Master of Science in Media

An education that works for you

Expand your knowledge and practical skills in a specialized area of the media industry. The Media School’s professional master’s degree will provide you with a comprehensive set of technological and practical tools to launch you to the next level of your career.

The Master of Science in media is ideal for media practitioners seeking new skills, recent college graduates ready for the next level of training, and nonmedia professionals looking to make a career change.

Choose one of five concentrations

No matter which concentration you choose, your coursework will combine hands-on experience in our state-of-the-art facilities with the study of the latest theories, techniques, and trends related to your chosen field.

• Data journalism
• Documentary/nonfiction production
• Journalism
• Management
• Strategic communication

Data journalism

Boost your watchdog credentials with data science

Gain competency in storytelling using data science tools and technology. In the data journalism concentration, you'll gain proficiency in coding, data visualization, ethics, interviewing, journalistic research methods, machine learning, and web scraping.

This interdisciplinary concentration — offered in collaboration with the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering — allows you to expand your skills and knowledge to complement your existing levels of education and expertise, preparing you to enter newsrooms and other creative spaces where fluency in data science principles and numeracy are highly prized alongside writing and story ideation. Like other journalism programs in The Media School, data journalism at IU retains a strong emphasis on writing and visual communication.

You’ll graduate with a portfolio, pursue a high-level industry internship, work alongside peers in the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism and grow as a critical thinker.

Documentary/nonfiction production

Hands-on training in documentary filmmaking

Makers of documentary and other nonfiction media are a vital cornerstone of social engagement. They give visual life to stories about science, history, and politics. Their films extend the reach of musicians and artists. They give voice to the voiceless, they enlighten, and they inform. They foster a civic conversation that can help us see the world, our communities, and ourselves in new ways.

Enhance the quality and scope of your documentary storytelling with a concentration in documentary/nonfiction production. Whether you aspire to create short or feature-length content for broadcast, web, or social media, you'll gain the aesthetic, conceptual, business, and technical skills you need to achieve your vision. And you'll connect with world-class experts in the sciences, humanities, arts, and industries who can increase the importance and depth of your work.

Journalism

A career with purpose

Join the ranks of the journalism industry’s most revered professionals by launching your career as an investigative journalist. The Media School’s M.S. concentration in journalism offers specialized training in watchdog reporting with hands-on opportunities to produce meaningful public service journalism as a fellow in the Michael I. Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism.

Management

Take charge of your career

Navigating the world of media is a daunting prospect, but a concentration in management will give you an understanding of the broad industry-level mechanics and the specific intricacies of each field. You’ll become a proficient communicator and manager in the overlapping and complicated worlds of media and management.

Media leaders are innovators and improvers. Whether you’re managing projects at a media company or running your own, you’ll leave with a foundational understanding of the industry and the entrepreneurial spirit to advance it.

Strategic Communication

A communication skill set every employer needs

Top-notch communication skills are vital across today’s industries. With a concentration in strategic communication, you’ll cultivate the tools you need to be an efficient communicator and an effective storyteller. Whether you want to orchestrate major campaigns for corporations or aid nonprofits in cementing a brand and getting the word out, our M.S. concentration in strategic communication is the place to start.

We’ll train you to write on deadline, cultivate an eye for strong visuals, conduct in-depth research and develop best practices in communication campaign management.

Where endless curiosity & creativity yield every form of success

The College of Arts and Sciences supports students who are ready to explore, create, invent, and make a difference.

We prepare well-rounded, inquisitive, and innovative graduates to better the world. Students in the College pursue their passions while developing the skills that employers want and rewarding careers demand. The result: a degree that can help make you “robot-proof” in the rapidly transforming job market.

Why should you pursue a degree in the College?

Not every path is straight and narrow.

We prepare the explorers and the constantly curious—those whose dreams won’t fit into a one-size-fits-all degree. Our students are game-changers and explorers. They are not afraid to ask big questions. They believe they can change the world. And they often do.

Our faculty are leaders in their fields. Groundbreakers and creatives. Questioners of the status quo.

Together, our faculty and students form an extraordinary teaching and learning community at the heart of one of the world’s best universities.

• We are enduring. We advance the time-honored legacy of a liberal arts education. Our story began two centuries ago, but it starts fresh with each new class of enterprising and talented students.
• We are dynamic. We are a place where ideas form and transform, and where the pursuit of new knowledge never stops.
• We are transformative. We educate well-prepared, confident students—those who go on to write and rewrite history.
• We are ambitious. We motivate and support students who are willing to ask the big questions and influence what’s next. Our graduates believe they can change the world. And they often do.

Here’s to the go-getters and game-changers. To those who are ready to examine, create, invent, and make a difference. Who want to pursue their passions while mastering critical skills that employers want most.

We are the College of Arts & Sciences. Explore with us.

Why should a liberal arts education be the preferred choice for students today?

In the IU College of Arts and Sciences, we believe that helping our students land a first job after college is critically important. We also believe that the liberal arts and sciences offer something more substantial and profound. Here, we equip our students with the skills needed to question critically, think logically, communicate clearly, act creatively, and live ethically. Not only are these the skills that employers say they value most in the workplace, but they also provide the best preparation for lifelong success in a world of complexity, uncertainty, and change.

This is why a liberal arts education has never been more valuable.

Today, the College is investing in innovation. We are asking big questions and seeking creative ways to deliver a newly imagined liberal arts experience—one that is distinctly relevant to 21st-century students. Rather than rest on the College’s impressive legacy, we are hard at work, drawing on our historic strengths and our creative will to find new and better ways to prepare our students to respond with confidence to the greatest challenges facing our world.

This is our vision.

Our mission

The College is an academic community encompassing three divisions and three schools, with more than 70 departments and programs spanning the arts and humanities, social and historical sciences, and natural and mathematical sciences. We are comprised of world-renowned faculty and highly skilled staff.

The members of the College are:

• Engaged in creative activity, basic and applied research, and scholarship that advance disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge. Our work serves Indiana University, the state of Indiana, the United States, and the world.
• Dedicated to the liberal arts, which teach our students to question critically, think logically, communicate clearly, act creatively, and live ethically. These skills serve as the foundation for living the examined life and succeeding in an increasingly global, ever-changing workplace.