Journalism
De Montfort University
UCAS Code: P500 | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
UCAS Tariff
from at least 2 A-Levels Five GCSEs A*-C (9-4) including English Language or Literature or equivalent.
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About this course
Journalists play a vital role in a democracy, and this course offers the opportunity to pursue a career that is not only exciting, but also crucial for informing debate and discussion on a wide range of questions affecting our lives.
The course is designed to enable flexibility to allow you to focus on specialist areas of your choice, which include music journalism, lifestyle and sports while also preparing you to challenge the status quo. Throughout the degree, you will be encouraged to focus on core issues of social equality, social justice, protest and marginalised communities in the UK.
You will learn the traditional core skills of researching, interviewing, writing and web-publishing, and gain multimedia skills within video and audio production. The journalism sector requires graduates who possess a broad digital multi-platform skillset, knowledge of media law and political structures, and have the ability to question structures in society.
*Key features
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- You will benefit from Education 2030 - DMU’s new way of delivering courses, focusing on ensuring the best possible experience for our students. Through block teaching, you will focus on one subject at a time instead of several at once. This means that you will be able to focus closely on each subject and absorb your learning material in more depth, whilst working more closely with your tutors and course mates.
- Develop your practical skills in the Leicester Centre for Journalism and our multi-million-pound Creative Technology Studios, which feature broadcast-standard radio production studios, and film studios equipped with multi-cameras and green screen facilities.
- You will learn to write from respected and award-winning former journalists and academic experts who are active in newspaper, radio, magazine and digital journalism. Our students were recently inspired by a guest lecture from successful freelance writer and former DMU Journalism alumna, Rachel Toal.
- Select a route through this degree in Creative Writing, Drama, English Language, English Literature, Film Studies, History or Media. These carefully chosen routes will complement and enrich your understanding of your main subject, alongside broadening your skillset to give you a wider range of career paths upon graduation.
- Gain valuable hands-on experience by joining a range of student societies such as the award-winning Demon Media group, and put what you’ve learned into practice by contributing to its magazine, radio, Youtube channel and website.
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- You will have opportunities to strengthen your career prospects with placements in industry. Places students have previously worked at include The Times, Sky Sports, the NME, Leicester City Football Club, ITN, the BBC, CNN, Leicestershire Live and the Observer.
- Graduates have progressed to careers and internships with some of the UK’s biggest media companies, including Sky News, The Sun, the BBC, CNN, ITV, plus Mixmag and Clash magazines as well as PR companies and the wider communications and digital media industries.
Modules
First year
Core modules:
• Reporting 1 – this core introductory module introduces you to news in a multi-media environment; looking at what it is, where it comes from, how to get it and how to write it successfully
• Journalism Skills – introduces you to the key skill of writing shorthand at speed. It leads to the 100 words-per-minute Teeline shorthand exam
• Media Law – helps you learn everything you need to know to stay within the law when practising journalism. It leads to the two NCTJ media law qualificationsInside
• Journalism 1 – this module helps you to understand the history and context of journalism.
Second year
Core modules:
• Reporting 2 – this module looks at specialist forms of journalism, particularly feature writing
• News-Writing – this is a specialist, practical module, honing your skills and leading to the NCTJ Reporting qualification and the NCTJ portfolio of professional practice
• Political Reporting – mixes the theory and practice of how journalists cover national and local government, and leads to the NCTJEssential Public Affairs qualification
• Inside Journalism 2 – this module continues your study of the context of journalism and then prepares you for your dissertation.
Third year
Core modules:
• Journalism Dissertation – in this module, you will write a 10,000 word project on a subject of your choice, by studying existing work and then carrying out original research on your chosen topic
• Reporting 3 – you will prepare a portfolio of your own work, including that published while on work experience or on Demon Media platforms. The major part of the portfolio is a publication, produced with a group of fellow students, which is conceptualised, written and designed by the students from start to finish
• Sub-editing and Design – this module allows you to learn the key skills involved in publication design and leads to the NCTJ qualification in Production Journalism
Optional modules:
• Sports Journalism – this module is practically focused and helps you to develop key sports reporting skills, particularly covering football, rugby and cricket and involving links with Leicester’s most prominent professional clubsin those sports
• Magazine Publishing – this module looks at how magazines are developed, marketed and run, allowing you to really get inside the fascinating world of magazines
• Broadcast Journalism – this module allows you to explore and develop your broadcast skills and involves real-world broadcasting on the university’s Demon Media broadcasting facilities
• Arts and Entertainment Journalism – you will explore the theory and practice of reviewing different aspects of the arts and entertainment
• Political Communication – this module looks at how politicians communicate with the public using the media, and the roles of the various media professionals, especially journalists, within that process.
Assessment methods
Most journalism is taught in two or three-hour practical workshops involving practical work every week. Other modules are taught in lecture and seminar formats, with the dissertation studied independently with support from tutorials with your tutor. Journalism students will spend time in taught sessions and be expected to do a lot of self study.
A wide variety of assessment methods are used, including practical sessions, essays, presentations, group work, portfolios and presentations. Most NCTJ qualifications are exam based.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Leicester Campus
Computing, Engineering and Media
What students say
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What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Media, journalism and communications
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£16k
£21k
£24k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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