About Our Program

TheChannels.org - The student news site of Santa Barbara City College

 

Program Description

The profession of journalism has undergone a seismic shift—and the Santa Barbara City College Journalism Program is a leader at the two-year level in preparing students for a changing and exciting future.

Newspapers, formally a print-only medium, have transitioned to the Web, where readership is growing rapidly. Broadcast journalism has also moved online, allowing for more immediate reporting, faster news cycles and public interaction. A pervasive Internet and low-cost mobile devices have exponentially increased the demand for up-to-date news and led to a new class of journalist able to tell stories through hypertext, images, video and sound.

SBCC journalism students learn by doing. Through the award-winning 24/7 site, TheChannels.org, students produce articles in traditional news formats and in the feature and opinion genres. Additionally, they combine photojournalism and video-journalism to create works suitable for viewing on mobile devices. Our students become proficient at leveraging the awesome power of social media to promote their work throughout campus, the community—and the world.

The Journalism Department coordinates its classes and curriculum with English, photography, film and television production, multimedia and graphic design. We welcome majors in those areas who want to work on visual journalism, documentary or non-fiction creative writing projects. Theory courses round out a curriculum that prepares students to transfer and begin their path toward become professional journalists committed to truth-telling, ethical practice and creative craftsmanship.

The department offers an Associate Degree for Transfer in Journalism that is accepted at most CSU campuses that offer journalism degrees. We also offer an associate degree for non-majors, along with a certificate and skills competency award in public relations and photojournalism. SBCC faculty works closely with our counterparts at state universities to ensure the relevance, currency and transferability of all our classes and programs.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

1. Use news judgment to select, produce and publish journalistic content.
2. Practice standard reporting and news gathering techniques.
3. Identify the best medium by which to convey journalistic content.
4. Develop journalistic content in multiple media forms.
5. Identify and practice the role and principles of a free press in a participatory democracy: commitment to accuracy, sound ethics, fairness and context.

Faculty 

Darleen Principe, Department Chair (dprincipe@pipeline.sbcc.edu)
Josh Molina, Intro to Journalism Instructor (jemolina@pipeline.sbcc.edu)
Michael Medel, Dean (mlmedel@pipeline.sbcc.edu)
Julia McHugh Orlosky, Public Relations Instructor (jeorlosky@pipeline.sbcc.edu)
Karin Stellwagen, Photojournalism Instructor (kstellwagen@pipeline.sbcc.edu)
John Rose, The Channels Lab Teaching Assistant (jtrose1@pipeline.sbcc.edu)
Grace Twedt, Administrative Assistant (gtwedt@sbcc.edu)

Honors and Awards

The Channels was established in 1957 and has evolved as a professional-quality college news site. Today, it enjoys a national reputation for excellence.

Semester after semester, The Channels has won top awards from the Associated Collegiate Press, the California Newspaper Publishers Association and the Journalism Association of Community Colleges. Individual Channels staffers also are consistently among the top award winners in regional and statewide journalism competitions.

The Channels’ award-winning work is the direct reflection of Santa Barbara City College’s insistence on  excellence in updated curriculum and technology and faculty leadership. As important are the high quality and intense dedication of the hard-working men and women who join the paper’s staff.