Operated by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, Capital News Service provides students with real-life reporting experiences—covering a beat, developing sources, generating story ideas and writing on deadline—all in close consultation with an instructor/editor.
Selected Merrill College of Journalism undergraduates and graduate students in the public affairs reporting sequence receive 12 credits in their bureau semester.
The program is divided into three sections: Students receive six credits for acting as full-time (35 to 40 hours a week) reporters from Tuesday through Friday, covering either Annapolis or Washington for Capital News Service.
Participants also are enrolled in an upper-level journalism seminar on Mondays with Knight Chair Haynes Johnson, one of the college's Pulitzer Prize–winning faculty members.
Students can receive their final three credits from a School of Public Policy class designed specifically for the bureau program or by taking an advanced writing or reporting course with the college's award-winning faculty.