Master’s Degree in Investigative Journalism

The Cronkite School’s Master of Arts in Investigative Journalism is the first graduate degree devoted exclusively to investigative journalism in the country. Led by five Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, the program will prepare students to launch high-level investigative reporting careers at the nation’s most prestigious news organizations. This interdisciplinary program is designed for career-switchers and early or mid-career journalists, particularly those who have some expertise in other fields such as law, health, business, science and the arts. The program aims to combine that knowledge with investigative techniques and multimedia skills to produce stories with public impact.

Application Requirements

The graduate application opens Sept. 1. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. Applications received before Dec. 1 are given priority for both admission and funding. The final application deadline is June 1.

Applicants are eligible to apply to the program if they have earned a bachelor's or master's degree from a regionally accredited institution.

They must have a minimum of a 3.00 cumulative GPA (scale is 4.00 = "A") in the last 60 hours of a student's first bachelor's degree program, or applicants must have a minimum of a 3.00 cumulative GPA (scale is 4.00 = "A") in an applicable master's degree program.

All applicants must submit:

• Graduate admission application and application fee
• Official transcripts
• GRE scores, with the verbal score being particularly important to the journalism school's graduate committee
• Three letters of recommendation
• Personal statement of interest (350 to 500 words in length)
• Resume
• Proof of English proficiency

Classes and Professional Experiences

The Cronkite master’s degree in investigative journalism is a 36-credit hour program that can be completed in 12, 15 or 20 months, depending on a student’s choice of experience. Based at the school’s Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, the coursework for the program is divided into four areas:

Journalism Core (14 credits)

• Journalism Skills (“Bootcamp”). 8 credits. Team-taught, this immersive experience covers the fundamental skills for reporting, writing, editing and producing news on all platforms.
• Ethics and History of Journalism. 3 credits. This seminar explores the history, principles, values and ethics of journalism.
• Media Law. 3 credits. An examination of the legal aspects of press freedoms, this course focuses on the First Amendment and applied media law for working journalists.

Cronkite Investigative Courses (7 credits)

• Data Journalism. 3 credits. Taught by Knight Chair and Pulitzer Prize-winning data journalist Sarah Cohen, the course is an intensive and hands-on exploration on the best uses of data to tell in-depth and investigative stories. Students learn how to find, access, clean and analyze data using cutting-edge technologies and techniques.
• Accountability Journalism. 1 credit. Taught by Weil Family Professor of Journalism Leonard Downie Jr., the former executive editor of The Washington Post, this course explores the development, mission, expansion, practice and impact of investigative reporting and its role in holding power and influence accountable in a democracy. Regular guest speakers for the class include Bob Woodward.
• Techniques of Investigative Reporting. 3 credits. Taught by Edith Kinney Gaylord Visiting Professor in Investigative Journalism Walter V. Robinson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning head of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, this course transforms student teams into small investigative reporting units throughout the semester. Students learn how to identify and vet high-impact projects that could expose serious wrongdoing, focusing on public records, databases, in-depth interviews and how to conceptualize, organize and tell these stories on multiple platforms. The projects are distributed by The Arizona Republic and could be distributed nationally through the USA Today Network. This work is a precursor to the immersive Howard Center newsroom capstone.

Interdisciplinary Coursework (6 credits)

This master’s program includes courses taught by top professors in other disciplines specifically for master’s students studying investigative reporting. Under this design, students learn a wide array of different types of scientific inquiry and research methodologies from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities and professional disciplines such as law, business and engineering.

Courses in this area are one credit each, and are redesigned each year to leverage cutting edge tactics and technology. Interdisciplinary offerings in the 2019-2020 academic year include:

• Interviewing Vulnerable Populations
• Geographic Data Analysis and Mapping
• Financial Statement Analysis
• Drawing as Seeing: The Art of Observation
• Statistical Intuition and Inference
• Medical interviewing

Capstone: Howard Center for Investigative Journalism (9 credits)

All of the previous coursework and field experiences lead up to the students’ capstone semester in the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism newsroom. Students apply all of their prior learning in this unique professional reporting environment, working with and learning from the Howard Center faculty and staff and producing investigative stories of national and international import while learning how to effectively collaborate and problem-solve together. Investigative journalism produced by the Howard Center is distributed for digital and print publication and TV and radio broadcast through Cronkite School relationships with news organizations such as The Washington Post, USA Today, NBC News, PBS NewsHour and the Center for Public Integrity.

Optional Summer Experience: Carnegie-Knight News21

Howard Center students have the option of participating in the Carnegie-Knight News21 program. Led by Pulitzer-winning investigative journalist Jacquee Petchel, about 30 students from more than a dozen universities enroll first in a spring semester seminar exploring that year’s topic. In the summer program, the News21 fellows gather in the main newsroom in Phoenix for 10 weeks and travel the country reporting, investigating and producing in-depth, multimedia journalism on the topic. Past projects have included data-driven investigations on voter fraud and voting rights, water quality in the U.S., post-9/11 veterans, marijuana laws and guns in America.

The News21 investigations have earned numerous top national awards, including the Robert F. Kennedy journalism award, the student Edward R. Murrow award and honors from Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Online News Association, the National Association of Black Journalists and Society of Professional Journalists, and more.