Multimedia Journalism - BA (Hons)

This module provides an introduction to digital image creation placing it within the wider context of the history of illustration, graphic design, photography and fine art. The programme provides support for the creation of a series of images and a design portfolio that convey a particular idea developed by the student. The module introduces a range of key techniques for originating, and developing images and documents from digital manipulation, and illustrationto document layout. It discusses further the technical issues relating to the media formats in which the students will present their image sequence and design portfolio.

This module introduces students to the history of journalism, honourable and dishonourable, to the roles it has played and continues to play in society, and to the main theories used to understand how it works. Focusing on the UK, it will also highlight ethical concerns and take account of wider, global issues and contexts. This content will be used to develop transferable skills of critical thinking and analysis, crucial to employability.
Political accounts, investigations which have transformed lives, human interest stories, arts reviews, in-depth profiles, cartoons, speculative columns, hot gossip, sports, fashion, celebrity… and now, for something completely different! What does it all mean and why do we produce and consume it? By the end of the module, students won’t necessarily have any answers, but they should be able to ask much better questions.
Working together, individually and in small groups, students explore major events and stories, past and present. They develop skills of presentation and analysis, learning when to use academic writing and when the more vivid narrative of journalism can play an equally effective role. In addition, they will explore critically and practically, the techniques used in writing and broadcasting of the past so that they can better develop their own professional capacities in the future.
Discussion, presentations, research, screenings and visits will all play a part in the development of critical thinking skills, which will be workshop-based.
The module will be assessed by three essays and a self-assessed grid, which is moderated by tutors at the end of the year.

This module introduces students to a range of photographic and digital video and sound practices, through a variety of practical exercises. This will provide them with a range of potentially employable skills. Through this practical engagement with digital video and photographic technologies, students will also reach a greater understanding of a number of theories and histories relating to photography and to the moving image and sound.

This module introduces students to the practical and analytical skills (including looking at ethical problems) involved in professional news writing, newsgathering, collaborating in teams to produce stories, evaluating sources and revising writing.
Students will be required to produce news copy in professional formats, which will include online posts using images, video and audio and the use of mobile technology.

They will research and write a series of news articles and publish them on a class blog. They will learn newsgathering skills: analysis of reports, press releases and user-generated content; deducing news content from press conferences and announcements (diary items); following up human interest via face-to-face and phone interviews, including vox pops and the death knock; organising a team response to a major event; follow-up stories and case studies; analysing facts and figures to use in sidebar boxes; cultivating contacts and FoI.
They will study contemporary news coverage to develop an understanding of how news stories are reported and created. They will discuss ethical, legal and commercial constraints on journalists and how different genres serve different markets.
Accuracy, subediting, headlines and search engine optimisation will be important, as will developing stories through new media, images, audio, and video.
The module will be assessed by two portfolios and a timed class exercise.

Continuing on from the first-year core Reporting Skills, students in Advanced Reporting will develop the skills and techniques necessary to succeed in more advanced forms of reporting, including investigative journalism, features, and in-depth interviews and profiles.
Through a combination of workshops, masterclasses and site visits, students learn to identify subject matter and potential readerships; master interviewing and editing techniques; learn how to find original angles; undertake focused, widely sourced research on individuals and issues; and conduct on-the-spot reportage. They analyse statistics and develop stories based on them.
This module develop students’ skills in multi-platform journalism. Via predominantly practical workshops, the students will learn the basics of radio journalism, as well as TV/video camera and editing skills, using cutting-edge software and equipment. This will reinforce their understanding of the need for 360-degree journalism in today’s society.

This module provides opportunities for students to gain experience of the journalistic working environment and to enhance and extend their learning by applying and building on their academic and journalistic skills.
Students must find their three –week placement themselves, deploying employability and professional skills and their own developing portfolios.
Placements will be supported by a session of workshops, of which students mustt attend the majority.
Assessment will be by a reflective learning log, including ethical considerations and remarks by employers; a presentation to class and on the class blog; self-assessed engagement with classes when not on placement.

This module covers what student journalists need to know about how Britain works and the place of journalism within debates about ethics and the legal system.
Classes will look at the ethical and judicial frameworks and constraints which control the reporting of legal matters, including crime and its contexts. Students will explore these subjects from the industry viewpoint, learning how to find and develop stories within the social and political landscape of Britain today.
Within public adminstration, classes will survey: national systems of government and representation; local government; citizen remedies and freedom of information; foreign policy, the EU and defence; social services and education; health; the judicial system (civil) and human rights; ermegency services; the criminal justice system, including police; finance and the stock exchange.

At the heart of this course is the study of ethics. How journalists ought to behave – and what we can learn from those who do not behave properly – is particularly important to the profession. The public relies on the profession to give information. How should journalists get that information and how convey it?
Ethics gives a deeper meaning to the study of the legal system for journalists. Classes will locate the law which journalists need to know, both civil and criminal, within a broader ethical framework in today’s multi-platform, multi-national world. Analysis of current cases and case law will be as important as knowledge of existing frameworks and codes.

Field trips to magistrate’s courts and local authority meetings will be key to personal experience and understanding, as will guest speakers.
Discussion, research, screenings and visits will all play a part in developing students’ critical thinking skills and the professional skill of accurate, legally acceptable writing.

The module will be assessed by two portfolios (one of which includes multi media), an essay, and an online journal moderated by tutors at the end of the year.

This module focuses on creative design, technology, techniques and standards both for the web and the emerging mobile market. It will examine the web design process in a human and social context and encourage critical reflection on user-centred interaction and relevant contextual issues, while enabling the design of applications both for desktop and mobile digital environments and the production of creative and accessible websites.

Online and digital journalism skills are becoming essential for the industry and other media activities. New job roles are created for community managers and social media editors to increased vacancies for other new areas such as data journalism.

Students will work in teams in the multimedia newsroom to research, write and present multi-platform journalism, specifically in video and audio formats. Working to specified job descriptions they will take on responsibility for the editorial and production processing and use knowledge to spot and prepare stories for forward planning diaries, with due regard to ethical and professional considerations.

Creating Packages develops the advanced professional skills taught at level 5: identifying subject matter and potential readerships, research, interviewing and editing techniques, on-the-spot reportage, and finding original angles and relevant sources for stories, to a stage where students originate and source the elements for their own journalism packages, based on a subject area of their own choice, rather than as directed by tutors.

The module aims to develop planning, design, development and evaluation skills and give students a practical understanding of how to define and manage a small digital media project. The project topic is self directed and students are encouraged to pursue a topic which has interested them in the course of their studies. The topic must be approved by a tutor. Students are allocated a supervisor at the beginning of the module and are encouraged to meet with them at regular intervals to discuss their progress. Presentations of work in progress and group critiques are an essential part of the program.

This module allows students to explore in depth a topic of their own choice, arising out of previous study and subject to supervisor approval. It must be a piece of longform journalism, aimed at a specified audience, not a study of journalism.

Arts Journalism investigates and teaches the specific professional techniques and practices of arts journalism – in music, film, literature, art, architecture, dance, theatre, and other areas of student interest which relate directly to employability. Throughout this 15-week module, the arts are placed in the context of the relationship between journalist practitioners (in print, radio and online) and the arts industries.
Field trips and guest speakers will demonstrate in depth the connection between professional journalists and arts practitioners.
This module also surveys the cultural, historical and global business issues and conditions within which arts journalism takes place, enabling self-reflective and critical perspectives.
Students are encouraged to publish their work inside the university website and outside, building up contacts and a portfolio of pieces.
Students are assessed through a portfolio of practical and critical work, which can be across platforms, a diary of their critical reactions to arts events, and a final 1,000-word piece of arts journalism.
Class participation will be assessed through contribution to an online journal.

This module looks at the professional skills of the journalist in politics, public affairs and society. It is both theoretical and practical.
Students will examine the historical and political contexts of journalism, the role of charities and special interest groups such as environmental and rights campaigners and how to cover lobbying and direct action. They will analyse the ethics of committed journalism and debate how to justify bias.
They will explore, through discussion, presentation and professional practice, links with PR and internal comms professionals, viral and social media, humour and satire, human interest stories and running appeals.
They will produce original work for a campaign of their choice, which they must pitch to their classmates and tutor.
Formative assessment will be an essay on how campaigning has changed events and whether such campaigning is justified
An overview of media law and ethical considerations will underpin a summative project of campaigning journalism which will combine original research, in either a series of three short articles or one long article and a log of events and contacts.

This module introduces students to digital media management and enterprise issues. The module focuses on management of interactive projects and explores issues in project management, including team management, client handling, outsourcing and asset management, copyright and legal issues, the planning and production life-cycle, resources and marketing. Students will learn how to manage a digital media project and how to effectively plan and execute a production cycle.

This module develops professional skills of the journalist in writing about science. It is both theoretical and practical.
Students will examine historical and current writing about science, look at the role of media in informing public debates and analyse communications issues. They will cover how scientific research is undertaken, globally and in the UK, and the influence of funding and lobbies (for example on tobacco consumption or climate change).
They will explore how to cover protests, lobbying and direct action, on the one hand, and learn how to extract the information for stories from scientific data, journal articles and reports, on the other. They will take into account the ethics of how to cover health campaigns, from human interest stories to funding disputes and the bottom line.
They will explore, through discussion, presentation and professional practice, links with grassroots organisations, PR and internal comms professionals, viral and social media, human interest stories and running appeals. They will become familiar with the basic legal frameworks around defamation, confidence and data protection as they apply to research and research protocols.
They will produce original journalistic work, which they must pitch to their classmates and tutor.
Formative assessment will be an essay on the pitfalls and triumphs of science journalism, as emplified in current UK and USA practice.
An overview of media law and ethical considerations will underpin a summative project of practical journalism which will combine original research, in either a series of three short articles or one long article (or multi-media equivalents) and a log of research and contacts.