MA, 1 year full time/2 years part time
Subject overview
Journalism is undergoing many changes but remains a crucial part of democratic public life. We aim to provide you with a critical overview of journalistic practice, and practical training in how to be a reporter in all media: newspapers, magazines, online and broadcast journalism.
All of our journalism degrees combine advanced academic study with specialist practical training by our partners Brighton Journalist Works (BJW), at their training rooms in the offices of a daily newspaper operating in print and online, The Argus, in Brighton. You will learn the basic skills of journalism and their application across a range of media, with opportunities to have stories published during your degree.
You will be taught by very experienced faculty within a highly rated university. Media and Film at Sussex is ranked in the top 10 places to study in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2013, in the top 15 in the UK in The Sunday Times University Guide 2012 and The Complete University Guide 2014, in the top 25 in the UK in The Guardian University Guide 2014, and in the top 100 in the world for communication and media studies in the QS World University Rankings 2013.
BJW will teach the professional elements of our degrees and prepare Multimedia Journalism students for the National Council for Training Journalists (NCTJ) Diploma in Journalism. BJW run one of the most successful media training courses in the UK and their students have frequently won prizes for their scoops and exam results.
Both BJW and the School of Media, Film and Music offer excellent technical facilities, including a dedicated newsroom equipped with the latest software, television and radio studios, and a suite of digital media labs.
You will have the opportunity to conduct original research in the form of a dissertation or practical project.
Graduates from BJW and Sussex work in the national and international press, digital and broadcast media, public relations, and a range of other professions.
Accreditation
This MA is accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ).
The NCTJ delivers the premier training scheme for journalists in the UK and its accredited qualifications are highly respected and valued throughout the UK journalism industry.
The University of Sussex is the highest ranking university in the UK to offer an NCTJ-accredited qualification in multimedia journalism. For more information, visit National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Alongside the NCTJ accreditation, this MA is also recognised by the Journalism Diversity Fund (JDF). The JDF offers bursaries to support the training of journalists from ethnically and socially diverse backgrounds who do not have the financial means to attend NCTJ training courses.
Brighton Journalist Works (BJW) and the University of Sussex
The practical journalism elements of all our degrees are taught by experienced journalists at our partner institution, BJW, whose training rooms are located at Brighton’s daily newspaper, The Argus. This hands-on training is framed within the academic and intellectual agenda delivered at Sussex. Guest masterclasses by industry professionals are a regular feature of our degrees.
Programme outline
The degree is NCTJ accredited and aims to produce future multimedia journalists with a strong professional journalism competence and attitude. It is designed to enable you to:
- learn how to turn out crisp engaging copy against tight deadlines for print, radio and TV news, and how to record, film and edit material for broadcast
- contextualise journalistic practice within a theoretical framework of journalism studies
- understand the many transitional processes in the news landscape at local, regional, national and global level.
All skills and knowledge will put to good use in three weeks of work placement and then synthesised in a substantial journalism project or a dissertation.
We continue to develop and update our modules for 2013 entry to ensure you have the best student experience. In addition to the course structure below, you may find it helpful to refer to the 2012 modules tab.
Autumn term: modules may include Broadcast Journalism (Radio) • Journalism in Transition • Journalism, Law and Power • News Researching and Writing in a Multimedia Environment • Shorthand.
Spring term: modules may include Broadcast Journalism (TV) • Global Journalism • Journalism, Law and Power (continued) • Shorthand.
Summer term: you undertake a work placement and journalism project or an 18,000-word journalism research dissertation, supervised by research-active faculty.
Assessment
Assessment includes NCTJ exams, term papers, portfolios of journalism, multimedia artefacts, critical reflections on practical work and examinations.
Current modules
Please note that these are the core modules and options (subject to availability) for students starting in the academic year 2012.
Broadcast Journalism (Radio)
15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1
Broadcast Journalism (Television)
15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
This module provides you with the essential knowledge and skills to work in television and online newsrooms. It will teach you to research, write and produce high-quality reports for television and the Internet. The aim is to ensure that you can
(a) gather information and put it into clear, accurate, rigorous, compliant and engaging news stories for broadcast media (radio, television, the Internet),
(b) find good interviewees and master interview techniques for broadcast,
(c) conduct broadcast interview yourself.
Along with practical skills, the module will introduce and explore theoretical approaches in relation to regulation, language and technologies of radio, television and online journalism. The module will thus reflect the best current practice in broadcast and multimedia newsrooms in the UK, but will be theoretically informed .
Global Journalism A
30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
This module sets out to explore the role of journalism in an increasingly deterritorialised media environment and in an era when 'the global' has to inserted as a category of news between 'foreign' and 'domestic' stories. The module will examine information flows and institutional relations in the coverage of global issues such as climate change, the "war on terror", and the global economy. It will also investigate questions of transnational news production, and the extent to which the audiences of global journalism might constitute a putative global public sphere. One aspect of this discussion centres around the ethics of covering stories of 'distant suffering'. The areas outlined above are explored through critical reading, seminar discussion and presentation, and then via the written assessment.
Journalism in Transition
15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1
This module explores the profound transformations affecting the practice and principles of journalism in an era of networked communication. Beginning with a historical overview of the development of journalism as a field, the module goes on to examine the contemporary tensions and possibilities emerging from technological innovation, particularly the pervasiveness, ubiquity and interactivity of media in everyday life and the apparent blurring of conventional divides between producers and consumers. Debates around the rise of online and 'citizen journalism' will be central to the module, engaging with debates about professionalism, changing news values, proliferation of sources and outlets, the rise of the 'blogosphere' and so on. The module takes an interdisciplinary approach. It will look at changing institutions, organisations, practices and texts from the perspectives of sociology, political economy and cultural studies. The areas outlined above are explored through critical reading, seminar discussion and presentation, and then via the written assessment.
Journalism, Law and Power
30 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, year 1
This module aims to develop students' understanding of legal, ethical and regulatory issues, restrictions and guidelines for multimedia journalists working in Britain, whether in print, online or for broadcast media. It will cover industry codes of practice: BBC, producers' and on-line guidelines; Ofcom, ITC, Standards Commission, NUJ and the Press Complaints Commission. It will cover defamation and contempt law and how matter can be published in the public interest, and how a journalist can challenge invalid restrictions. Freedom of Information law will also be addressed and you will be encouraged to make their own submissions to authorities leading to exclusive news stories for publication. You will be given the opportunity to reflect critically on current legal, regulatory or ethical issues in the field of journalism.
New Developments in Digital Media (J)
30 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
This module critically surveys developments in the expanding field of new media and explores the dynamics driving digital convergence, which is viewed as an industrial, political, social, economic and technological process. It asks what drives convergence between previously discrete industries, technologies, contents, and what limits convergence processes. It explores key developments in the field of new media - exploring phenomena such as social networks, pervasive and locative technologies, new forms of knowledge organisation and gathering. This version of the module is theoretical. Seminars explore the areas outlined above through critical reading, seminar discussion and presentation, and then via their assessed 3000 word term paper.
News Research, Writing in a Multimedia Environment
15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1
This module is intended to equip you with the understanding, knowledge, insights and skills necessary for effective news gathering, writing and packaging for print and online platforms. It seeks to develop in you the theoretical understanding of and practical skills news research and writing in an increasingly converged news environment. These include learning to identify a news story, researching the story using all forms of social media, the internet and the more traditional methods of covering a local news patch and going to courts and council meetings. It will also cover effective interviewing skills, developing a news sense and understanding potential sources of news in a variety of settings.
You will be encouraged to write stories for The Argus website and newspaper in Brighton and relate your writing to a critical understanding of the relationship between the practice of journalism, the production values of the media and the definitions of news. Different writing styles will be explored, and you will be taught to write for newspapers, magazines and online. The different genres of reviews, comment and colour pieces will be explored and you will be encouraged to write for publication. You may visit courts and council meetings and will have a variety of external speakers from local and national newspapers, web sites and magazines. Throughout, you will be encouraged to explore relevant theories of news research and writing and to reflect critically on your own and others' professional journalistic practice.
Towards the end of the module, you will be introduced to the basic theories and techniques of digital story-telling, particularly the packaging of complementary content into a single web-based multimedia news product.
Shorthand (NCTJ)
0 credits
Autumn & spring teaching, year 1
Entry requirements
UK entrance requirements
A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree (or equivalent) in an appropriate discipline. We also welcome applicants who do not have this academic qualification who are able to demonstrate in their application that they have relevant professional/creative skills and experience.
Overseas entrance requirements
Please refer to column A on the Overseas qualifications.
If you have any questions about your qualifications after consulting our overseas
qualifications table, contact the University.
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
Visas and immigration
Find out more about Visas and immigration.
English language requirements
IELTS 7.0, with not less than 6.5 in each section. Internet TOEFL with 95 overall, with at least 22 in Listening, 23 in Reading, 23 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
Additional admissions information
In the induction week, you will be asked to take a 90-minute NCTJ aptitude test on competency in English and an awareness of journalistic conventions. If you do not pass the test, you will normally be advised to take the degree without the NCTJ Diploma, or to consider switching to the MA in Journalism and Media Studies or the MA in Journalism and Documentary Practice.
For more information about the admissions process at Sussex
For pre-application enquiries:
Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
For post-application enquiries:
Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk
Related programmes
Fees and funding
Fees
Home UK/EU students: £7,3001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £7,3002
Overseas students: £14,1003
1
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
To find out about your fee status, living expenses and other costs, visit further financial information.
Funding
The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.
To find out more about funding and part-time work, visit further financial information.
Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust for Postgraduate Study (2013)
Region: UK
Level: PG (taught), PG (research)
Application deadline: 1 October 2013
The Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust are offering bursaries to Postgraduate students following any postgraduate degree courses in any subject.
Sussex Graduate Scholarship (2013)
Region: UK, Europe (Non UK), International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 16 August 2013
Open to final year Sussex students who graduate with a 1st or 2:1 degree and who are offered a F/T place on an eligible Masters course in 2013.
Faculty interests
Journalism is part of the School of Media, Film and Music at Sussex. Also refer to the Media, media practice and cultural studies subject area.
Dr Gholam Khiabany Academic leader of the journalism degrees.
Dr Monika Metykova Lecturer in Media Communications/Journalism Studies.
Marcus Ryder Honorary Senior Lecturer in Journalism. Head of Current Affairs at BBC Scotland.
Profiles of members of staff at at Brighton Journalist Works (BJW) are listed below.
Chris Chandler Former Deputy Editor of The Argus, and group editor of the Leader and Life series of newspapers in Sussex and Surrey.
Louisa Hannah Journalism lecturer. Has experience of launching NCTJ postgraduate fast-track courses at Further Education colleges.
Richard Lindfield Lecturer, journalist and broadcaster. Weekend News Editor for Heart FM, and former BBC Producer who lectures on fast-track courses in public affairs, and video shooting and editing.
Mark Longhurst Presenter of Sunrise on Sky News, teaches broadcast journalism on our MA in Multimedia Journalism.
Paula O’Shea Managing Director. Journalist for ITN News, the BBC and local newspapers before setting up and running NCTJ courses at City College Brighton and Hove and at the University of Brighton.
Pete Taylor Lecturer. An experienced journalist online and on magazines and newspapers. He is a media law and sub-editing lecturer.
Careers and profiles
This degree is accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), an organisation set up to equip trainee journalists with the knowledge and skills for professional entry-level journalism.
Marcus's faculty perspective
‘I’ve been responsible for award-winning Panorama television programmes and Sony-winning radio documentaries as well as looking after all of BBC’s current affairs programmes for Scotland, from election coverage to stories on immigration.
‘I was incredibly excited when I discovered that the University of Sussex was starting an MA in journalism. As an alumnus I see this as an opportunity to give back to my University and impart some of the experience I have of working in the television industry for almost 20 years. I will be giving lectures but more importantly I will be giving workshops on practical skills that I have to use on a daily basis. I believe it is my practical experience that will be most useful to students, complementing the theory they will be learning.
‘Now that I am in charge of several programme teams of journalists I recognise that it is becoming increasingly competitive to enter serious journalism. We want to recruit people who not only understand current affairs but who have practical experience. I believe that Sussex’s MAs in journalism, with their mixture of theory, lectures by practising journalists and hands-on experience, will prove to be priceless for anyone aiming to work in the industry.’
Marcus Ryder
Honorary Senior Lecturer and Head of BBC Scotland’s Current Affairs programmes
For more information, visit Careers and alumni.
School and contacts
School of Media, Film and Music
The School of Media, Film and Music combines rigorous critical and historical studies of media, film, music and culture with opportunities for creative practice in a range of musical forms and the media of photography, film, radio, and interactive digital imaging.
School of Media, Film and Music,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9SH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 873481
E mfm@sussex.ac.uk
School of Media, Film and Music
Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions
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Visit Discover Postgraduate study to book your place.
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