5 Free Online Journalism Courses and Certificates (2025)

If you're interested in becoming a journalist, you might want to dip your toes in the water to find out if this field is for you before enrolling in a university degree program.

Alternatively, you may already be a journalism student or even a novice journalist who would like to find some outside courses with experts in the field to add to your professional experience.

Fortunately, you have diverse opportunities to learn about different aspects of journalism from the pros, whether they are professors in top journalism schools or veteran journalists eager to share their acquired knowledge and wisdom.

Where Can I Find Free Online Journalism Courses and Certificates?

Below, we've compiled a listing of places where you can audit free online journalism courses, and certificates are often available as well (though the documentation necessary for a certificate may incur a fee).

1. Columbia University

Columbia's free course called 'Global Muckraking: Investigative Journalism and Global Media.' The course lasts 5-12 weeks at 1-4 hours per week.

The instructor is Anya Schiffrin, director of the Technology, Media, and Communications specialization at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, who worked for a decade as an international journalist in Europe and Asia and has recently written a book on global muckraking.

Schiffrin demonstrates how courageous investigative journalists can expose corruption, human rights atrocities, and labor abuses to create political and social change.

2. Michigan State University

Michigan State University provides a series of free-to-audit online courses in journalism. Most courses last five to 12 weeks, and instructors expect you to work up to four hours per week. These courses include:

• 'What is news?' which introduces students to the basic elements of journalism, including the profession's values and ethics involved in covering real-world issues and events
• 'Journalism, the future, and you!' which will explore journalism's skill sets, career paths, and opportunities such as being an international correspondent, blogging or self-publishing in journalism, and freelancing
• 'Effectively delivering the news to your audience,' which explains the process of how journalists develop their news reports
• 'Gathering and Developing the News,' which focuses on the most important aspects of newsgathering, including finding and interviewing sources.

3. University of California Berkeley

UCBerkeley offers a series of free online journalism courses. These include:

• 'Journalism for Social Change' (4 weeks at 1-4 hours per week), which focuses on the way a journalist can research current social problems and craft a compelling story that will influence public action
• 'Writing for Social Justice' (self-paced), which teaches learners to use the power of their writing to address personal, social, and political issues in an engaging way
• 'English for Journalists,' Parts 1 and 2 (self-paced, 1-4 hours per week), which provides English language development for journalism students or working journalists who desire to improve their grammar, vocabulary, and writing skills

4. University of California, Irvine

The course 'Introduction to Digital Journalism' is taught by Adriana Maestas, a well-respected Latina journalist who writes on issues such as immigration, higher education, and health care policy for digital publications.

This four-week online course, delivered via the Canvas platform, explores the way digital technology has been revolutionizing journalism. Maestas focuses on how the information demands of the digital audience enable readers to control their own news choices and even create their own media.

Students will learn how to create their own digital content for an online publication.

5. University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania provides a free online course in 'English for Journalism.' Aimed at non-native English speakers, the course helps to develop the language skills necessary for a journalism career, whether print, broadcast, or digital.

Students read journalistic writing and watch video lectures as they expand their English vocabulary and work on skills in reading, researching, and writing news stories. Auditing is free but does not include the practice exercises or graded assignments that are available in the paid certificate course.

Take Advantage of the Opportunity to Learn Through Free Online Journalism Courses and Certificates

Today more than ever, you have the opportunity to augment your education by enrolling in free online journalism courses and certificate programs. Sign up for one now to enhance your skills.