Business Communication Focus Program

In this course, students will gain a fundamental understanding of business and learn how to write about it. Students will explore how various aspects of business, finance and corporate leadership relate to individuals, communities, companies, governments and world events, and they will learn how to write about that impact clearly and concisely.

Designed to provide the larger business context for students anticipating careers in advertising, public relations and other media industries, the course teaches the vocabulary and basic concepts of marketing as it will be practiced.

This course is designed to build on your basic knowledge of various aspects of the economy and give you the tools and skills you need to synthesize sometimes complex information, understand how people are impacted by this information and communicate both the information and the impact clearly and accurately to an audience.

Methods and tactics of covering businesses for mass communication. Why and how companies operate and how to write stories about corporate news from public records and other sources.

Role of media in United States society and effects on public perceptions of business. Relationship of business press and corporate America. Current issues in business journalism.

An introduction to basic statistics and numerical and mathematical literacy, as well as a look at professional data-driven journalism projects. Students who successfully complete this course will be able to acquire, organize, analyze and present data to a general news audience.

This course teaches students how a news wire operates. Students will report stories about North Carolina companies on a real-time basis and market those stories to state media via e-mail and a website. Honors version available.

Learn how to oversee and manage a business news wire, including distribution of content to media organizations, managing an e-mail newsletter and handling social media. Also involves some reporting and writing. Honors version available.

The course will focus on the changing economics affecting 21st-century news organizations and the economic drivers of other content providers such as music companies, the film industry, online aggregators and commerce sites for lessons that can be applied across industry segments. Honors version available.