News Journalism

Entry requirements

Months of entry

September

Course content

Our MA in News Journalism offers a comprehensive, professional introduction to the theory, ethics, application and promotion of quality journalism. It is relevant to careers at hyperlocal, regional and national level in the UK.

Accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ), our MA in News Journalism gives you the opportunity to learn the basics of how to find, produce, and publish a story using the most effective and relevant tools available.

It is an intensive year-long course during which you’ll be taught how to:

• Write news and features
• Create multimedia packages
• Research stories
• Build up contacts, and
• Work a news patch you will be allocated.

As well as written reporting skills, you’ll learn how to take stills and shoot short videos on mobile and create data infographics suitable to upload to our public-facing news site The Cardiffian. You will also learn how to promote those stories using social media.

You’ll spend time outside the classroom putting your skills into practice, fulfilling realistic briefs which require you to put content together to reflect a variety of stories for online and print media. Practical work may also include covering press conferences, public meetings, court, councils, politics, sports events, and entertainment.

We’re not looking for ready-made journalists, but you will need to demonstrate a keen interest in news and evidence your commitment to a career in journalism through prior work experience or placements, whether paid or unpaid. We expect you to be engaged with what’s happening in the world; if you regularly read, watch and listen to the news, that’s a good start.

This course is professionally accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and you’ll sit its diploma exams as well as completing university assessments. Graduates with the diploma are highly prized by employers. The cost of staging the diploma exams is included in the cost of the course. Several students each year secure full funding via the NCTJ’s Journalism Diversity Fund.

We prepare students to work in the UK news media, for instance by covering UK politics and the laws of England and Wales. International students who meet the entry criteria and have ambitions to work in the UK are welcome to apply, but those with broader ambitions may prefer the MA International Journalism programme.

Accreditations

• National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ)

Fees and funding

If you’re a home-fee paying student, you can apply for a £3,000 Master’s Scholarship from Cardiff University to help cover the cost of this programme.