The rivalry between Stanford and UC Berkeley extends from the yard lines of the football field to the written lines of the two universities’ papers — The Stanford Daily and The Daily Californian.

At the undergraduate level, the two papers collaborate through brawls like the Ink Bowl and cross-school interviews with sports reporters. The two universities also offer similar journalism programs at the graduate level, with Stanford’s one-year journalism program within the communications master’s of arts and Berkeley’s two-year master’s of journalism.

The mission of the journalism track of Stanford’s master’s in communication emphasizes student-to-student and student-to-faculty collaborations. Stanford program alumnus Simone Stolzoff M.A. ’18 cherished “the ability to take classes across the university, think about the future of journalism alongside multidisciplinary peers.” Stolzoff has been a freelance reporter for the New York Times, The Atlantic and National Geographic.

With Stanford faculty boasting diverse industry achievements, students explore concepts from a range of journalistic fields. “The professors’ dedication to bolstering the next generation of journalists is inspiring, and I am so grateful for their guidance and care,” said Stanford alumna Gillian Brassil ’19, M.A. ’19 Brassil is a congressional reporter at McClatchy and previously worked at the New York Times as a sports reporter fellow.

Stanford students are thoroughly exposed to a vast discipline of journalistic techniques. From professors and visiting lecturers, students learn the “reporting fundamentals that never go out of style,” Stolzoff said.

Through a mix of hands-on projects, “Stanford’s journalism program equipped me with the skills necessary to being a thorough and cutting-edge reporter,” Brassil added.

Berkeley’s master’s of journalism held comparable values in its program’s curricula. Alumna Kate Raphael was drawn to the program because of professors who specialized in health, science and climate coverage. Raphael shared with The Daily, “I had tremendous editorial support to develop my own magazine and investigative stories, ambitious reporting I wouldn’t have been able to undertake alone.”

Over her master’s program, Raphael interned at the Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program, where she developed “skills in sourcing, filing public records and reporting sensitive, nuanced stories.” Raphael is currently collaborating with reporters at the program for its multi-year project on child welfare.

Berkeley program alumna Laura Fitzgerald, who is a politics reporter at CapRadio, didn’t considered a career in journalism before the master’s program. “My experience at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism was a game changer. It helped me find a way into a career that I never thought was possible and to harness my past political experience to report on how the government is and isn’t serving Californians,” Fitzgerald said.

Even outside of narrative journalism, alumni of the Berkeley program’s documentary and film track enjoyed intensive training. Nisha Balaram honed a range of practical skills spanning narrative writing, video and audio production, photography and multimedia storytelling, through which she “emerged confident and well equipped to contribute to the world of documentary film.” Balaram is now a documentary film director and producer based in Oakland.

Max Harrison-Caldwell ’24, who now reports for the San Francisco Standard, similarly described studying magazine writing, photojournalism and investigative reporting while pursuing the audio track through an audio capstone project at Berkeley. Harrison-Caldwell enjoyed experience across media, where “from day one, we were doing real reporting and trying to get published,” he said.

Likewise, the Associated Press reporter and Berkeley program alumna Nadia Lathan shared that the program helped her “boot-strap” her career in journalism. “I was able to pick up some data journalism skills by taking multimedia classes, attending conferences and acquiring bylines with different local Bay Area outlets through internships and freelancing,” she said.

Individual professors have also impacted many students’ decision to pursue journalism. Berkeley program alumna Celeste Dennis, M.A. ’24 is a now-independent journalist but a former “career switcher.”

“I had some of the most brilliant female professors at Berkeley who not only made me believe I could do it but role-modeled for me the kind of journalist I want to be. This profession can be tough, but what I learned at Berkeley is that it also can be full of so much joy. And that is what I hold onto as I do this work now in the world,” Dennis said.

For Bria Suggs, the Berkeley program pushed her outside of her comfort zone, which also provided a space for making lasting connections with both professors and peers. Suggs earned her degree in audio journalism and is now an NPR politics podcast intern. 

Some master’s students were also involved with their respective universities’ undergraduate papers. Such was the case for Brassil, whose first newsroom was The Daily and where she first “fell in love with reporting.”

“I’ve got fond memories of chasing breaking news across campus at all hours and seeing other reporters find their journalistic passion,” Brassil said. “I love watching Daily journalists take on crucial and ambitious projects, at Stanford and in their careers beyond the Farm.”

Across at Berkeley, Mitzi Pérez-Caro recounted taking photos for “everything from city council meetings to concerts” as a senior staff photographer for the Daily Californian.

Now a high school teacher in Richmond, Pérez-Caro shared that her experiences with the undergraduate paper and the graduate program taught her skills she teaches her students today.

Asking interviewees to return momentarily from their professional world back to Stanford and Berkeley, The Daily asked alumni from each program to write sample ledes for the upcoming big game:

“Stanford flattened Cal in a scrappy battle to reclaim the Axe on Saturday, prevailing in the first Big Game since the Pac-12 dissolution.” – Brassil (Stanford)

“Bears defend turf against Stanford Axe at 127th ‘Big Game.’” – Lathan (Berkeley)

“Who will hold the fire? The Bears and the Cardinals face off once again.” – Pérez-Caro (Berkeley)

“At this year’s big game, the band won’t be the only ones making noise on the field.” – Stolzoff (Stanford)