BA (Hons) Journalism
Overview
Preparing you for a career in the media
The course aims to produce confident and flexible graduates who are digitally literate with an innovative and self-reflexive approach to their journalism practice. In an industry environment, which is under constant transformation, the course equips you with the autonomy to identify and adapt to the changing technical and conceptual demands of journalism in the digital age. It is accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) ensuring students are ready to join the industry straight from graduation.
At every stage of your degree, you will be mentored and supported by industry professionals and academic staff who are themselves active journalists or have extensive experience in journalism and media production.
You will have the opportunity to study abroad Journalism at a university in another country. Our students have spent a semester studying at Universities in the USA, Canada, Spain, Australia and elsewhere.
We offer the opportunity for all undergraduate Home/EU students to undertake a work placement, internship or work experience while studying a full-time course starting in September 2020.
Why Journalism at LSBU?
- No.1 in London for academic support and no.3 for overall satisfaction (National Student Survey 2019).
- No.1 London Modern University for Communications and Media (Sunday Times League Table 2020).
- JLDN , the students’ broadcasting station broadcasts your programmes live on YouTube. The radio station broadcasts your news, current affairs, music, lifestyle and variety programmes which you can listen online or on your mobile by downloading our app for Android or iOS.
- Facilities include multi-million pound Elephant Studios, including news rooms, sound booths and editing suites to become fully immersed in the field.
- Past students have secured placements at: the BBC, ITV, London Live, LadBible, MTV, Reuters, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, Time Out, Neswsweek, and The Independent.
- We’re short walk to the Southbank Centre, National Theatre, BFI IMAX, Tate Modern, Royal Festival Hall, The Old Vic Theatre, and The Young Vic.
Modules
All modules are assessed by one or more of the following: project work accompanied by a critical commentary, timed assignments, production of magazines/broadcast bulletins/websites, work attachments (recorded and evaluated), internships and work placements, production of portfolios of work, presentations to seminars, presentations of projects for peer review, examination, essays, and a dissertation.
You’ll learn the traditional tools of journalism, including researching, writing, proof-reading, sub editing and designing/layout pages for both print and online publications.
Web skills are central to the course – you’ll carry out a range of multimedia tasks (including photo, audio and video reporting), assemble audio/visual material in multi-layered storytelling formats, curate material online in the most creative ways, and develop a basic understanding of web development and coding.
Methods of assessment for course overall: 89% coursework.
Publish videos, audio and written news and features
From the beginning of the degree you’ll be treated as a professional journalist. Your work will be uploaded to the student news platform (lsbu-multimedia-journalists.co.uk), designed as a starting platform for your work. Articles will cover a range of topics from around London. You’ll source stories, provide your own images and design layouts.
In your third year, your work will be featured on journalism.london, an impressive collection of student pieces and a platform to publish videos, news and features. You’ll build from your experiences in the first and second year to create and contribute to a legitimate Journalism website.
Year 1
- Journalism foundations
- Digital journalism
- Journalism and society
- Introduction to broadcast journalism
- Interview and feature writing
Year 2
- Cross platform journalism
- Journalism futures
- Investigative journalism
- Cross platform journalism advanced
- Media law and ethics
Year 3
- Work placement and professional identity
- Global journalism
- Interactive journalism
- Journalism project (option)
- Research paper (option)
Entry requirements
- A Level BCC or;
- BTEC National Diploma MMM or;
- Access to HE qualifications with 9 Distinctions 36 Merits or;
- Equivalent level 3 qualifications worth 106 UCAS points
- Applicants must hold 5 GCSEs A-C including Maths and English or equivalent (reformed GCSEs grade 4 or above)
- We welcome qualifications from around the world. English language qualifications for international students: IELTS score of 6.0 or Cambridge Proficiency or Advanced Grade C.
Advanced entry
If you have already completed some studies at another university, we may be able to consider you for advanced entry. Please see our advanced entry page for more information.