Introduction
The BA (Hons) Journalism at the University of Lincoln is offered to students who specifically wish to pursue a career in journalism or its related fields of press and public relations.
This three-year course, which is fully accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council and the Periodicals Training Council, is designed to provide students with the essential knowledge and training required by todays increasingly converging news media industries.
Students are taught the necessary editorial skills of research, information analysis, news evaluation and journalistic writing and interviewing techniques required by the industry. The curriculum also covers aspects of law and public affairs in the context of journalistic practice. Students work within a culture of continuous news output in print, internet, radio and television. This is facilitated by 7 industry-standard newsrooms, with a news agency feed, work stations and print production make-up. Broadcast journalism is catered for by well-equipped radio and television presentation studios.
As well as benefiting from the excellent facilities Journalism students provide the news output and a range of programmes for SIREN FM, the University’s own Community Radio station, which broadcasts to the Lincoln area and further afield via the web. There is also support for students to obtain work placements via the School’s excellent links with the industry plus a range of print publications run by Journalism students offer further opportunities to develop and practice journalistic skills.
Course Content
Level One
Law for Production Journalists 1
Journalism students are required to abide by the law, in terms of newsgathering and research methods, data collection and retention, use of communication networks and publishing and broadcasting material to audiences. This module introduces students to the legal system, to the operation of the courts, and examines the impact of legislation and codes of practice on the work of journalists.
Reporting Continuity and Change 1789-2000
The module introduces students to key cultural and technological influences in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that shaped the development of the modern media. Significant elements include the rise of the provincial papers, censorship and satire, new journalism and notions of the moral majority, the documentary film movement, the development of the BBC and the role of the media in moulding national and regional identities.
Public Administration 1: Democracy and Bureaucracy
This module will study the political and administrative structure of government, local government and EU institutions, evaluating how the legal system operates within the democratic process, which in turn depends on journalists monitoring, interpreting and explaining current affairs to voters and taxpayers.
News Media Theory and Analysis
This module explores media practices and institutions, utilising the theories of journalism studies and other related media theoretical concepts. It encourages students to discover the link between theory and practice through the use of case study and appropriate methodologies and engages them in critical evaluation of journalism practices across different platforms.
Journalism Skills (Double module)
Students will progress through the key journalistic skills of newsgathering, writing, editing and design in the modern mass media world. Using a blend of practice and theory, students will be encouraged to develop a rounded awareness of the media and will produce portfolios of their work. There will be a focus on newsgathering and writing skills which is then reinforced with the use of editing techniques. The way design influences different media will also be analysed.
Multiplatform News Production (Double module)
This module introduces students to the editorial and production skills required for broadcast news production in the increasingly multiplatform environment. The focus will be on newsgathering and output production for both radio and television with attention given to related online content. Students will work in a newsroom environment within strict time constraints .
Level Two
Law for Production Journalists 2
This module builds on legal and administrative knowledge gleaned at Level 1, examines how criminal and civil legislation affecting print, online and broadcast journalists has developed, identifies areas of conflict and uncertainty, and requires the student to apply knowledge of legislation and case law to given scenarios including responses to actions in the civil courts.
News, Features, Reportage
Students will proactively gather news and feature stories employing the full range of research and interview techniques in a newsroom setting. They will also participate in press conferences, press briefings, speech events, magistrates’ court hearings, and council meetings. The emphasis will be on the creation of imaginative and original copy, conforming to professional standards with careful consideration of angle, choice of interviewees, attribution and corroboration of facts.
Public Administration 2: The Journalist as Public Watchdog?
This module focuses on the use (and misuse) of public and private funds by institutions and considers the operation of internal and external checks against corrupt dealings, fraud and false accounting. In the context of the current political and economic climate, students are encouraged to consider whether or not the ‘Fourth Estate’ is in an effective position to challenge corrupt and unethical practices on the part of politicians, bureaucrats and associated business interests. .
Reporting Social and Cultural Diversity
The role of the media as a ‘mirror’ of society means that journalists encounter cross-cultural issues in their newsgathering and news processing functions. This module will prepare students to write stories with cultural sensitivity, care and compassion.
Ethics and International Human Rights for Journalists
This module highlights the importance of a critical and comparative knowledge of human rights issues to the practice of journalism and aims to develop students’ awareness of the range of ethical issues facing journalists.
The Origins of Modern Britain 1945-1980
This module examines British society from c1945. It will enable Journalism students to critically consider the historical background to some of the issues which feature in contemporary news agendas and look at the role of the press in recording them.
Radio News and Features (Production Option – double module)
Students will produce news bulletins, undertaking a range of roles within the radio newsroom environment. They will also develop a range of production skills culminating in the production of an individual radio package (short radio news feature) with supporting promotional online materials and, as part of a workshop group, a current affairs magazine programme. Critical listening, voice training and presentation skills will be part of the curriculum.
Television News Production (Production Option – double module)
This module is designed to meet the needs of those students wishing to specialize in the production of television news as a professional discipline. Students will be taught to write, shoot and edit news stories for video, to be broadcast either online or in a conventional television news format. Students will also take part in live television news day
Newspaper & Magazine Production including Digital photography (Production Option – double module)
Students will learn to use Quark XPress to create newspaper and magazine pages, and handle running news stories. They will also learn elements of digital photography in relation to newspaper and magazine design. They will write stories, design pages and work as news teams. Elements of design theory, writing skills and photography, coupled with aspects of Photoshop software, will also form part of this module.
Online Production and Digital Photography (Production Option – double module)
The module comprises 2 complementary elements; aiming to both help students develop web-design and writing skills and the techniques of digital photography. In the online element, students will learn to mark up copy in HTML using a text editor (Notepad)and a Web authoring program (Adobe Dreamweaver). They will also look at content-management systems and database-driven web sites. The photography workshops will focus on the practicalities of digital photographic production.
Journalism International Exchange (Option)
Some students may study for the duration of Semester B of Level 2 at one of the international institutions with which the School has a partnership arrangement. During the semester abroad, students will share classes with local students. Not only will students be living and socialising in another 'culture' providing opportunities to study their respective countries, they will also have an opportunity to examine international journalism industry practice.
Level Three
Advanced Feature Development
Students will examine and analyse feature formats across a wide range of publications, from general readership newspapers and magazines to specialist and niche journals aimed at the ‘expert’. Students will study the particular attributes needed for specialist feature writing including: authority, expertise, ability to access specialist information, feature ‘spot’ format requirements, etc.
The Business of Journalism
Here students focus on employment opportunities in journalism, featuring the role of freelancers, specialist contributors, in-house journalists, editors/managers and changing patterns of work in the industry. Students will conduct research into recruitment policies, employment opportunities, job application and interview skills and will examine the commercial relationship between the journalist and individual print titles, broadcast or web-based news companies.
Independent Study (Double module)
Students undertaking a dissertation in the subject of journalism are able to investigate a topic of their own choice within the field of journalism studies and apply key theoretical concepts to their research. Although staff supervision is provided, students are required to work on their own initiative and provide clear evidence of their ability to collect, select and evaluate relevant information and present it in a clear and logical manner.
Broadcast Journalism (Option – double module)
Students will produce and present broadcast news bulletins, programmes and some long form factual programming for both radio and television. They will be expected to contribute to a rolling programme of bulletins and features for internal consumption and, in the case of radio, for the University’s community radio station, Siren FM. Students will also be expected to provide relevant content for the web to reflect the increasingly multiplatform journalistic environment.
Print Journalism including Digital Photography (Option – double module)
This module allows students to specialise in newspaper production or magazine production. Alternatively they can undertake newspaper and magazine production together. In student-led workshops with tutor supervision, students will produce a range of journalistic products which they can use to build up a portfolio of stories and pages to impress a potential employer. They will be encouraged throughout to reflect on their production practice
Online Journalism (Option – double module)
In this module, students will design, write for, edit and manage a web site delivering news and features. Students will source and write original news stories that are accurate and legally safe. They will format them; add appropriate hyperlinks to related stories, background features and external resources on the internet; and load them onto a web site with accompanying headlines, pictures/ graphics and, where appropriate, multimedia.
Sport Journalism (option – double module)
Students wishing to specialise in an increasingly popular field of journalism will gain experience of sports reporting. They will also be able to develop a better understanding of the structure of sport and be able to work in one or more media of their choice and will explore issues surrounding sport, including its impact on society.
Theoretically Based Programme Options
For those students wishing to pursue a more theoretically based programme, a selection of modules will be offered, 2 of which can be taken in place of a double production module. These currently include:
International Media Policies (Option)
The module will look at media broadcasting structures in the UK and in other countries. It will develop the students’ critical understanding of models of national broadcasting and the implications for media policy and mass media role in society. Furthermore, the module will introduce students to the role of media policy actors including the fundamental contexts of national, cultural and economic systems which inform the development of media policy debate
Peace and Conflict Reporting (Option)
This module will explore the history of war reporting, examining the evolution of war-making by major Western powers and the ways in which journalists have represented those conflicts. In addition it will consider the reasons why some conflicts are marginalised, ignored altogether or given extensive coverage by the mainstream media.
Comparative Media History (Option)
This module enables students to appreciate trends and changes within all the main media industries; press, radio, TV, cinema, music and the internet on a comparative basis between countries and between platforms. The module offers an opportunity to understand how the media has reached the state it is now in, and what trends are likely to continue in the future.
Shorthand
Shorthand lessons can be arranged at an additional cost, but are not required as part of the degree course at the University of Lincoln. However, certain types of journalism require high levels of shorthand.
Special Features
The course offers students a diet of core skills and theory with a range of production and theory options, plus the chance to spend a semester abroad at an international institution, to customise their learning experience and enhance their employability.
Facilities
This course is facilitated by 6 industry-standard newsrooms, with a news agency feed, work stations and print production make-up. Broadcast journalism is catered for by well-equipped radio and television presentation studios.
Professional Links
This course is accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC). The BJTC praised the “exceptional facilities” on offer at Lincoln and described the University as being a “fast developing centre for journalism training in the East of England”. This course is also accredited by the Periodicals Training Council (PTC) which is the lead body for best practice in training and development and people management for the magazine and business media industry.
Fees
| 2012 Entry | UK/EU | International |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time | £9000 | £12033 |
| Part-time | £75 per credit point | £100 per credit point |
| Placement (optional) | Exempt | Exempt |
| Assessment Only | £38 per credit point | £50 per credit point |
For further information and funding your study please see our Fees & Funding pages.
