CEJ/MAMJ Newsletter Issue 1, April 2026

The Value of Capstones (Done Right) 

Part 1

Capstone projects, meant to let students showcase all that they have learned in a program, are often seen by students themselves as an unwanted, and daunting, hurdle in completing their program requirements when they have several other assignments in other classes also due. The largely self-paced and independent nature of capstones, although giving students flexibility in what they want to focus on, too often get relegated to end-of-semester, panicked writing and research done too late to create something they are proud of. 

Journalism school capstones often differ from most other master’s programs in that capstone projects may align more with long-form journalistic investigative articles, multimedia stories, or documentaries than the typical academic master’s thesis. The capstone project for the MAMJ program gives students flexibility across various journalistic frameworks while also allowing academic theses projects for students who are more interested in that type of research and writing. 

For those considering having capstone projects for J-school students (or even undergraduates), here are some tips on how to ensure successful and worthwhile capstone projects that help students showcase their learning and that help them create projects that they can show prospective employers as to what they can do.

Manage Expectations

Students are often unprepared for the amount of work and the type of research needed for truly long-form projects like capstones. Even those who may have worked on 2,500-word investigative pieces do not adequately realize the difference between that work and what it takes to write a 10,000-word capstone, for example (let alone considering multimedia production projects). When creating capstone project parameters, be sure that there is equity in the types of potential projects so one type isn’t seen as “easier” (or harder) than the others by students. Also make sure that students have had the proper learning in prior classes to best prepare them for suitable capstone projects. It does little good to expect an academic paper, for example, if students have not had a research methodology course. Explain to students that no matter how much they love the project idea now they will be thoroughly tired of it by the time it comes to complete it, so they absolutely need to choose a topic they love.

Plan for a Long Timeline

Even for full-time students who are not working while taking classes, pitching a capstone project idea and actually carrying it out within a semester often proves very difficult. For the MAMJ students, all of whom are taking classes 5 nights a week and working full-time, an 8-week window in their final summer session to complete a capstone would be completely unrealistic and unduly burdensome. That is why we started the process in the spring semester, with students pitching and refining their ideas with feedback from the professor in order to ensure they are doing something that a) truly interests them, b) is feasible, and c) gets them working on it so they have a good head start in the summer session.

Build in Required Benchmarks

Even though capstones are meant to be largely independent, too often school, work, and life simply get in the way and it becomes easy for students to put off the heavy lifting and step-by-step work needed to do a good project. It’s also easy for students to underestimate the time needed for things like scheduling interviews, doing surveys, getting and editing video, and so forth. Having some benchmark assignments that are part of the capstone helps ensure that students stay on pace and that the professor is able to warn students who may be slipping behind. It also helps guard against late blame for failed projects by students who did not keep up with the benchmarks and who were warned about falling behind. Even more importantly, it lets the capstone advisor give gentle guidance along the way, providing emotional support (and tough love) when needed.

In Part 2 of this series we will discuss what kinds of benchmarks can be implemented, how to advise students when projects run into complications, and how to best support students as they head into the final stretch of their capstones.

Stephen Kurkjian Talks With Students at Spotlight Screening

Retired journalist and co-founder of the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting unit Spotlight, Stephen Kurkjian, talked to AUA students remotely about the unit and how it uncovered the Catholic priest sex abuse scandals in the early 2000s in Boston prior to a screening of the 2015 film Spotlight, done in collaboration with the Center for Excellence in Journalism and AUA’s student club the Film Society.

Kurkjian was portrayed by actor Gene Amoroso, with only a few lines and a handful of appearances. When asked if he was happy with his portrayal in the film, Kurkjian said that the filmmakers did take some artistic liberties with what actually happened and that more journalists at the Globe were involved in the investigations than just the movie’s main characters. 

In the film, it is shown that the Globe had done stories years earlier about cases of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, but except for some individual lawsuits that were settled quietly nothing much was ever done about it and the priests who were doing the abuse were simply moved to other parishes. 

Kurkjian explained that one of the big reasons that the story wasn’t a big scandal when he wrote about it years earlier was that prior to the Internet and computer-assisted reporting it was nearly impossible to establish patterns of abuse and it seemed like when they did uncover such cases they were aberrant or unusual. However, once the journalists started gathering data in spreadsheets and databases and more thoroughly categorizing and collating records, clear patterns of abuse emerged in far larger numbers than anyone had thought, thus breaking open the explosive series of sex abuse stories and the church’s cover-ups.

After the discussion with Kurkjian, the students and professors watched the film, and afterward talked about journalism issues and ethics over snacks and refreshments provided by catering services. 

The Brief Showcase (thebrief.am)

The first cohort of the MAMJ program has launched something unique in Armenia — a fully student-run news platform, The Brief. Built from the ground up, students have shaped everything from the name and branding to the publication’s editorial vision and ethical guidelines, creating a foundation that future cohorts will build on.

Following a soft launch in December 2025, the platform has already become an active newsroom, with students taking on real editorial roles and producing stories as part of their coursework.

The Brief is also active on Instagram, where readers can follow for updates, behind-the-scenes content, and additional insights:
https://www.instagram.com/thebrief.am