Different forms of journalism and how they are structured. Distinguishing between comment, conjecture and fact. Investigative reporting. The reporter's sources: how to find them, keep them and protect them. Taking a news story and re-writing it for another medium, adding sound, pictures, links and interactive comments. Working with user-generated content. Following a crime story/court trial. Turning the contents of official reports into various forms of journalism. Textual analysis of the writing styles of ground-breaking journalists. Study of common journalism transgressions.
Total Contact Hours: 96
Private Study Hours: 354
Total Study Hours: 450
MA Multimedia Journalism (compulsory module)
Main assessment methods
coursework - Timed Newswriting test – 25%
Coursework - Reporting Portfolio – 75% *
* students must attain a mark of at least 50% in the portfolio to pass the module overall.
Reassessment methods
Like for like
Barber L (1999), Demon Barber, Penguin
Beckett C (2008), Supermedia: Saving Journalism so it can Save the World, Oxford
Bernstein C and Woodward B (1974), All the President's Men, Bloomsbury
Fenton N (ed) (2009), New Media, Old News, Sage
Frayn M (2011), Travels with a Typewriter, Faber
Frost C (2011), Journalism Ethics and Regulation, Longman
Gelhorn M (2015), View from the Ground, Granta
Harcup T (2015), Journalism Principles and Practice, Sage
Meyer P (2009), The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Internet Age University of Missouri Press
Shannon R (2001), A Press Free and Responsible, John Murray
Turner B and Orange R (eds) (2012), Specialist Journalism, Routledge
Weber R (2014), Hemingway's Art of Non-Fiction, St Martin’s Press
Wolfe T (ed) (1975), The New Journalism, Picador
See the library reading list for this module (Medway)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a systematic understanding of different forms of journalism and a critical awareness of how they are practised professionally alongside the principles of accuracy and fairness
2. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the principles of investigative reporting, including thorough research, following leads to a conclusion and treating statements by vested interests with due scepticism
3. Demonstrate originality in the application of knowledge using established techniques and under realistic deadline conditions
4. Be able to evaluate current newsgathering and reporting techniques used in professional newsrooms and develop critiques of them
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Exercise initiative and personal responsibility in gathering, organising and deploying information in order to formulate arguments coherently and communicate them fluently
2. Make informed decisions and demonstrate self-direction in coping with the complex and unpredictable situations
3. Consider and evaluate own work with reference to professional standards and develop critiques accordingly
4. Present systematic and creative analytical arguments on current practise and research.
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