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BA Journalism and Media module descriptions

Level 1: Compulsory core courses

  • The Press in Britain examines the relationship between changes in the press and wider political, economic and social changes in society. Students will be introduced to the history of newspapers, the semiotic and cultural analysis of newspaper forms, contemporary issues facing journalism, patters of ownership, market pressures and the impact of technology. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)
  • Introduction to Journalism introduces you to freelance journalism in the print media. Students acquire the basic skills required in contemporary journalism through intensive writing exercises, presentations and class discussions. Interview skills, working from transcripts and writing for specialised markets will also be covered, alongside a consideration of the ethical and cultural issues freelancers experience in their professional practice. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)

Level 1 options

  • Journalism: The Freelance Life is a highly practical module that deals with the realities of working as a freelancer. Beyond the specific tools of the journalistic trade, it aims to equip you with all the life-skills needed to build a sustainable career in journalism, from pitching, financial planning, tax and contracts, to plotting a career trajectory, communication skills and managing contacts. You will build a personal professional portfolio throughout the course as a record of the skills and strategies you have acquired. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Government and Ethics for Journalists introduces you to the political institutions of the UK, the industrial structures of the media and press regulation. You will learn about the functions of government and the judiciary, the current laws governing media ownership, as well as official and unofficial codes of journalistic practice dealing with libel defamation, privacy, objectivity and the rights of the journalist. Students will work collectively in class through the legal and moral implications of a series of ethical dilemmas which professional journalists face in the field. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Mapping the Beeb aims to give students a comprehensive introduction to the structure, context and politics of the BBC. It will begin with an international history of public broadcasting and the history of the BBC itself. It will also incorporate the internal structures of the BBC, including its hierarchies of authority and the inter-relations of its various branches. In addition, it will focus on the relationship between the BBC and the government and, on a more theoretical level, the relationship between the public broadcaster and the public sphere. It will address in particular the issues of impartiality, the institutionalisation of journalism and self-censorship. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Alternative and Activist Media aims to introduce students to the contemporary landscape of alternative media, both in the UK and internationally, and to explore the particular issues, potentialities and problems that alternative media face. The practical aspect of the course will incorporate two aspects: first, a history of alternative media from political pamphlets and pirate radio to contemporary online dissidence; and second, a survey of the strategies that activists use to wield the media as a political weapon. The theoretical aspect of the course will focus on the role of the mass media in (re)producing extant political structures and the viability of mediated agency. It will also address the ethics of alternative journalism, in particular the tension between traditional journalistic principles and the use of the media for political effect. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • News Around the World is an exploration of the news media in several countries across the globe. You will become familiar with the distinct character of news in places as diverse as the Middle East, Africa, Russia and South America, and many more besides. You will develop critical skills which enable you to compare the differences between countries’ news media analytically, assessing content, narrative structures as well as political context and the dominant issues in each location. The module also incorporates an examination of the countervailing forces of multinational conglomerates and localism in a globalised world.
  • News on the Net is an introduction to the practical and theoretical dimensions of journalism online. You will learn how to navigate the increasingly diverse field of Internet news sites, and acquire the skills that professional journalists are now expected to possess: not only to write for the press, but in different styles for online publications, blogs and podcasts. The political context and particular ethical issues of Internet news – and the implications for traditional journalistic principles – will also be examined in this hands-on, highly relevant module. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Making the Web Work offers students a thorough introduction to the development, history and future of multimedia technology. You will be introduced to the technical skills needed in the manipulation of text and images and to the theory concerning the psychology of communication, to notions of representation and the impact of design. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)

Level 2: Compulsory core courses

  • Journalism and Politics critically examines contemporary trends in British mainstream and alternative media, from print and radio to television and online. Key issues to be explored include the social construction of news values, freedom of speech, globalisation of the news industry, the culture of journalism, the impact of postmodernism, the ‘tabloidisation’ of political and current affairs journalism, the ethics of war reporting, gender, the impact of new technologies, and satire. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)
  • Journalism Toolkit aims to give students a broad familiarity and working knowledge of the various practices involved in putting together a newspaper. You will be introduced to the principles and methods of layout design, typography, image selection and manipulation, sub-editing, headlines and the mechanics of publishing. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)

Level 2 options

  • Journalism at War aims to introduce students to the field of war correspondence from several angles. It will begin with a history of war reporting from Afghanistan in the early 1840s to the present day, focussing in particular on the changes in professional journalistic practice which have taken place since the Vietnam war. The course will examine issues around autonomy, objectivity, censorship and patriotism as they apply to war correspondence, assessing the implications of attached, pool and embedded journalism. It will also cover the ethics of photojournalism, taking as its framework the dichotomy between two views of war photography: that it turns war into pornography, and that it sanitises and distances violence. Finally, it will offer students insight into war reporting as a narrative form, with its own generic conventions and templates – and implications for accuracy and interpretation. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Interview Skills and Feature Writing develops the journalistic skills of identifying markets and formats and writing to specific briefs. You will also practise interview techniques, the construction of research portfolios for use in feature articles and the development of more complex writing skills. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Journalism Specialisations aims to build on the preparatory news skills acquired in Introduction to Journalism by providing an introduction to as wide a possible a range of journalistic genres. Over the two-term module, students engage in specialisations including sport, fashion, music, film/television, arts, celebrity, motoring, science, technology, education, travel, human interest, food, obituary and finance. The particular narrative forms, journalistic demands and constraints of each will be discussed, along with the distinct sourcing, layout and editorial conditions specific to each. The aim of the course is not to train students to a professional standard in any one discipline, but to familiarise them with a broad array of genres so as to enhance their professional adaptability and breadth. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Documentary explores the question of how can we define the documentary genre, when the types of films which come under this umbrella term are so stylistically different from each other. It examines the history of documentary, its precedents, emergence and impact. We discuss the ideals motivating its practitioners and analyse how its representational practices and modes of address to its audiences distinguish it from fiction film. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)
  • B2B Journalism introduces students to the field of trade publications. Now one of the most common entry points into a journalistic career, B2B journalism covers a diverse array of highly specialised industry journals and magazines. You will learn how journalists manage to adapt to different specialist publications, as well as the particular language style, professional culture and journalistic practice which characterises the trade rag. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Effective Website Development builds on Making the Web Work, developing your skills of communication in multimedia form through a simple web design project and the study of information architecture and the impact of visual forms. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)
  • Cultural Identity and the Media aims to introduce students to the key cultural theories, schools of thought and methods in Media and Cultural Studies. To that effect it will focus on current developments within cultural analysis, with particular reference to the interventions of feminism and post-colonial theory - and examine the challenges these perspectives have posed to 'traditional' theoretical paradigms. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)
  • Periodicals Training is a comprehensive course in journalistic writing across the full range of magazine genres. Magazine sales have overtaken newspapers, and as such magazines are a promising entry point into journalism. Classes will cover everything from women’s and celebrity magazines to real-life, sports, men’s, fashion, consumer, music, film and politics publications. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)

Level 3: Compulsory core courses

  • Media Sociology is a high-level theoretical analysis of the political and social contexts of media production, reception and interpretation. You will examine in-depth recent research into how access to media, media consumption practices and the meanings audiences make of the media they use are influenced by class, gender and ethnicity, and how economic and political trends are likely to impact on the role of media in society in years to come. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)

Final year project and collective student publication

  • In your final year, you will be required to submit a dissertation of between 6,000 and 8,000 words on a topic of your choice, or an in-depth journalistic investigation accompanied by a critical evaluation of the journalistic choices made and the process of communicating them. Guidance about selecting an appropriate topic and supervisor will be given in the summer term of your third year. You will also work collaboratively with other students to produce a professional publication – eg a news website – to industry standards.

Level 3 options

  • Journalism on the Air in the Digital Age offers a comprehensive survey of non-print journalism in the United Kingdom, along with its international context. The course begins with a brief history of radio and television news in the UK, both in industrial-political terms and as a narrative genre, before setting out the complex and diverse broadcast media of the present day. The relation between public and private broadcasters will be investigated, alongside the role of watchdogs such as Ofcom and RAJAR. The implications of the imminent switch to digital will be examined in detail, as well as the consequences of burgeoning micro-niche audiences and the ever-increasing numbers of narrowcasters which serve them. International context will entail two aspects: first, a comparative analyse of news discourse in the UK and elsewhere; and second, the parallel internationalising developments of increasing public access to foreign news sources, and the extension of brands such as the BBC into private markets abroad. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)
  • Theories of Communication is an in-depth survey of academic approaches to communication over the past twenty years. As well as the field of political communication, students will be introduced to theories of communicative action, dialogue and conflict, reception, structuration, social interactionism and new research into the role of the audience. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)
  • Information Technology and Society presents students with the latest research into the relationship between new media technologies and the social world. You will assess the potentials and conflicts of interactive and many-to-many media production, along with the resulting transformation in relationships between journalists, media owners, local communities, global markets and media publics, and individuals. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)
  • Writing the News is a specialist module focussing on the scripting and organisation of a television news bulletin. Students will learn how a running order storyboard is constructed to maintain balance, relevance and narrative coherence, the scheduling of interviews and live reporting, and the particular language and style used by newsreaders. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Media and the Public Sphere aims to give students an in-depth knowledge of the latest thinking about the relationship between various forms of media and public engagement. While media consumption is often thought to undermine social cohesion, proponents of citizen journalism argue that new individual, community and interactive forms of media production promise a new political reconnection. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Dateline Middle East is a wide-ranging investigation into journalism into and about the Middle East. Starting with theories of Orientalism and post-colonialism, you will explore historic mediated representations of the Arab world, the highly divergent cultures and politics of the region, representations of Islam in European media, the media’s role in the Iraq War, censorship, propaganda and the rise of Al-Jazeera. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Journalism in the United States aims to introduce students to the unique structures, practices, representations and impact of American journalism. Beginning with a historical survey, you will learn about the emergence of a particular ethos and public role for journalists Stateside, current issues such as concentration of ownership, infotainment and political influence, and detailed case studies including the New York Time and the Daily Show. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Journalism in the Developing World explores both the representation of third world countries in the Western media and local media landscapes across these regions. Focussing in particular on Africa, students will critically assess representations of distant suffering, conflict and natural disaster, the motivations and implications of Western receptions of these representations, and the political potential of new media. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Gender and Sexuality in the Media brings recent academic approaches to gender theory to bear on journalism and popular media in Britain and the US. You will examine issues of gender and sexuality in the contexts of media production, representation and consumption, exploring theories of corporeality, patriarchy, complicity, equality, consumerism, individualism and the production of desire. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Media Management is a high-level module in which you will learn about how the editors and proprietors of media organisations work within current economic, professional and political structures. Students will explore the complex internal hierarchies of newspapers and broadcasting organisations, as well as the relations between media groups, trades unions, government regulators, marketers, advertisers and international bodies. (11 Meetings / 15 CATS points)
  • Dynamic Web Communications builds on Effective Website Development. You will progress to communicating ideas and images in a more complex multimedia form. Teamwork skills and the ability to critically assess the effectiveness of products and designs will be further developed. (22 Meetings / 30 CATS points)