Broadcasting, Telecommunications & Mass Media

Betsy Leebron Tutelman, Ph.D., Chair

215-204-5401

betsy@temple.edu

Jack Klotz, Assistant Chair

215-204-5401

jklotz@temple.edu

Department Office:
Annenberg Hall Room 205

Undergraduate Contact:

Amy Caples, Director of Recruiting
215-204-9717

caples@temple.edu

www.temple.edu/btmm

The Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media expands students' knowledge and skills to create, analyze and manage media content and organizations.  With the urban and global communities as their living laboratories, students draw on their creativity, entrepreneurship, intellectual curiosity and analytical abilities to navigate digital media in our global society.

Theory and practice are integrated into all areas of study in the major.  BTMM students learn how to produce, evaluate and manage media content for traditional and emerging media in a variety of genres including information (news and documentary), music, comedy, sports, drama, and commercial and noncommercial persuasion campaigns.  They study institutions that create, distribute and analyze media products (e.g., production studios, television and radio networks and audience measurement companies) and learn how to create and operate successful media businesses.  BTMM students learn to think purposefully and critically about media, and examine media roles in history, culture and society from many perspectives.  And they learn how to act ethically as they interact with the world both in careers in media institutions and as citizens.

The BTMM curriculum features courses in three areas:

1)  Media Production & Performance:  Coursework introduces students to conceptual and technical tools employed to create media content for the digital world.  Students who study in this area develop strong professional skills as well as critical and analytical abilities that enable them to evaluate content for various media.  They seek career opportunities as producers, writers, videographers, editors, recording engineers, web site designers and talent in traditional and emerging media.

2)  Media Business & Entrepreneurship:  The practical and ethical ways to start, operate or participate in an enterprise that creates, produces, and/or distributes media content.  Students who take these courses seek career opportunities as media entrepreneurs, media production freelancers, owners/operators of production companies or recording studios, web site developers, or founders/owners of a station, channel or network.

3)  Media Analysis:  Critical understanding of the roles of media in contemporary life, including media technology as a cultural force; the nature of media institutions, audiences, and texts; and the media as a source of shared social identities.  Students who take these courses are prepared for careers as media consultants, editorial or technical writers, community activists, corporate communication producers and market research analysts.

The flexible degree requirements allow students to emphasize one or more areas in the major, including:

-  TV Production

-  Radio Production

-  Media Performance

-  Web Design

-  Recording Industry

-  Media Management

-  Media Entrepreneurship

-  Analysis of Social Processes in Media

-  Analysis of Media Institutions

Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

Summary Requirements:

- University requirements:

• New freshman students starting in the 2008-2009 academic year are required to complete the General Education (GenEd) curriculum.
• New transfer students starting in the 2008-2009 academic year are required to complete the Core curriculum, including the Library Skills Test, also known as the Temple Information Literacy Tutorial (TILT).
• All students must take a minimum of two writing-intensive courses, one of which must be at the 3000+ level. Writing-intensive courses are identified with the code "WI" in the RCI column.

- School of Communications and Theater requirements.

General Requirements:

• Minimum of 40 credits in BTMM / maximum of 54 credits in BTMM
• Maximum of 71 credits in the School of Communications and Theater
• Each course that fulfills a requirement for the major must be passed with a C- or better
• All prerequisites must be met unless exempted in writing
• No more than 20 transfer credits may be applied to the BTMM major
• Minimum GPA of 2.0 in the major
• No more than 8 credits in Kinesiology and Dance activities courses

Course Requirements:

• BTMM Foundation Courses: 1011 (Mass Communication Theory), 1021 (Mass Media and Society) and 1041 (Media in Everyday Life) must be completed within the first 45 credits at Temple University.  Students transferring in 45 or more credits need complete only two of the three BTMM foundation courses; at least one BTMM foundation course must be completed at Temple, unless exempted by the chair of the department.

• At least four courses numbered from 3000- 4999, excluding Internship, Practicum, Independent Study and Independent Project
• At least one of the following: Internship (BTMM 4785) or Practicum (BTMM 4596, 4597, 4787, or 4887)
• BTMM 4039: Senior Seminar taken during final 30 credits

Internships and Senior Seminar:

The academic experience for all BTMM majors culminates with an internship or practicum and the Senior Seminar.  Together, these courses provide students the opportunity to explore their potential professional futures.

Internship opportunities exist locally (at virtually every media-oriented organization in the greater Philadelphia region), nationally (in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other U.S. media markets), and internationally (in London, England, and Tokyo, Japan, through the School of Communications and Theater's International Studies program).  To qualify for an internship, students must have Junior or Senior standing, a minimum of 2.5 GPA in the major, and passing grades (C-) in the BTMM foundation courses.

There are four practicum options.  In the Broadcast Production Practicum (BTMM 4596), students produce a weekly live-to-tape TV newsmagazine that airs on local cable TV.  The Sports Production Practicum (BTMM 4597) is a weekly sports program produced by students.  A summer offering, TV Production Workshop (BTMM 4787), also fulfills the requirement for a practicum and involves the production of various content also for broadcast on local cable.  The Radio Practicum (BTMM 4887) involves work at Temple University's jazz and classical music radio station, WRTI 90.1 FM, a National Public Radio affiliate.

Suggested Semester-by-Semester Plan for BTMM Courses