The Journalism and Public Interest Communication (JPIC) Program helps students develop strong analytical and multiplatform communication skills in order to make a positive difference in the world.
In Service of Truth-Telling, Democracy, Equity
Journalism is at the heart of this program. All individuals working in the public interest—including public relations professionals—should possess skills that reflect the classic journalistic values of accuracy, fairness, ethical decision making, engaging storytelling, and the ability to get to and present verifiable fact.
We are a program for students who intend to work in support of a democratic and equitable society, whether in traditional journalism settings, or in communication positions in, for example, non-profit, education, public health, and government agency settings across the United States and the globe.
The need for journalistic skills employed in service of truth-telling has never been more critical. This program is for students who want to make a difference through journalism wherever journalism needs to happen.
The JPIC program, which is an undergraduate option within the Department of Communication, trains students in the production of engaging, rigorously reported storytelling to help communities of all kinds discern truth from misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda.
Courses and Capstone Experiences
Through our courses and capstone experiences, the JPIC program at the UW offers students the unique chance to explore—and actively be a part of—the news and information ecosystems in Seattle’s vibrant media scene. Core courses such as News Lab and Media Responsibility in a Diverse Society offer immersive experiences that enable our students to grapple with real-world challenges. In upper division electives, including visual storytelling; public relations; communication, power, and difference; rhetoric; data reporting; and narrative journalism, students build expertise while also developing their own professional values. All students also take advanced courses in media ethics, law, and communication research.
Our Premier Internship Program places top students at leading media organizations and within communications teams across the Seattle metropolitan area. Each summer, our International Reporting Program sends up to six students overseas to work as interns for English-language news organizations in Asia, Africa and a Spanish-language country. And for more than 40 years, our unique Government Communication Program has dispatched students to Olympia, where they cover state government for northwest news outlets during the annual state legislative session.
Graduates Making a Difference
Alumni from our program work in myriad news and communication organizations across the globe—in traditional newsrooms, in the tech industry, in public health agencies, the travel industry, in government communication, and philanthropy, to name just a few. Alumni employers have consistently included, for example, The Seattle Times, Microsoft, Crosscut, KING5, The Associated Press, Expedia, and NPR affiliates.
Students who complete the program graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication: Journalism and Public Interest Communication.