The health of a democracy is deeply connected to the health of a free press. Thomas Jefferson thought so highly of the importance of the press' role in guarding the people's rights that he stated: "If I had to choose between a government without a free press and a free press without government, I would choose the latter." From the hey-day of its nationally celebrated civil rights leader and alumnus Whitney M. Young, Jr. to its connections with Kentucky's black owned or operated newspapers and indeed throughout its some 120 years of great achievements and challenges, Kentucky State University's own history has been deeply entwined with the exercise of a free press. All three aspects of Kentucky State's mission – liberal studies, land grant status (especially the mass communications facilities of the land grant program), and its status as an HBCU –, coalesce together in a B.A. program in mass communication and journalism.

Unconditional admission requires the following:

Students who do not hold the 3.0 GPA in English coursework may be considered for conditional admission but must receive consent of the journalism faculty and will be placed in a probationary status for the first academic year of coursework in journalism.

The major has three components: 1) a 30 credit hour core of fundamental coursework in journalism and mass communication, 2) a 12-credit hour academic track in the student's choice of more advanced coursework in multimedia journalism or public relations, and 3) a nine-credit hour selection of elective courses which offer appropriate, relevant support for the student's choice of a multimedia journalism or public relations track: