Tianjin Normal University is a pioneer in journalism education. It founded China's first non-normal journalism major (vocational diploma) among normal colleges in 1959. The university offered its first undergraduate journalism program in 1980 and established the School of Journalism and Communication in 2003.

There are six undergraduate majors at the school: Journalism, Advertising, Radio and Television, Broadcasting and Hosting Art, Radio and Television Directing, and Photography. Journalism and Advertising are national first-class undergraduate majors while Broadcasting and Hosting Art is a first-class undergraduate major of Tianjin.

In 2004, the school was authorized to offer a master's degree in Communication Studies and went on to offer a master's in Journalism and Communication Studies in 2006. In 2011, they added a master's degree in Journalism and Communication and a first-level discipline degree in Drama and Film Studies. Journalism and Communication Studies was approved as a key discipline in Tianjin in 2016, and in 2018 the school was granted authority to offer a doctoral degree in Journalism and Communication Studies.

In 2014, the Publicity Department of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee joined hands with Tianjin Normal University in running the School of Journalism and Communication, making it the first "government-school co-construction" unit in Tianjin. The school is highly acclaimed and has been recommended for 21 China News Awards and 20 "Five-One Hundred" Positive Energy awards in China. It has four university-level research institutions and one think tank, as well as a national experimental teaching demonstration center.

The school's facilities include a photography laboratory, graphic design laboratory, radio and television laboratory, the Chinese Advertising History and Culture Museum, an undergraduate independent innovation workshop, a VR laboratory, 3D dynamic news laboratory, public opinion analysis laboratory, and a simulation news release laboratory. Notably, the Chinese Advertising History and Culture Museum was established in 2005, and is the earliest of its kind among domestic universities. The undergraduate independent innovation workshop includes a public welfare image workshop, advertising workshop, and radio and television director workshop.