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Reporting the World

Take the next step in your career with an online master’s degree in journalism from NYU

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We are now accepting applications for Fall 2024. Final deadline: July 1.

We’re here to train journalists who want to change the world for the better. Whether you’re just starting out or want to get to the next level, we have what you need.

 

The American Journalism Online Master’s Program

 

Do it your way

Earn a world-class Master of Arts in Journalism degree fully online. Our program brings together students from all over the globe to learn from some of the world’s most accomplished journalists. We offer flexible pathways so you can customize your course of study and complete your degree at your own pace. Go full-time and get it done in one year or attend part-time and take 18 months, two years, or longer.

Learn by doing

In the American Journalism Online Master’s Program, you’ll start reporting from day one. Our courses provide you with the foundational tools to build your career as you imagine it: you’ll choose your own beat and report on the stories that matter to you. Amass clips, shoot and edit video, record podcasts, and gain professional cred. Be the kind of journalist you want to be: a beat reporter, magazine feature writer, arts or cultural critic, audio storyteller, multimedia journalist, on-air correspondent or news anchor.

Meet your mentor

In addition to your coursework, you’ll be paired with a top professional who provides feedback on your work and advice on navigating the inner workings of the journalism industry. Our mentors are some of the best journalists in the business, and we match them with students based on their beat and mutual interests. Our mentors work at the New Yorker, the New York Times, CNN, the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, Wired, the Washington Post, Slate, NBC, CNBC, Business Insider, Forbes, Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Bloomberg, Gizmodo, and many others.

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Internships, jobs and career counseling

Our career counselor is with you every step of the way as you seek internships and look for jobs wherever you may live. You’ll receive personal attention customized to your needs and abilities, and can tap NYU Journalism’s vast network of alumni who can help you shape your career.

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Cartoon: On Background. Mr. Peanut with a journalist saying:

Credit: Bob Eckstein

American Journalism Online Awards

The AJO Awards recognize excellence in reporting, writing and news production across genres. As the media landscape evolves, we want to celebrate great journalism no matter what form it takes — whether a long-form narrative published on a website, a podcast, a newsletter, a Twitter thread, or a TikTok video.

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View 2022 Winners

 

Modern Journalism

NYU’s American Journalism Online certificate course

This program provides aspiring journalists the flexibility to learn essential journalistic practices and skills, all on their schedule – it’s 100% online, on-demand, and completely self-paced.

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Faculty

Adam Penenberg

Adam L. Penenberg

Associate Professor | Director, Online Master’s in Journalism Program


B.A., Economics, Reed College

In a wide-ranging career as a writer, editor, columnist, and film producer, Professor Penenberg has written for Fast Company, Forbes, the New York Times, Washington Post, Wired, Slate, Playboy, and the Economist. A former senior editor at Forbes and a reporter for Forbes.com, Penenberg garnered national attention in 1998 for unmasking serial fabricator Stephen Glass of the New Republic. Penenberg’s story was a watershed for online investigative journalism and portrayed in the film Shattered Glass (Steve Zahn plays Penenberg). He wrote the popular “Media Hack” column for Wired News, was a columnist for Slate, and a contributing writer to Fast Company magazine.

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Melanie Hicken

Melanie Hicken

Adjunct Faculty


Melanie Hicken is an award-winning investigative reporter for CNN. Her work has exposed everything from widespread sexual abuse in nursing homes to one of the longest-running scams in history. It has also inspired legislative action and government investigation.

Hicken and her longtime reporting partner, Blake Ellis’s groundbreaking investigation into the secret world of government debt collectors won the prestigious Heywood Broun Award of Distinction and inspired lawmakers to take action with legislation aimed at closing the loophole highlighted in the stories. They were finalists for a Peabody Award for CNN’s coverage of guns in America, and the two journalists have been honored by the International Association of Broadcasting, the National Press Club, the National Endowment for Financial Education, the Radio Television Digital News Association and the National Association of Consumer Advocates. Hicken regularly appears on CNN and other television and radio networks to discuss her investigations.

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Nidhi Prakash

Nidhi Prakash

Adjunct Faculty


Nidhi Prakash covers politics for BuzzFeed News. For the past year, she’s been on the campaign trail covering the presidential election and specifically the Biden campaign. Before that, she worked on Capitol Hill, reported on federal agencies, the Syrian refugee crisis, and broke news on the death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria.

She previously worked in the UK, Chile, and started her career in Australian public radio.

Garnette Cadogan, Photo Credit: Vivek Bald

Garnette Cadogan

Adjunct Faculty


Garnette Cadogan is an essayist. His writing explores the promise and perils of urban life, the vitality and inequality of cities, and the challenges of pluralism. He writes about culture and the arts for various publications, and, in Fall 2017, was included in a list of 29 writers from around the world who “represent the future of new writing.”

He is editor-at-large of Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas (co-edited by Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro), and is at work on a book on walking.

Julia Dahl

Julia Dahl

Adjunct Faculty


Julia Dahl has worked as an associate features editor at Marie Claire, a city desk reporter for the New York Post, the deputy managing editor of The Crime Report, and a crime and justice reporter for CBS News. She has been the recipient of a John Jay/H.F. Guggenheim fellowship in criminal justice journalism, as well as a fellowship from the Nation Institute Investigative Fund. Julia has a BA from Yale, an MFA from The New School, and an MA in journalism from American University.

Julia is also the author of four novels – INVISIBLE CITY, RUN YOU DOWN, CONVICTION, and THE MISSING HOURS (2021). INVISIBLE CITY and CONVICTION were both named best books of the year by the Boston Globe, and INVISIBLE CITY was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and has been translated into eight languages.

Liza Hogan

Liza Hogan

Adjunct Faculty


Liza Hogan is a founder and longtime senior producer for CNN.com where she covered a number of major stories from 9/11 to Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 presidential campaign, and the 2008 election of Barack Obama. Later, as a founder and editor for PBS’s NextAvenue.org, she helped design and manage a startup news website for adults 50 and older. She earned her master’s in journalism from Northwestern University and currently works as a digital strategies consultant in Washington, D.C.

 
Video interview being conducted
Photo by Nicole Tung

Get Published

Collaborate with classmates from around the world on our publication, The Click—written, edited, and produced by you.

Read The Click

 
NYU Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute - American Journalism Online

Credit: Bob Eckstein

What are online journalism classes at NYU like?

As an online master’s student, you’ll collaborate with instructors and peers from all over the globe. We keep our classes small—writing courses are capped at 13 students, multimedia at 10. This allows for copious amounts of face time with professors and fellow students. Professors offer intensive feedback on every assignment. Our ultimate goal is to train the next generation of great journalists to change the world.

We don’t assign textbooks that are out of date before they are even published. Instead, for every course we create our own interactive textbook, which we constantly update to reflect the relentless change that characterizes the world we live in. And we commission professional journalists to create interactive modules—cultivating sources and building source networks, fact-checking, combing through business filings to find great stories, digging up hard-to-find information online, information security, and even surviving as a photojournalist in a conflict zone.

Before class you’ll conduct research and actually report from your town or city, recording interviews and gathering facts. Then you’ll write stories on a wide variety of topics and in a range of styles, or shoot and edit video or create podcast segments. During class, you’ll workshop your assignments to get them ready for our program’s news site. You’ll debate ideas, ask questions, raise issues, and take turns acting as the publication’s executive editor. As with most professional media companies today, you’re only a click away from your editors and fellow reporters.

 

Courses

Breaking News - Man at computer desk with map overlayed behind him

Reporting the News

Choose a beat and start reporting—then publish your work on our online publication.

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Person writing at a desk on a laptop

Feature Writing

Use your words: learn to captivate and enthrall readers with vivid storytelling.

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Books on a desk

Long-Form Narrative

Read great works of journalism, then write your own.

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Podcasting - Photo of Microphone in front of podcasting software

Audio Storytelling

Learn how to produce your own podcasts and share them with the world.

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Man wearing black and white striped shirt looking at board with notes

Investigative Reporting

Chase leads, dig dirt, sift through data, and follow the money.

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Books on a shelf

Law & Ethics in American Journalism

History, ethics, law—learn how to navigate murky waters.

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Note: All classes meet once a week from 7-10 pm ET.

View All Courses

 

Meet Our Students

 

To study journalism at NYU is like winning the golden ticket in Willy Wonka. I feel honored to be the first Arab-American in the program, allowing me to give the world a glimpse of the phenomenal achievements and progressive changes in the region.

Sabal Almadi | Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Public Relations Specialist & Writer, part-time student

The storytelling that I care most about is within the social justice movement—local, grassroots efforts of people trying to make this country better.

Audra | New York, NY

Writer and organizer, full-time student

I am able to build relationships within my classes thanks to our live classroom atmosphere and I really get to know my teachers on a level I never thought was possible.

Lauren | Philadelphia, PA

Photographer, full-time student

I’m always looking for that intersection between medicine and LGBTQ+ rights

Zak | Harrison, NJ

Writer, story editor, former surgical technician, alumnus

Hard work, sleepless nights, tight deadlines mixed with a little bit of stress. But wow, is it fun.

Nicole | New York, NY

National news producer, mom, part-time student

I want to help those who lack a voice. That’s why I want to be a journalist.

Grace | Los Angeles, CA

Journalist, history buff, part-time student

A small island girl with big city dreams of publishing my own magazine!

Nasia | Nassau, BS

Copyeditor, daydreamer, part-time student

My passion project for the past few years has been looking at the impact of media narratives, particularly in rural spaces.

Michelle | Louisville, KY

Journalist, home renovator, full-time student

My line of work now, it sort of has a stigma, working in fashion in general. I’d like to be able to change that.

Lindsay | Jersey City, NJ

Fashion professional, traveler, part-time student

I left my sports career to start a family. Raising two young kids and another on the way, I wanted to bridge the gap between working years, motherhood, and planning for the future.

Tiffany | Vero Beach, FL

Former sports reporter, mom, part-time student

I love telling stories! Our stories make up a big part of who we are, and I want to help people find and tell theirs.

Megan | Madison, WI

Healthcare IT, avid reader, part-time student

 

AJO Alumni Photos

Alumni Profiles

AJO graduates are working all over the media landscape: from breaking news and culture writing, to podcast and video production, to non-profit newsletters, to anchoring local news. Read what they have to say about how the program helped them achieve their career goals.

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Student Work

 
Photojournalist in front of a city
Photo by Nicole Tung '09. Nicole is a photojournalist covering conflict in the Middle East and Asia.

Why Wait?

Your Future Can Be Now

How to apply

 
 

Request more info

If you have further questions about the online master’s degree in journalism, please contact our program director Adam Penenberg or admin team at ajo-admin@nyu.edu. For press inquiries contact James M. Devitt, and read our press release.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

For a student enrolled in a distance education program or course, please reference NYU’s state authorization website for further information detailing the applicable complaint process. NYU’s Master’s in American Journalism Online distance education complaint contact is Allan Corns, and you may reach him at acc13@nyu.edu.