BU Newsroom
More than 100 students reporting for over 30 news outlets across Greater Boston.
IT’s MUCH MORE THAN A JOURNALISM CLASS
The BU Newsroom is an intensive, immersive experience that pairs student journalists with local independent and nonprofit news organizations. Story assignments are coordinated closely with news partners. Professors guide students through the reporting and writing, and rigorously edit stories before sending them to news organizations. Students get the clips they need for top-tier internships and jobs, and local newsrooms get the journalism they need to serve their communities. And it’s all done through journalism classes, giving students a real-world experience.
How it works
Hands-on experience
Each student is paired with a local nonprofit or independent news outlet, allowing them to develop a relationship with an editor and report stories in that community.
Professional expertise
The professors, who are longtime journalists, act as students’ initial editors and coordinate coverage with their partner news outlets.
Class time
During class, students discuss their stories, pitch new ideas and brainstorm. They get input from other student journalists as well as their professors and experts in the field.
“Being in the newsroom class is everything I’ve always wanted at BU. On-the-ground experience, building my reporting muscle and getting published right here in Boston has been the best hands-on experience I’ve had in college.”
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Steve Greenlee
Steve Greenlee is a professor of the practice of journalism and the founding editor of the BU Newsroom. He is the former executive editor of the Portland Press Herald in Maine, where he led the paper to major national awards and recognition that included the paper’s first Pulitzer Prize finalist for a series he directed on climate change. During his 12 years in Portland, he oversaw more than 100 journalists across multiple newsrooms, directed the newsroom’s digital transformation and helped lead the company through a transition to nonprofit ownership. He is also a former longtime editor at The Boston Globe with 35 years of experience in New England newsrooms.
JOURNALISM CHAIR
Brian McGrory
Brian McGrory, a professor of the practice of journalism and chair of the BU journalism department, is the former editor of The Boston Globe. During Brian’s decade-long run, the Globe won three Pulitzer Prizes and was a finalist another dozen times in categories ranging from Public Service to Feature Photography. The news organization also amassed more than 240,000 digital-only subscribers, making it an industry leader with a growing newsroom. (He is on leave this year.)