The program in Business and Economic Reporting is interdisciplinary. Students earn 44 credits for the Master of Arts degree and Certificate in Business and Economic Reporting. They receive intensive instruction in the fundamentals of business, finance, and economics. And they take specialized journalism courses in which they report and write on contemporary business issues.

Highlights include:

MBA courses: Students take six MBA courses at NYU's prestigious Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

M. A. Journalism courses: Students take six business journalism courses plus a summer internship.

Internships: Students take a ten-week, full time writing internship during the summer between their second and third semesters. NYU maintains relationships with many of the leading business news publications in New York. Most students also take additional internships during their second and third semesters, for a total of two or three by the time they graduate.

Multimedia: Students learned how to write for all contemporary media, including traditional print, online, video, podcasts, and slide shows.

Training in broadcast journalism: Students interested in a career in broadcasting can take a broadcasting course, subject to availability.

Waiver and replacement of required courses: Students who come to the program with a strong academic background in business, finance, or economics may be waived out of one or more of the required MBA courses. In such cases, students take a more advanced business or economics course instead. The director of the program will make decisions on a case-by-case basis.

The curriculum follows, first Journalism and then MBA courses:


M.A. Courses in Journalism

1. Writing, Research, and Reporting Workshop 1 G54.1021 (4 credits)

The teaching of news writing is divided into two courses given during the first and second semesters of study in the program. In Reporting 1, offered in the fall semester, students learn reporting principles and techniques and work on increasingly challenging in-class assignments. Students also use New York City as a laboratory to report actual business news events, including speeches, company meetings, elections, and courtroom activities. Topics include story structure and organization, writing techniques, news judgment, and the development of sources and story ideas.

2. Writing, Research, and Reporting Workshop 2: Covering Business and Financial News G54.1022 (4 credits)

Reporting 2, offered in the spring semester, focuses on feature writing while continuing development of news writing skills. Students will focus on coverage of business and financial news. Under tight deadline pressure, they will write news articles on the stock and bond markets and on business news generated especially by companies in New York and the tri-state region. They will also cover industry beats by developing reliable sources among analysts and company executives.

3. Law and Mass Communication G54.0011 (4 credits):

Discusses exceptions to the First Amendment language that "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech or of the press." Subjects covered include prior restraint of the press, libel, invasion of privacy, obscenity, shield laws and protection of sources, free press and fair trial, and broadcast regulations by the FCC.

International students may instead take Press Ethics or History of the News, with permission of the BER Director.

  • Press Ethics G54.0012
    Explores the ethical questions facing working journalists. Focuses on specific cases, both real and hypothetical. Through readings, papers, and class discussions, students analyze the ethical problems raised by these cases and develop their own systems for making ethical decisions.
  • *History of the News G54.0018
    This course surveys the history of the media and how each major development affected reporters and the public. Emphasis is placed on developments of the last century and especially the more recent growth of electronic media. This course is recommended for international students who do not plan to practice journalism in the United States and for whom Law and Mass Communications would not be especially relevant.

4. Specialized Reporting: Investigative Reporting G54.1182 (4 credits)

(This course is selected from the BER roster of courses, and the offering may change from year to year)
Students learn a wide range of techniques for gathering information for in-depth business articles and investigations. They learn how to formulate a strategy for effective reporting and then gather the needed information from interviews, documents, and online sources. The work focuses on collecting information from sources such as government agencies, legal source material, and databases. The course also introduces students to the use of spreadsheets for the analysis of information.

5. Guerilla News G54.1122 (4 credits)

(This course is selected from the BER roster of courses, and the offering may change from year to year)
In this class we'll explore the trend toward media convergence and train students in web video and audio podcast to complement magazine features and online columns. You will choose one investigative topic to report on for the entire semester and be required to submit at least one online news video segment of at least 3 to 5-minutes, an NPR-like audio podcast, an online column (750 - 1,000 words), an online graphics project, a weekly blog that operates like a twice weekly story memo, and a magazine- length feature story of 2,000 words, which would be the core assignment. (Source: class syllabus)

6. Digital Journalism: The Business Webzine G54.1192 (4 credits)

(This course is selected from the BER roster of courses, and the offering may change from year to year)
Students in this third-semester course will use all the skills and knowledge they've acquired in the program to produce their own business publication. Under the guidance of an instructor, they will assign, write, and edit the articles that will appear in the publication.

7. Summer Internship (2 credits)

  • Internship G54.1290
    Students will have an internship during their summer in residence at NYU. They will work in the business and financial reporting section of a newspaper, magazine, broadcasting station, or online publication. Most of these internships will be in New York City.
  • Directed Reading G54.1299
    This course is designed for part-time students, who undertake a substantial project of individual study. Students explore a business or economic subject in depth and produce a publishable article.

MBA Courses in NYU's Stern School of Business

8. Foundations of Finance B01.2311 (3 credits) or similar finance course

Students will learn about the financial markets and the tools available to companies in need of capital. Included: the banking system, the stock and bond markets, options, venture capital, and angel capital. Also: financing choices for corporations, including equity, debt, and derivative financial instruments, and their effect on the value of the company.

9. Financial Accounting and Reporting B01.1306 (3 credits) or similar accounting course

"Accounting reports are an important means of communication with investors. This course focuses on the development, analysis and use of these reports. It provides an understanding of what these reports contain, what assumptions and concepts accountants use to prepare them, and why they use those assumptions and concepts. The course uses simple examples to provide students with a clear understanding of accounting concepts. It stresses the ability to apply these concepts to real world cases, which by their very nature are complex and ambiguous. In addition to text-oriented materials, the classes also include cases so that students can discuss applications of basic concepts, actual financial reports, and articles from newspapers. In addition to traditional introductory topics other topics may include mergers and acquisitions, purchase and pooling, free cash flow and financial statement analysis." (Stern website)

10. Firms and Markets B01.1303 ( 3 credits) or a more advanced economics course

"This course is about economic principles: those governing the behavior of markets and firms-and strategic interactions between firms. Situations faced by leading corporations will be discussed, including supply and demand; how price depends on both costs and the sensitivity of buyers to price; the advantages and disadvantages of size; whether firms should make or outsource their inputs; how to increase revenue by charging different prices to different customers; the advantages and disadvantages of price competition; how to convey information to buyers and sellers; and winner take - most "network" markets. The course structure assumes that all students have had some economics background. They must be comfortable with quantitative concepts and approaches and with graphical/geometric ways of presenting quantitative information." (Stern website)

11. Global Economy B01.2303 (3 credits) or a more advanced economics course

"We use the tools of international macroeconomics to explore the economic environment facing firms operating around the globe. Central issues include the role of economic policy and institutions in the performance of firms and nations; economic indicators and forecasting; employment and unemployment; interest rates, inflation, and monetary policy; global trade in goods and capital; foreign exchange rates; and emerging market crises. These issues are considered from the perspectives of both firms and countries." (Stern website)

12. Elective-3 credits

Choose one course, meeting applicable prerequisites, and with permission of the BER Director or Assistant Director. One of the following two history courses is recommended, but another selection is possible.

  • Economic and Business History of the United States B30.2330
    "This course examines the historical development of American enterprise since the beginnings of the industrial revolution. Focusing on the entrepreneurial forces that shaped the rise and evolution of the modern economy and business system, the course takes into account business strategy and structure, finance, management, labor organization, technology, transportation, communications, and public policy. Discusses the broader economic, cultural, and political constraints within which American enterprise has been shaped. The goals are to impart a long-term perspective from which contemporary business can be understood and to introduce students to historical ways of thinking about economic development." (Stern website)
  • Financial History B30.2391
    "This is a study of the historical development of modern financial institutions from the 18th-century financial revolution to the present, and the relationship between finance and politics. Covers warfare, taxation, representative government, public debts, inflation, interest rates, redistributive fiscal policy, the economics of elections, globalization, exchange rates, currency unions, democratization, and imperialism." (Stern website)
  • Another MBA course at the Stern School of Business
  • A course at the NYU School of Law
  • A course at another NYU graduate department