Journalists find out and tell the public about important issues and events. They gather information through research, firsthand experience and talking to people who know what’s going on. Then they take that information and decide what the story is and how it should be told. Finally, they write or produce, edit and present it to the public. (More often than not instantly, through digital media.) Most importantly, they play a vital role in American democracy.

They also spend a lot of time outside the office, doing work that can be pretty fast-paced.

This program is a great way to start a career in journalism. Every student in Contra Costa College’s journalism program gets hands-on experience at the student-run weekly newspaper, The Advocate, and its web companion, cccadvocate.com. So journalism students at Contra Costa College work in a real newsroom, where students cover events, take photos, write and edit stories, manage social media, create audio and video content for the website and do everything else that other news outlets do.

The Advocate is a 19-time winner of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges’ Pacesetter Award (most recently in 2017); a seven-time winner of and eight-time second place finisher for the California Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspapers Contest’s General Excellence Award; and a 15-time winner of college media’s most prestigious award, the Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker (most recently in 2015).

And when it comes to academics, Contra Costa College is serious, too. Back in the classroom, accomplished faculty teach journalism students how to manage the legal, creative, editorial and ethical challenges that journalists face every day.