your passionate professors will teach you journalism ethics and skills that are needed to create a professional, respectable journalism portfolio. Your work, no matter the topic, helps keep America’s democratic system in place. Upon completion of the degree, you’ll be prepared to:

• Think and write critically
• Expose wrongs by creating truthful journalism pieces
• Implement rigorous research practices while uncovering the truth
• Communicate effectively and efficiently
• Seek a career in diverse fields

Practice what your professors preach

You will have a number of opportunities to strengthen your education experience when you take part in an internship or Mercer On Mission trip and dive into the Center for Collaborative Journalism. These opportunities will challenge you to put your newfound knowledge to the test and deliver effective journalism pieces.

Participate in our unique media collaborative

Mercer University’s own Center for Collaborative Journalism is a unique community media collaborative combining Mercer’s liberal arts-based Journalism and Media Studies programs with the professional expertise of:

• The (Macon) Telegraph, Georgia’s third-largest daily newspaper;
• Georgia Public Broadcasting, the third-largest public broadcaster in the country based on population reach;
• 13WMAZ, the most-watched television station in Central Georgia.

A model for others

The Center was launched in 2011 with nearly $6 million in grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Peyton Anderson Foundation. In 2017, the Center received an additional $2 million grant from the Knight Foundation to expand opportunities for students and broaden its engagement efforts with the community. The collaborative seeks to transform a city that has remarkable inherent advantages in geography, higher education, and culture but weaknesses in attachment, openness, economic strength, and overall sense of community. This collaborative combines:

• The reach and award-winning journalists of The Telegraph, Georgia Public Broadcasting, and 13WMAZ;
• The journalistic innovation resulting from Mercer’s undergraduate Journalism program taught by faculty with strong practical journalism experience who employ a curriculum featuring a medical school-like clinical component;
• The energy and ambitions of many student journalists are attracted by the career advantages this program offers them; and
• A mission of steady engagement with community issues and how to resolve them. In past years, the collaboration has produced award-winning projects focused on the people of Macon, blight, pedestrian safety, and the re-segregation of public schools.

Mercer and its partners have created one of the largest journalism/community projects in the country and a model for higher education/media collaborations in other cities.

Mercer University is one of America’s oldest and most distinctive institutions of higher learning with over 8,700 students enrolled across 12 schools and colleges. We are ranked among the top-tier national research universities and have earned consistent recognition for our academic programs and educational opportunities.

For more than three decades, Mercer has led the way in helping students of all ages—with all different backgrounds from all over Georgia and beyond—find the personalized support and flexibility needed to make a Mercer education a reality. Because no matter who you are, what you’re looking to study, or wherever you want to go, Mercer is for you!

A ‘Best Value’ Among National Universities

Mercer is one of U.S. News & World Report ’s best values among national universities based on academic quality and a student’s average cost of attendance once financial aid is applied.

Why Mercer

Making A Genuine Difference

We hold ourselves to a different set of standards – incorporating a higher sense of purpose into everything we do. This takes us beyond campus walls to Vietnam, Botswana, or wherever we are needed.

Our Mission

To teach, to learn, to create, to discover, to inspire, to empower, and to serve.

In fulfilling this mission, the University supports undergraduate, graduate, and professional learning as well as basic research and its application in service to others.

As a university committed to excellence and innovation, Mercer challenges members of its community to meet and exceed high standards in their teaching, learning, research, scholarship, and service.

Our Vision

To change the world, one student at a time.

The Mercer Difference

Mercer’s uniqueness is found in the way the University integrates five defining components of its mission:

Liberal Learning

Liberal learning at Mercer engages undergraduate students in research and scholarship, emphasizes leadership and service, offers students cutting-edge interdisciplinary programs of study, and provides intensive preparation for the professions.

Professional Knowledge

Whether it is preparing undergraduate liberal arts students for advanced study or a career or educating future ministers, performing artists, attorneys, entrepreneurs, engineers, educators, physicians, and other health care practitioners through its professional schools and colleges, Mercer offers a comprehensive set of educational options.

Discovery

Great universities generate new discoveries that add to the world’s body of knowledge. A Mercer distinctive is the interdisciplinary nature of research that promotes collaboration across schools and colleges. This kind of integrative research is critical to solving the world’s most pressing challenges.

Service to Humankind

The University is a pioneer in service-learning, integrating volunteerism and curricula long before the term came into vogue and was embraced by many other institutions. Service to humankind is ingrained in the Mercer culture. This commitment to service led Princeton Review to name Mercer as one of its “Colleges with a Conscience.”

Community

Community has meaning on two levels at Mercer — internal and external — and in both the University excels. Students, faculty, and staff relate to one another in an environment that inspires collaboration, support, and respect. The external community — cities and neighborhoods where students, faculty, and staff live and serve — is also important at Mercer, which invests in areas near and far from campus.

Residential Undergraduate Program

Mercer Bears command respect and walk with confidence. We are distinguished leaders. Movers and shakers. Real-life difference makers.

A Bear Always Wants More

We believe in a college experience that does more than build résumés and check off bucket lists. If you seek peers who wake you up and teachers who knock on your door when you don’t, if in your vocabulary "you" falls underneath something bigger - under words like "community" and "advocacy" and "greater good” - then “you” just might be in the right place.

Mercer On Mission

The highest expression of our desire to create a better world, Mercer On Mission deploys students and faculty across the globe to meet the most fundamental needs of humanity.

Internships

More than 70% of Mercer students participate in at least one internship, putting classroom knowledge into practice and gaining valuable work experience. Mercer's relationships with industry leaders and start-up incubators foster personal connections and networking opportunities.

Mercer Abroad

Mercerians gain from their study abroad experiences a deeper appreciation for different cultures and languages, a stronger focus on their academic pursuits, and a clearer sense of their own role in a global society.

Community Engagement

Mercer empowers students to become leaders in communities and inspires them to use their talents to impact the human condition positively. If there’s a cause close to your heart, Mercer has the resources to help you put your ideas into action.

Research That Reaches Out

Undergraduate students have the opportunity to engage in hands-on, sophisticated research - as early as year one - working closely with faculty members in state-of-the-art facilities to tackle real problems facing humankind.

Graduate and Professional Study

The best leaders are lifetime learners.

What if the world as we know it was negotiable? It is.

At Mercer, we're not confined to the world as we know it - because we believe one person can change it.

Learn And Achieve More

Immerse Yourself in Opportunities for Accelerated Personal Growth

Innovation

Dream big in an academic culture that nurtures creative thinking.

Research

Work closely with highly published, cited, and funded faculty.

Collaboration

Leverage partnerships across the University's academic centers and institutes.

Impact

See first-hand the effects of your work in real-world communities.