This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
How news and information was accessed in 1945, the importance of national, regional and local newspapers and the role of radio. The impact of television on news consumption and the importance of ITN and the rise of commercial media. Relationship between journalism and political power, and the role of spin in the era of broadcast dominance. Changing patterns of foreign coverage and the understanding of faraway disasters. Reporting 'The Troubles' in Ireland and the role of journalism in uncovering miscarriages of justice. Emergence and growth of 24 hour rolling news on radio and television and its impact on the political process. Online reporting, blogging and citizen journalism
Total Contact Hours: 20
Private Study Hours: 130
Total Study Hours: 150
BA (Hons) Journalism
BA (Hons) Politics
Main assessment methods
Essay – 50%
Examination – 50%
Reassessment methods
Like-for-like
Allan, S (ed.) (2005), Journalism: Critical Issues, Open University Press, Maidenhead
Allan, S (ed.) (2010), The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism, Routledge, London
Barnett, S (2011), The Rise and Fall of Television Journalism, Bloomsbury, London
Conboy, M (2011), Journalism in Britain: a historical introduction, Sage, London
Curran, J and Seaton, J (2010), Power Without Responsibility: Press, broadcasting and the internet in Britain. 7th edn, Routledge, London
Fenton, N (ed.) (2010), New Media, Old News: Journalism and Democracy in the Digital Age, Sage, London
Franklin, B (2004), Packaging Politics: Political Communications in Britain's Media Democracy, 2nd edn, Hodder Arnold, London
Hargreaves, I (2003), Journalism: Truth or Dare? Oxford University Press, Oxford
Harrison, J (2006), News, Routledge, London
McNair, B (2009), News and Journalism in the UK, 5th edn, Routledge, London
Page, B (2011), Murdoch's Archipelago, rev edn, Simon & Schuster, London
Seymour-Ure, C (1996), The British Press and Broadcasting since 1945, 2nd edn, Blackwell, Oxford
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. Understand the growth and nature of media power since 1945 and particularly its relationship with the political process
2. Set patterns of media consumption in their historical context
3. Evaluate the mechanisms of media regulation and critically assess their effectiveness
4. Demonstrate familiarity with the influence of broadcast media
5. Assess the continuing significance of the national, regional and local press
6. Critically assess the impact of the internet on media power and media consumption
7. Demonstrate awareness of the economic forces that have framed the press, broadcast and online industries since 1945 and the role of these industries in specific areas of political and cultural life
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
1. Use a range of established techniques to initiate and undertake critical analysis of ideas and information
2. Effectively communicate information, arguments and analysis in written and oral forms
3. Develop existing skills of self-discipline, self-direction and reflexivity
4. Enhance their ability to deliver work to a given length, format, brief and deadline, properly referencing sources and ideas
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