Mizzou's Unique Journalism Program Offers More Than Your Average Media Studies

When I traveled down from somewhere in Iowa to Columbia, Missouri, who would've thought I would find such a unique journalism studies program as what I am about to describe, especially since I'm even considering going into such a program?

Turns out that great surprises do come around in the most unexpected places, whether expected or not. And the prestigious school of journalism at the University of Missouri at Columbia, one of the first - and what I may soon consider one of the all-time greatest - in the entire world, is just one of them.

For it is here, at the college facility nicknamed "mizzou" (don't ask me why), that IK found one of the most special of all journalism programs I have ever heard of.

Although I was unable to access one of the classroom facilites of the so-called "J-school" at this ewxtra-special university here in central Missouri (and besides, I wasn't even surprised considering that it's graduationj day at the school), my old childhood friend Dominique Renoit (roughly pronounced "ron-watt") described the facility, located in Gannet Hall, as a professional journalism training facility with plenty of computers and having nice facilities for use by the program's students.

And why not, especially considering the age of the J-school itself?

That's because Mizzou's journalism programs are not only the oldest in the nation, but also the oldest in the world. Founded in 1908 "to strengthen the effectiveness of public communications in a democratic society," the Missouri School of Journalism holds as its mission an effort to prepare its students for carrers in journalism "through an education that combines practical experiences and the study of the liberal arts."

In addition to these excellent facilities for the J-school's students, the university maintains what may be "the only university-owned commercial television station in the United States utilizing its newsroom as a working lab for students." Local NBC affiliate KOMU-TV, owned directly by the university itself, is one of several real-world media outlets operated directly by the university itself.

In fact, KOMU "is the only university-owned commercial television station in the United States utilizing its newsroom as a working lab for students," according to the station website. Students of the J-school originally served as interns at the station, but today are able to serve as reporters, producers, writers - almost everything a television newscast requires to function. In fact, this option started becoming available to students as early as 1970. Additionally, as early as a few years ago, an all-digital, completely tapeless server-based news delivery system allows students to use the latest technology for delivering reports for the station's newscasts.

Even the station itself has evolved with the times. With the advent of digital broadcasting, a state-of-the-art, completely tapeless digital news and programming distribution server has provided students with the latest in on-air report delivery services. Additionally, the station is staffed 24/7 to monitor all aspects of the station signal, in case something goes wrong.

In addition to student reporters and writers, the station employs a professional meteorologist and at least a couple of contracted weather anchors for delivering the stations weather reports. Additionally, two contracted anchors are on hand to deliver the sports headlines.

In addition to the television news opportunities afforded to J-school students, the university operates a real-world advertising services agency, a local public radio station, and even distributes an international trade publication for journalists across the world. A complete list of real-world media outlets offered by the university is available on the J-school website. All of these outlets are available for use by students for building real-world media experience, and many participants in these facets of the J-school program have moved on to working at the national and global levels.

With all these options available to journalism students at Mizzou, it comes as no surprise that it has become one of my premier choices for furthering my collegiate studies for a possible journalism career. I hope that sometime in the future I may get that chance, and from what I've seen in my short tour of the J-school's offerings it is a well-thought-out choice for one of my selections for my future collegiate studies.

For more information about the University of Missouri-Columbia's journalism studies program, visit http://www.journalism.missouri.edu/.