Howard University offers the best historically Black college and university (HBCU) undergraduate journalism program in the country, training students who are ethically and rigorously prepared for wide-ranging careers in digital and broadcast news. Our students are multimedia journalists — reporters, editors, producers and content creators —who write, edit and produce thought-provoking enterprise stories of people and communities of color. Our alumni are Emmy-award winning news anchors, Pulitzer Prize winning reporters and NABJ award-winning managing editors.
Our curriculum offers tracks in Digital and Broadcast Journalism. The program has won four National Academy of Arts & Sciences Student Production Awards, or Student Emmys, in a row for Best Newscast (most recently in 2024). Through partnerships with the department, our students intern each year at The Washington Post, NBC, the Wall Street Journal, Report for America among others.
We are accredited by the Accrediting Council of Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC), the professional accrediting body ensuring high standards in curriculum and student learning outcomes. We are one of eight HBCUs with this accreditation.
Home of the 2025 Society of Professional Journalists Region 2 Best Independent Online Student Publication and Television Breaking News Reporting Awards
Sequence Coordinator, Journalism & Assistant Professor of Digital Storytelling
Welcome from our Sequence Coordinator!
"We empower future journalists who fearlessly tell stories that illuminate truth, challenge injustice, and amplify the voices of the unheard. Building on the rich legacy of Black journalists, we prepare bold storytellers to define the future of media."
Journalism seniors Sabrina McCrear '25 and Trinity Webster-Bass '25 were named the 2025 Digital and Broadcast Student Exemplars respectively, for overall academic excellence in the journalism undergraduate program. The awards were given at the Department of Media, Journalism and Film Awards Ceremony on Thursday, May 8 as part of Howard University's graduation calendar of events celebrating the Class of 2025.
Sabrina McCrear delivers remarks after receiving the award for Digital Exemplar on May 8 (Photo: dominic k. mckenzie)
After graduation, McCrear will join the editorial team at the American Journalism of Managed Care as an assistant editor. She also received the excellence award for 101 Magazine and the News Lab Capstone Award.
Webster-Bass will leave for New York to work as an intern with the Investigative Journalism team at the New York Times.
Trinity Webster-Bass delivers a thoughtful thank you address after receiving the Chair's Award. (Photo: dominic k. mckenzie)
She also received the Howard University News Service - Broadcast award, Annenberg Honors Program award, the White House Correspondent Association Scholarship and the coveted Chair's Award, given by chair of the Department of Media, Journalism and Film, Prof. Ingrid Sturgis.
Other honorees included Serenity Armstrong '25, recipient of the Robert Asher Award, given in honor of Robert Asher, late Washington Post editor and instructor of the copyediting course at Howard and Kyle Fisher '25, recipient of the JP Morgan Chase Emerging Journalist Award.
The Cathy Hughes School of Communications (CHSOC) will continue its graduation celebrations on Friday, May 9 at 12:00pm at Burr Gym. Dr. Rochelle Ford, former president of Dillard University and former associate dean of CHSOC, will serve as speaker for the event.
Journalism Professor is 2025 NABJ Educator of the Year
Journalism Professor, Dr. Yanick Rice Lamb, is 2025 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) JournalismEducator of the Year!
She is the editorial director of the Howard University News Service, recent winners of the Society of Professional Journalists Region 2 Best Independent Online Student Publication and is a former director of the Howard University Multicultural Media Academy.
Dr. Rice Lamb is a former chair of the Department of Media, Journalism and Film and holds a Ph.D. from Howard University.
She will be honored at the Salute to Excellence Awards Gala at the NABJ Convention in August.
Congratulations, Dr. Rice Lamb!
Journalism Students Accepted into MIT Science Journalism Fellowship
Two Journalism seniors, Davis Dailey and Donovan McNeal, are two of three Howard University students selected as part of the 2026 class of the HBCU Science Journalism Fellowship at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Fellows will visit the MIT campus this summer for a week-long summer camp. Over a year-long period, both students will be paired with mentors who will mentor them through pitching and writing stories for national science platforms.
Congratulations to the Spring '24 cohort of the Capstone NewsVision Broadcast Journalism class, winners of two 2023-2024 Student Emmy Awards! The Capital Emmys Student Production Awards were announced on November 21 by the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
This is the fourth year in a row the program has won the Student Emmy for Best Newscast!
Seniors Kyle Fisher and Donovan McNeal represented Howard University at the CNN Academy Newsroom Simulation in Abu Dhabi, UAE in December! This follows a recent CNN Breaking News Academy in Atlanta in October. The students were accompanied by Prof. Jennifer Thomas, former CNN executive producer. Howard was the only HBCU to attend the simulation.
Photo: Kyle Fisher, Prof. Thomas and Donovan McNeal pose for a photo at CNN HQ in Atlanta in October.
More than 80 faculty & students covered the 2024 Election
(Photo: Davis Dailey)
The work is published on the Howard University News Service (HUNS). The website partners with more than 200 Black press outlets across the country through the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), republishing our coverage of national and local events in and around the Washington area, including Congress and the White House. A five-hour long broadcast produced by the Journalism program was simulcast on NewsOne, iWomanTV and on Howard University digital platforms on Election Day. The capstone broadcast class also produced a 30-min newscast from the studios of WHUT TV. Read journal articles written by Dr. Rice Lamb, Prof. Sturgis & Prof. Thomas on HUNS's 2008 and 2014 coverage.
Digital Journalism senior wins Planet Forward Storyfest Award
Kayla Smernoff won Best Written Story for her article Understanding the Demographic Discrepancies of Park Visitorship, chronicling the historical legacy of Black people's exclusions from America's public spaces. Planet Forward is a project founded by award-winning journalist Frank Sesno and hosted at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs -- honoring excellent environmental storytelling by college students.
About Kayla's story, the judges said "This story explores the historical legacy of bias that deters people from visiting National Parks sites. It sets itself apart with the quality of writing, the depth of reporting and the thorough research into the cultural differences that shape how Black Americans and other people of color view efforts to preserve the natural world."
Digital Journalism student is a Fellow at The Washington Post
Juan Benn Jr. (he/him) is a fellow at The Washington Post for the 2024 academic year. He is assigned to the Local desk and covers stories about people and events in the DMV. He is from Knoxville, Tennessee.
"[I am blessed to] work at such a prestigious newspaper before I even cross the stage. Everything I have worked for and have been taught over the years has prepared me for this moment," he said.
Benn is also the managing editor at The Hilltop, the oldest Black collegiate newspaper in the United States.
Broadcast Journalism student reports from the Yard on Election Day
Trinity Webster-Bass (she/her), a senior Broadcast Journalism major, was reporting on the Yard for NewsVision, the Fall 2024 capstone newscast which aired on WHUT TV, a PBS station, on Election Day.
Digital Journalism student published by The Guardian
Asia Alexander (she/her), a senior Digital Journalism major, was published by The Guardian recently. Her story "Somber mood at Kamala Harris’s alma mater Howard University as hopes for victory dim" chronicled election night on the Yard.
Alexander was an editorial intern at Forbes Magazine during the summer of 2024.
Broadcast Journalism student published by ESSENCE.com
Rachel Bunch (she/her), a senior Broadcast Journalism major, was published by ESSENCE.com recently. Her story, "Howard’s Heartbeat: The Yard Brings Together Alumni, Students And Supporters For Kamala Harris", highlighted the importance of the watch party for Vice President Harris being hosted at her alma mater.
“I am grateful to my professors for encouraging me and providing me with opportunities to work with organizations I have admired growing up. It's a full circle feeling," she said.
Skyler Winston (she/her), a senior Broadcast Journalism major, was invited to appear on CNN recently as part of a panel discussing student impressions on the 2024 Election. From the Bay Area in California, she is the political editor at The Hilltop, the oldest Black collegiate paper in the United States.
Broadcast Journalism student named White House HBCU Scholar
Ashley Anderson (she/her), a junior Broadcast Journalism major, is a 2024 White House HBCU Scholar, as named by the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Howard students receive HBCU Science Journalism Fellowship
Our journalism students Mykal Bailey and Sabrina McCrear were selected by the HBCU Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT to participate in a new fellowship that provides students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities with training, mentorship, and early career support to do reporting on science, health, and environmental issues.
Faculty on the Frontlines of Truth
Journalism Professor Hosts Talk with Former Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
Held at the MLK Library in Washington, D.C., Dr. Yanick Rice Lamb, professor in the Department of Media, Journalism and Film, spoke with former Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about her journey to the podium and her experience as the first woman of color and openly gay person to serve as press secretary. The event was held as part of the DC Public Library's Public Square Speaker Series.
Dr. Stacey Patton, Prof. dominic k. mckenzie, Prof. Nikole Hannah Jones, Dr. Yanick Rice Lamb and Dr Ingrid Sturgis at the Cathy Hughes School of Communications Graduation on Friday, May 9.
Prof. Jennifer Thomas, associate professor, speaks to the audience at the Fall 2024 Capstone Presentation at WHUT Studios in November.
Dr. Yanick Rice Lamb, professor, speaks to the audience at the Fall 2024 Capstone Presentation at WHUT Studios in November.
Dr. Christine McWhorter, assistant professor of broadcast journalism, pauses for a photo at the Democratic National Convention in Summer 2024.
She was one of two faculty advisors who traveled with students as they covered the event for HU News Service.
Chair of the Department of Media, Journalism and Film, Prof. Ingrid Sturgis (R), pauses for a photo at the retirement celebration event for Dean Emerita Gracie Lawson Borders (L) during the Spring 2024 semester.
Dr. Yanick Rice Lamb, Prof. Dominic McKenzie, Prof. Jennifer Thomas and Chair Ingrid Sturgis pause for a photo at the end of the Fall 2024 Capstone Presentations at the WHUT TV Studio in November.
History of the Journalism Program at Howard University
1971
The Cathy Hughes School of Communications traces its history back to 1971 when the SOC was founded with Tony Brown as dean.
1971 - 1974
WHUR-FM debuted in 1971 and three years later, one of MJFC's predecessors, the Department of Radio, Television and Film (RTVF), established student-run radio station WHBC
1982
The Community News newspaper began publishing, and the CHSOC relocated to the renovated C.B. Powell Building.
1985-1993
Under the leadership of Dean Orlando Taylor (1985 to 1993), the Walter Annenberg Foundation donated a $2 million endowment to begin the Annenberg Honors Program. The School also established the Howard Journal of Communications; "News Vision," a television news magazine produced by journalism students; and the student-run Howard University Film Organization.
1986
The Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) accredited the then existing Departments of Journalism and RTVF – enabling those departments to join the select few communications programs in America and abroad to be endorsed by this rigorous assessment/accreditation body
Mid-1990s
Four (4) school-based media outlets began: Glasshouseradio.com, the first all-talk, online radio channel produced for and by Howard students & faculty; District Chronicles, a weekly community newspaper; BlackCollegeView.com (now HUNewsService.com); and 101 Magazine (101Magazine.net).
1993 - 2011
Dr. Jannette L. Dates became School's third dean in 1993, serving until 2011. Under her leadership, the Departments of Journalism and RTVF received ACEJMC re-accreditation in 2003 and 2009. Time Warner, Inc. invested $2 million to establish RTVF’s Time Warner Endowed Chair; media titans Bill Duke, Suzanne DePasse and Cathy Hughes served in this capacity.
2013 - 2017
Dr. Gracie Lawson-Borders became the CHSOC's fourth dean. The new Department of Media, Journalism and Film (combining parts of the former Departments of Journalism and RTVF) welcomed its first students in the class of 2017.
2019
Journalism Professor Ingrid Sturgis becomes chair of the Department of Media, Journalism and Film
2020
In September 2020, Howard University and Craig Newmark announced that Craig Newmark Philanthropies made a $2.5 million gift to support aspiring journalism students. The Craig Newmark Journalism Endowed Opportunity Scholarship Program ($1.5 million) supports journalism majors with demonstrated financial need (with priority given to juniors and seniors) and The Craig Newmark Journalism Endowed Student Experience Fund enables professional development opportunities that are vital to students to get jobs after college and to advance in their careers.
Journalism (Digital and Broadcast) | Undergraduate
