Reporting the World
Take the next step in your career with an online master’s degree in journalism from NYU
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Faculty
Adam L. Penenberg
Associate Professor | Director, Online Master’s in Journalism Program | Director, Undergraduate Studies
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
Get Published
Collaborate with classmates from around the world on our publication, The Click—written, edited, and produced by you.
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
Reporting the News
Choose a beat and start reporting—then publish your work on our online publication.
Feature Writing
Use your words: learn to captivate and enthrall readers with vivid storytelling.
Law & Ethics in American Journalism
History, ethics, law—learn how to navigate murky waters.
Note: All classes meet once a week from 7-10 pm ET.
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.
Program News
AJO Grad Michael McILwee Wins Award From the Florida Association of Broadcast Journalists
McILwee (AJO 2022) is the Digital Executive Producer at WCTV in Tallahassee. The award was given for best Website/Digital.
AJO Grad Robert Davis Wins Two Awards From the Society of Professional Journalists
The 2022 grad won first place for enterprise reporting on homelessness and third place for reporting on climate change.
AJO Adjunct Professor Claire Tighe Produced a Podcast That Took Second in the 89th Annual National Headliner Awards
The podcast, Unsealed: The Tylenol Murders, was created by the Chicago Tribune. The Headliner Awards recognizes journalistic achievement in the Communications Industry.
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
This program requires 30 credits, which is at least six fewer than the other journalism programs at NYU. You’ll take seven 4-credit courses and one 2-credit course. You can look up the latest information regarding tuition and fees by academic year on our NYU Bursar’s Website. As an online student you won’t have to move to New York, no need for a visa for international students, and you can continue to work through our flexible part-time options while earning a master’s degree from a prestigious university.
Nearly all students in the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, like the majority of MA students in other departments at NYU, are financing their own graduate study through external funding awards or student loans. Information on external funding opportunities and student loans follows.
To receive federal or state financial aid you must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or permanent resident of the United States. If you would like to learn more about funding options that may benefit international students at NYU, please visit the Financial Aid and Scholarships website.
Payment Plans defer tuition or allow you to pay tuition monthly.
Student Loans: U.S. applicants interested in federal student loans should fill out the FAFSA application after January 1 of the year in which they are seeking admission: fafsa.ed.gov.
Detailed information on filing the FAFSA application is found on-line at the NYU Financial Aid website. The NYU Federal School Code is 002785. At the graduate level, federal financial aid consists primarily of federal subsidized and unsubsidized student loans.
International applicants interested in student loans can find sources of loans available to international students at the NYU Financial Aid website. The website also lists other resources available to international applicants and students.
Payments from students living outside the United States must be in U.S. dollars.
Please visit our How to Apply page.
The online program is flexible. Students may complete the program in as little as 1 year, or take their time, as long as they graduate within 5 years. Visit this page to see some potential pathways to completing the program in 1, 1.5, 2, or 3 years.
- Our live class meetings happen over Zoom, so you will need:
- Internet-connection – broadband wired or wireless (3G or 4G/LTE)
- Speakers and a microphone – built-in or USB plug-in or wireless Bluetooth
- A webcam or HD webcam – built-in or USB plug-in
- Or, a HD cam or HD camcorder with video capture card
- Supported Operating Systems
- Mac OS X with MacOS 10.7 or later
- Windows 10
- Windows 8 or 8.1
- Windows 7
- Windows Vista with SP1 or later
- Windows XP with SP3 or later
- Ubuntu 12.04 or higher
- Mint 17.1 or higher
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 or higher
- Oracle Linux 6.4 or higher
- CentOS 6.4 or higher
- Fedora 21 or higher
- OpenSUSE 13.2 or higher
- ArchLinux (64-bit only)
- Supported Tablet and Mobile Devices
- Surface PRO 2 running Win 8.1
- Surface PRO 3 running Win 10
- iOS and Android devices
- Blackberry devices
- Supported Browsers
- Windows: IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Safari5+
- Mac: Safari5+, Firefox, Chrome
- Linux: Firefox, Chrome
Other than an internet-connected device for virtual class meetings (see previous question about technical requirements), you do not need to purchase additional equipment. You can use whatever equipment you already own, or we’ll teach you about shooting and editing video on your smartphone. If you don’t own one, we can work around that. Our motto is: whatever works.
No journalism experience is required. The program considers applicants holding a bachelor’s degree in any field. As long as you have an interest in writing and reporting, can produce a writing sample and provide three references who are familiar with your work, you’re on the right track.
English-as-a-second-language help can be provided for those who need it. Non-native English speakers must take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) OR the IELTS (International English Language Testing System). The TOEFL or IELTS requirement is waived if your undergraduate or graduate degree was completed at an institution where the language of instruction is English.
GSAS recommends that applicants achieve a minimum TOEFL score of 100 on the internet-based test (equivalent to 250 on the computer-based test or 600 on the paper-based test). For the IELTS, a minimum overall band score of at least 7 is recommended.
No, the online masters program does not have a physical location. We serve students from all over the world in a completely virtual environment. All accepted students will receive an NYU student ID in the mail which will grant access to the Bobst Library, if you happen to be in New York City.
The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is not required.
Non-native English speakers must take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) OR the IELTS (International English Language Testing System). The TOEFL or IELTS requirement is waived if your undergraduate or graduate degree was completed at an institution where the language of instruction is English.
GSAS recommends that applicants achieve a minimum TOEFL score of 100 on the internet-based test (equivalent to 250 on the computer-based test or 600 on the paper-based test). For the IELTS, a minimum overall band score of at least 7 is recommended.
NYU journalism graduates go on to work in newsrooms around the world as reporters, editors, producers, anchors, videographers, podcasters, fact-checkers and a plethora of other job titles—this industry is always changing.
If you have questions, please contact our admin team at ajo-admin@nyu.edu.
Yes, the online program is flexible. Students may complete the program in as little as 1 year, or take their time, as long as they graduate within 5 years. Visit this page to see some potential pathways to completing the program in 1,1.5, 2, or 3 years.
No, the courses in the online journalism masters were designed specially for this program.
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.