Journalism Major
Back to Majors, Minors & Academic Programs
About the Major
Journalism serves an essential role in democracy by keeping citizens informed about their world. Students are taught the skills necessary to seek facts, interpret data, and write, produce and report news in a transparent manner for print, broadcast, online and mobile channels.
Jobs in Journalism
- Reporter/writer
- Editor
- Producer
- Podcast host
- Researcher
Past Elon Journalism Internships
- 98.5 The Sports Hub
- Beverly Hills Living Magazine
- NBC Universal
- WXII-News Channel 12
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Related Majors
Versatile New York Times reporter already has a career for the ages
Emmanuel Morgan is in his mid-20s but has already worked for a trifecta of big-city newspapers as a sports reporter: the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times. He covered the death of Kobe Bryant, interviewed Colin Kaepernick and reported from the press box of multiple Super Bowls.
And the 2019 Elon graduate credits much of his early success in journalism to his time at the university — in particular, his experiences writing and editing for Elon News Network.
The hundreds of stories I wrote in college laid the foundation for my writing style, helped me find the types of stories I like to report, allowed me to make mistakes in a controlled setting and gave me a better understanding of the editing process.
“It gave me practical experience and helped build my portfolio to get the positions I’ve had and prepared me for what I do every day,” he said in February 2023. “The hundreds of stories I wrote in college laid the foundation for my writing style, helped me find the types of stories I like to report, allowed me to make mistakes in a controlled setting and gave me a better understanding of the editing process.”
Morgan majored in journalism with a minor in political science, and over his four years, he rose the ranks at the Elon News Network, taking the reins as its executive director his senior year.
While his initial goal was to cover the Carolina Panthers for the Charlotte Observer after graduating in 2019, he ended up landing a summer internship with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, covering every sport in the city with a strong concentration on the Falcons NFL team.
In September 2019, he made a shift in his career going to work for the Los Angeles Times, at first covering hard news and business as well as some sports news, including the death of Kobe Bryant. When the pandemic hit, he pivoted to stories about COVID-19 and racial justice protests. In the summer of 2020, as sports returned, he switched to the sports realm full-time, covering the Rams and Chargers.
In March 2021, Morgan took a job as a sports reporter at The New York Times and his star quickly rose. He had the tenacity to race to UCLA when Colin Kaepernick held an impromptu workout — and got an exclusive interview. He was covering the Monday Night Football game in January 2023 when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field — and wound up stationed in Cincinnati for a week to cover Hamlin’s recovery. After The New York Times disbanded its sports department in the fall of 2023, he joined the Times’ Culture section as a general assignment reporter focusing on the intersection of sports and pop culture (think: the Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift phenomenon).
Morgan says he couldn’t have made such high-level journalism connections if it wasn’t for the conferences he attended while a student at Elon. The conferences, he explained, “helped me develop my networking skills, meet important people and also create a group of friends nationwide within the industry.”
Further, the Elon journalism professors who challenged him in the classroom and forced him out of his comfort zone — and were always willing to help when he needed advice — were key to his ability to be a well-rounded journalist. They ingrained in him the importance of being as versatile as possible because it would make him more marketable within the profession, he said.
In a little more than a week in 2022, he was able to write three very different Super Bowl stories for the Times: a technical football piece on Rams receiver Cooper Kupp’s athletic prowess; a hard-news business story on the NFL’s new West Coast headquarters; and a feature story on youth football in Los Angeles.
“Those three stories were all, in some way, about the Super Bowl, but they looked at an aspect of the event through three distinct angles,” Morgan said. “I’m proud of how I juggled those all in a little over a week, and it reinforced what my professors taught me.”
Morgan said that if he could give his younger self advice, it would be to not get discouraged.
“There were a few weeklong stretches during my junior and senior years when I was getting rejection letters from internships and jobs that I really wanted and felt I was qualified for,” he said. “But the opportunities I got instead gave me the experiences and connections that led me to where I am now.”
As for his future, he said: “The only things I can control are my work ethic, my ability to stay humble, my hunger to keep learning and the ability to take constructive feedback and then apply it to my next story or project. I just want to keep getting better and take noticeable, concrete steps in my progression, and the rest will take care of itself.”
Did You Know?
- Students learn to report by finding and interviewing sources and interpreting data to tell fair, informative and compelling stories. They are provided with the knowledge and technical skills used in contemporary media platforms and an understanding of legal and ethical professional practices.
- Students can get involved in student media in their first year, learning to write, edit, shoot video, take photographs, record audio, and produce multimedia stories. Options include a student newspaper, an evening newscast, an FM radio station and a news website with dedicated social media.
- To promote academic depth, all students must complete a minor, a double major outside of the School of Communications, or a semester abroad in an Elon-approved program. The school operates a Los Angeles program during spring and summer terms.