Broadcast/ Television Journalism  MA

Overview

The Broadcast Journalism and Television Journalism MA courses prepare you for a first job in radio or television journalism. Both are accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC).

As a Broadcast Journalism masters student you will be given practical training in radio and television news. As a Television Journalism student you will cover television, from news to documentaries.

You will gain practical skills in our state-of-the-art digital television studio, digital editing suites, radio studios, and broadcast newsrooms.

Graduates of these courses include Sophie Raworth (BBC News), Samira Ahmed, Ramita Navai (Unreported World), Gillian Joseph (Sky News), James Landale (BBC News) and Barbara Serra (Al Jazeera).

Interview with Emmy Award-winning graduate Ramita Navai

Ramita Navai, who graduated from City in 2003, is best known for her work for Channel 4's Unreported World. In this interview with PBS NewsHour, Ramita describes her work filming Undercover Syria, which won a 2012 News & Documentary Emmy Award.

Course Fees:

  • Full-time EU: £9,000 (2013 entry)
  • Full-time Non EU: £18,000 (2013 entry)

Start Date:

23 September 2013

How to Apply

Entry Requirements

Applicants should have at least a good second class degree in any subject. Consideration will also be given to mature applicants with substantial work experience in radio and/or television journalism. Students whose first language is not English are advised to apply for the International Journalism MA, which is designed specifically for students from outside the UK.

Pre-requisites

  • You should have at least a good second class degree in any subject.
  • Applicants for both masters courses must demonstrate a knowledge of TV and/or radio news and current affairs. We expect a high standard of general knowledge relating to politics, international news, sport and entertainment.
  • Broadcast Journalism applicants should also have work experience in a local radio station.
  • Television Journalism applicants should also have work experience with a TV company or student TV, but this is desirable rather than essential. You should be able to demonstrate an interest in visual media
  • The Broadcast Journalism and Television Journalism courses are taught together for two-thirds of the syllabus. We urge applicants to look at both courses, but please only apply for one. We reserve the right to suggest you transfer your application between these courses if we feel you are better qualified for one or the other.

Other Suitable Qualifications

As well as new graduates, we also welcome applications from mature applicants with substantial work experience in radio and/or television journalism.

English Requirements

If your first language is not English, we advise you to apply for the International Journalism MA, which is designed specifically for students from outside the UK.

Visa Requirements

City University London retains Highly Trusted Status from UKBA, enabling us to sponsor international students to study in the UK.

The way that you apply may vary depending on the length of your course at City, there are different rules for:

  • Students on courses of more than 6 months
  • Students on courses of less than 6 months
  • Students on a pre-sessional English Language course

For more information see our main Visa page.

When and Where

Start Date:
23 September 2013
Duration:
Full-time (10 months).

Course Content

Which course is for you? 

Broadcast Journalism: offers practical training in radio and television. Newswriting, television and radio journalism are taught through lectures, workshops and broadcast simulation

Television Journalism: this covers news, documentaries and lifestyle TV journalism. Please apply for this course if your interest is primarily in television journalism of any kind.

If your first language is not English, you are advised to apply for the International Journalism MA, which is designed specifically for students from outside the UK

Course Structure

Modules include

Journalism practice (30 credits)

This module gives you the skills you need to work effectively in the journalism industry, as well as the entrepreneurial skills needed to work as a freelance journalist and to market yourself.

You will be able to spot a story, angle it, research and write it at speed and to a deadline.

By the time you finish this module, you will have reached a standard high enough to allow you not only to carry out your journalistic duties with technical and professional fluidity, but to reflect on the nature of your work and its impact on a variety of audiences.

Journalism and society 1 (10 credits)

This module will introduce you to the contemporary issues and studies of journalism and society in a global context. This includes developing a critical understanding of the media's role in democracies, the main forms of media systems, the institutional contexts surrounding news production, the relationship between media and globalisation, and different understanding of journalism values and norms in different global contexts.

In Journalism and Society term one you will focus on contexts and institutions of journalism. You will look into models of journalism in Europe, USA, and other parts of the world.

In Journalism and Society term two you will focus on Journalism and Ethics in a global context.

Journalism and society 2 (10 credits)

Following on from Journalism and society 1, this module will further underline the importance of cultural and political context in the conduct of journalism.

Topics covered in this module include war reporting, new versus old media, celebrity journalism, and the commodification of journalism.

International Journalism MA students, who take this module separately, explore a range of ethical dilemmas facing journalism and journalists worldwide.

Media law (20 credits)

This module provides the legal theory you require for effective work as a journalist.

It accompanies the journalism and society module which focuses more on ethical issues.

It aims to develop a detailed understanding of the law in the uk as it affects journalists.

Entrepreneurial journalism (10 credits)

The journalism industry now expects graduates to be creative, flexible and innovative, and to bring those qualities to a media organisation. Business and entrepreneurial knowledge will enable you to navigate these turbulent economic times, and this module equips you with the skills, attributes, behaviours and knowledge to become entrepreneurs. It will build on your creative and technical skills by developing an understanding of how your ideas can be transformed into sustainable entrepreneurial concepts.

Public administration (10 credits)

The aim of this module is to give you a basic knowledge of government structures (at local, national and European levels) as they relate to the work of a journalist. You will be introduced to contemporary political science perspectives on British government, and you will finish the module with a critical and comprehensive understanding of how elections are organised and reported.

Online journalism (20 credits)

This module gives you an opportunity to learn about media case studies, trends and opportunities in online journalism.

You will gain the practical skills associated with convergent and multimedia production including use of social media and online communities for journalism.

It gives you an introduction to contacts, institutions, issues, jargon, career opportunities and information sources relevant to online media. It also provides an opportunity for discussion and the development of skills in relatively small labs run by professional journalists.

Editorial production for TV and radio (30 credits)

The media industry expects graduates to have practical competence in, and knowledge of, a range of editorial practice, including sub-editing and layout skills (in print as well as online) and script writing, copy writing and programme making (for broadcast students).

This module enables you to learn those skills. (this module is taught at course level - eg. Broadcast students learn broadcast production skills, newspaper students learn page layout and design, etc.)

Research for TV current affairs programmes (Television journalism only) (10 credits)

This module will equip you to research a fresh topic using a variety of resources, culminating in the production of a fully comprehensive brief which contains new material, evidence of original thought and the demonstrable ability to follow an argument.

TV and radio technique (Broadcast journalism only) (10 credits)

Through this module you will learn the appropriate presentation skills to perform at a high professional level as a broadcast journalist.

By the end of the module you will deliver broadcast scripts with confidence, clarity and authority and, where necessary improvise, interview or 'ad-lib' succinctly and intelligently.

Final project (30 credits)

The MA project brings together the knowledge and skills you will have acquired during the year in a final work that is of professional quality, and that is relevant to your chosen area.

Print students will usually write a series of journalistic articles, and broadcast students will produce a documentary.

You will produce a project that has the potential to contribute to the public's understanding of the field of study, or to the profession's better understanding of its working methods.

To this end, each project must be directed at a specified audience.


Read the full 2014 programme specification.

Teaching and Assessment

All MA Journalism courses at City are practical, hands-on courses designed for people that want to become journalists. As a result, much of your coursework will be journalistic assignments that you produce to deadline, as you would in a real news organisation.

Some courses are taught in lecture theatres, such as Journalism and Society 1 and Media Law, but most are small-group workshops that allow you to develop your journalistic skills and knowledge with the support of our expert academics.

You should be available for classes and assignments from Mondays to Fridays during working hours, and occasionally outside those times.

Read the full 2014 programme specification.

Course academic staff

Lis Howell is Director of Broadcasting and Deputy Head of the Department of Journalism. Lis is a major award-winning journalist and broadcasting executive who has worked for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Sky News. She was Senior Vice-President at Flextech Television (later Virgin Media) where she founded Living TV, now a key channel on Sky. Prior to that she was Managing Editor of Sky News where she produced their coverage of the first Gulf War from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. She won a Royal Television Society Award for coverage of the Lockerbie disaster from ITV Border when she was the first female Head of News at ITV. Read more about Lis Howell

Colette Cooney teaches radio and television on the MA Broadcast Journalism course. She graduated from the Broadcast Journalism course at City in 1996 and subsequently worked as a broadcast journalist for Meridian News, BBC London, ITN and CNN.

Sandy Warr (Broadcast Journalism MA) has been a presenter with Chris Tarrant, Simon Bates, Tony Blackburn, and Paul Ross, and has presented on the Today Programme, Five Live, Sky News, LBC and Talk Radio. She is a presentation coach for broadcasters including the BBC, Sky Television and Al Jazeera. Read more at Sandy's website

Tina Stallard (Broadcast Journalism MA) was a producer on the BBC's national news bulletins for more than 15 years and has also worked on Panorama and Newsnight.

Andrew Bailey (Broadcast Journalism MA) is an award-winning broadcast journalist. He is currently head of news at Absolute Radio where he presents the national news every weekday morning. He has worked at Radio City in Liverpool, Key 103 & Century FM in Manchester, BBC Radio 5 Live, London Tonight and Virgin Radio. He is a Director of the Broadcast Journalism Training Council and sits on the BJTC board.

David Lloyd (Television Journalism MA) is the former head of News and Current Affairs at Channel Four and was responsible for starting one of the most significant Current Affairs strands in British television, Dispatches. Read more about David Lloyd

Sally Webb (Television Journalism MA) is a documentary, news and current affairs producer/director with over 22 years' experience. Her work for the BBC included spells at the Political Research Unit, Special Documentaries Unit (making investigative programmes for Panorama and Assignment), and File on Four (BBC Radio 4). She has also worked for Twenty Twenty Television and Granada making documentaries and current affairs films. For the past ten years Sally has been training BBC staff, and makes films for the BBC College of Journalism website.

Mike Trew (Television Journalism MA) is an experienced freelance producer and editor. For the past 27 years he has been a producer/editor at ABC News working on their news and current affairs programmes. He has covered most major news events including the fall of Communism in Europe, the Gulf war, the civil wars in Yugoslavia, the US invasion of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.

Linda Lewis (Television Journalism MA) is an award-winning broadcaster whose journalistic career spans TV, radio and print. She spent over 20 years with BBC news and current affairs: as a reporter for BBC TV News, the Today programme, BBC Business programmes and the political unit at Westminster, and as a regular presenter on the PM programme and You and Yours on Radio 4.

John Battle (Media Law, both MAs) is the Head of Compliance at ITN.

Professor Roy Greenslade (Journalism and Society, both MAs) is a leading commentator and columnist on the media, and currently blogs for The Guardian. As a journalist he rose to the highest levels of management in a career taking in The Sun, the Sunday Times, and the editorship of the Daily Mirror.. Read more about Prof. Roy Greenslade

Paul Bradshaw (Online Journalism, both MAs) publishes the Online Journalism Blog and is the founder of the investigative journalism crowdsourcing site Help Me Investigate (shortlisted for 2010 Multimedia Publisher of the Year). He is described by Press Gazette as one of the country's "most influential journalism bloggers". Read more about Paul Bradshaw

Alex Wood (Online Journalism, both MAs) is currently a Producer/Field Producer at Bloomberg TV. A pioneer of 'new' journalism, in April 2009 he made multimedia history at the London G20 summit, creating a live reporting site with his team of mobile reporters. He founded Not on the Wires, an online magazine focused on telling stories from around the world through multimedia. His work has featured on the BBC, Reuters and media across the world. Read more on Alex's website

Stewart Purvis (both MAs) is Professor of Television Journalism. He began his broadcasting career at the BBC and then moved to ITN where he became Editor-in-Chief and then Chief Executive from 1995-2003. During his time as Editor of Channel Four News in the early 1980s he won two British Academy Awards. He was Partner for Content & Standard at Ofcom until 2010. In 2000 he received a CBE for services to broadcast journalism. Read more about Stewart Purvis

How to prepare for our Journalism MA courses

Barbara RowlandsBarbara Rowlands, MA Journalism Programme Director, offers the following advice to prospective City Journalism students. The advice applies for all MA Journalism courses:

"Get work experience on local, regional or national newspapers, magazines or regional broadcast stations. Check a news website every day (not just Twitter). Immerse yourself in current affairs, watch documentaries such as Dispatches and Panorama, listen to Radio 4's Today programme and watch BBC Newsnight. If you say you don't know who the Home Secretary is because you've been too busy doing your finals, you won't get a place. If you let your general knowledge slip while you are trekking round Thailand in the summer, you will suffer. Read the appropriate media, whether that's the Financial Times, New Scientist or Marie Claire - and most importantly, for broadcasters and TV students, watch and listen.

Read books about journalism by top journalists and develop an appetite for brilliantly-written newspaper and magazine features. Take an interest in some of the issues covered and develop your own perspective on them. Develop a professional online presence. Start to read/watch/listen as a journalist (ie. critically), and begin to question why something is news, how and why it is structured as it is and why specific words and images are used. Look at how the story is used across media platforms."

Fees

  • Full-time EU: £9,000 (2013 entry)
  • Full-time Non EU: £18,000 (2013 entry)

Funding

For up-to-date information about tuition fees, living costs and financial support, visit Undergraduate Fees and Finance or Postgraduate Fees and Finance.

Bursaries

The following organisations have supported students in the Department of Journalism in the past. This is not a guarantee of future sponsorship, and you are advised to check the websites of these organisations for details of future bursary and scholarship schemes.

Placements

Work placements are an integral part of both Broadcast Journalism MA courses, giving you the chance to put your learning into practice and, more importantly, make contacts in the industry.

Broadcast Journalism students do two work placements, one of which must be in radio. These take place during the winter and spring breaks.

Television Journalism students have a weekly placement in the TV industry during term time (on Wednesdays).

Organisations hosting City students during the 2011/2 academic year include:

  • ABC
  • Al-Jazeera
  • BBC Africa
  • BBC Andrew Marr Show
  • BBC Breakfast
  • BBC Click
  • BBC Current Affairs
  • BBC HARDtalk
  • BBC London
  • BBC News
  • BBC Newsnight
  • BBC Sport
  • BBC The One Show
  • BBC Watchdog
  • Blakeway Productions
  • Blink
  • CTVC
  • Flame
  • Hardcash Productions
  • ITN
  • ITN Sport (Olympics)
  • NorthOne
  • October Films
  • OR Media
  • Plum Films
  • politics.com
  • Reuters
  • Sky Arts
  • Sky Business
  • Sky Channel 5 News
  • Sky News (Planning)
  • Sky News Sunrise
  • Sky Sports
  • Sky World News
  • Talkback

Career Prospects

Prominent alumni

We have been running Journalism courses at City since 1976. In the 36 years since, over 5,000 students have graduated and are now working in the media in the UK and internationally.

Read alumni stories and see the full list of graduate destinations in the latest issue of our alumni magazine XCity.


City University London's Broadcast Journalism masters alumni occupy top positions in broadcast journalism in the UK and overseas. They include:

  • Samira Ahmed, Channel 4 News presenter and journalist
  • Richard Klein, Controller of BBC4
  • Kirsty Lang, BBC presenter
  • Dermot Murnaghan, Sky News presenter
  • Ramita Navai, Emmy Award-winning documentary maker
  • Sophie Raworth, BBC News presenter

See more leading City Journalism alumni in broadcasting.

Find out more about City University London

MA Broadcast Journalism / Television Journalism

You can apply either in hard copy by post or online. Please follow the instructions below carefully.

To apply for a course, please submit the following:

  1. One application form
  2. Two references. We prefer you to submit one academic reference, and one reference from a journalism-related work placement.
    Please note that you are responsible for ensuring that your references reach us by the application deadline.
  3. A copy of your degree transcript. We require one of the following: an original transcript; a copy certified by your university; or an electronic scan of your transcript. If you have not yet graduated, you will be required to submit your degree transcript as soon as it is available. You will not be able to register as a City student without having supplied your degree transcript.
  4. Details of your work experience in journalism. Applicants should be able to demonstrate commitment to journalism through relevant work experience.
    Either include these on a separate sheet with your postal application, or copy and paste the details into the "Personal Statement" section of the online application form.
  5. Two written critiques:
  • write a critique of 200 words on a factual or news radio programme broadcast at any time in the last month
  • write a critique of 200 words on a factual or news TV programme broadcast at any time in the last month

    Either include these on a separate sheet with your postal application, or copy and paste the details into the "Personal Statement" section of the online application form.

Application forms

Selection process

Interviews

Most interviews will take place in April 2013. Further details will be posted here as soon as they are available.

Offers

You should expect to hear whether or not you have been selected for a place on the course in early May 2013.

Return address

Please return your postal application form and/or supporting documents, marked "Postgraduate Applications 2013", to: Admissions, Graduate School of Journalism, City University London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB, UK.