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Broadcast Journalism
Department of Journalism Studies,
Faculty of Social Sciences
Course description
Determined, articulate and fascinated by current affairs and radio and television news? Learn journalism in our purpose-built Broadcast Zone using industry-standard tech, then go out into the city to put your skills to the test.
We invest heavily in audio and video facilities, so you'll be immersed in TV, radio and online techniques from day one. Nurture your skills, using our TV news studio and gallery, radio studios and production booths, all laden with the same industry-standard equipment and software used by the professionals.
You'll learn how to record and edit material and how to tell stories online. We'll teach you mobile journalism techniques so you can create and publish digital content wherever you are, with some bespoke skills for social media.
You’ll learn how to hunt down stories and develop your interview technique so you can ask the high-impact questions that matter. Our experts in media law, regulation and public administration will make sure your journalism is responsible and ethical as well as hard-hitting.
On production newsdays, you'll work against the clock as part of a team that goes out into the city to find the news, shoot footage and create bulletins to meet tight deadlines back at the newsroom. It's demanding work, but that's how our students finish the degree newsroom-ready, as complete broadcast journalists.
This degree is professionally accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council, an important benchmark of quality recognised across the UK media industry.
Accreditation
Accredited by the Broadcast Journalism Training Council
Modules
Core modules:
- Researching News
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Finding, researching, and developing news stories is a basic journalistic skill and one that is common to all media. This module is intended to equip students with the understanding, knowledge, insights and skills necessary for effective journalistic research and news gathering. It seeks to develop in students some of the basic practical skills involved - such as effective interviewing and researching - with the development of 'news sense' and an understanding of the potential sources of news in a variety of settings. It will demonstrate the generic nature of news gathering skills across all media.
15 credits - Broadcast News
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This module introduces you to news production for radio, television, the web and social media. You will learn basic technical skills covering recording and editing for radio and television, and the conventions of writing and presenting. It emphasises the nuts and bolts of radio and television news bulletins and starts the process of encouraging you to use production techniques effectively. You'll learn how to use a content management system and begin to learn how writing for the web differs from writing for broadcast. You will apply newsgathering and interviewing skills in broadcast situations which are structured to simulate the professional working environment. You will also have one to one voice training sessions to improve presentation skills.To get the most out of this module, you should be listening to and watching as great a variety of broadcast news as you can. A typical week might include some combination of 'Today' on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Sheffield, Hallam FM, BBC 5 Live Breakfast Programme, the main television news bulletins, Sky News and BBC News as well as all the regional programmes you can find, particularly 'Look North' and 'Calendar'. You should also log on regularly to news websites and if you haven't already done so, join Twitter (www.twitter.com) and follow as many journalists as you can find.
15 credits - Law for Journalists
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This module aims to develop students' understanding of legal constraints on journalists working in the UK, including defamation and contempt law. Students will also study how matter can be published in the public interest, and how a journalist can challenge invalid restrictions. There will also be a study of the Editors' Code of Practice and the Ofcom Broadcasting Code.
15 credits - Ethics and Regulation
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This module examines some of the major ethical controversies in journalism. Students will explore debates about the tension between freedom of expression and the exercise of responsibility, and about the need to balance privacy rights with publishing material in the public interest. There will also be study of regulation, truth-telling, media representation of vulnerable groups and journalists' relationship with their sources. Students will explore how ethical behaviour is encouraged in journalism, and consider how the industry codes seek to achieve this in the UK.
15 credits - Power and Society - The Institutions of Government
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This unit explores the institutions and organisations which significantly affect the nature of our society and which effect change within it. It explores the nature of the relationships between local, national and international institutions of government and seeks to equip journalists to understand how those relationships reflect or effect the decision making processes in society. It will also examine the structures and processes of the institutions of government at local, national and European level.
15 credits - Advanced Broadcast Journalism
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The focus of this module allows you to build on the basic skills developed in JNL6008. You will work on features, bulletins and programmes covering a range of formats and styles and further develop your online skills. A key exercise is a block of radio and television newsdays.
30 credits - Broadcast Journalism Portfolio
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This module requires students to submit a substantial piece of journalistic work in either radio or television. The project should be accompanied by a detailed written appraisal of the editorial and production processes involved.
60 credits
Option modules:
- Dealing with data for journalists
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News reporting relies increasingly on knowing how to understand and analyse data. "Now that information is abundant, processing is more important." (Philip Meyer). Data science is the scientific discipline that feeds into this new type of journalism. It provides methods for collecting and systematizing data, which is then analysed using a combination of statistical and machine learning techniques, and finally presented in an appealing and understandable format. This module will equip students with the confidence to appreciate and apply the most widely used statistical techniques, which constitute the very core of data science and, hence, facilitate responsible evidence-based journalism.
15 credits - Communicating with the Media
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This module will provide students with knowledge and skills necessary to communicate messages through the media. Case studies and practical workshops will allow students to learn about the practice of media communication. They will learn how the media operates and how to communicate messages through interviews, press conferences and news releases. Topics covered in the module will include the development of communication strategies, the understanding of news values and news cycles and strategies for successful and ethical communication.
15 credits - Critical Incidents in International Journalism
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In this module students will explore and analyse international critical incidents (for example, in the UK, US, Asia and Africa) and the efforts to ensure high-quality journalism that follow them. Students will engage in the critical analysis of media reform history, theories and perspectives related to critical incidents in journalism. Additionally, students will have an opportunity to develop their own media reform project and/or participate in an existing one.
15 credits - Global Journalism: Radio and NGO Communication in conflict-affected areas
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Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other such organisations are valuable information sources, mediators and actors in conflict-affected zones and use local media, particularly radio, to amplify their messages, programmes and advocacy. This module focuses on, and engages with, the public and political communication used, and sometimes misused, and even abused, by radio and NGOs, internationally and historically, during times of conflict and the challenges they encounter culturally, politically, economically, legally and institutionally. In this case, 'internationally' means from the perspective of the Global South.
15 credits
The content of our courses is reviewed annually to make sure it's up-to-date and relevant. Individual modules are occasionally updated or withdrawn. This is in response to discoveries through our world-leading research; funding changes; professional accreditation requirements; student or employer feedback; outcomes of reviews; and variations in staff or student numbers. In the event of any change we'll consult and inform students in good time and take reasonable steps to minimise disruption. We are no longer offering unrestricted module choice. If your course included unrestricted modules, your department will provide a list of modules from their own and other subject areas that you can choose from.
Open days
An open day gives you the best opportunity to hear first-hand from our current students and staff about our courses. You'll find out what makes us special.
Duration
MA - 1 year full-time
Teaching
There are lectures, seminars, group workshops, individual and team assignments.
Assessment
You’ll be assessed on producing a combination of radio and TV news stories, bulletins, features, web pages, portfolios, essays and examinations throughout your degree.
Your career
Department
Study with us and you'll learn vital practical skills: how to spot big stories and write sparkling copy, video editing, shorthand and advanced social media.
Because of our research expertise as an elite Russell Group university, you'll also discover how journalism is part of an epic social narrative about right and wrong, liberty and democracy, war and peace: about the life stories of people, societies and entire continents. We don't just teach you how, we show you why.
Join us and you'll be taught by professional journalists with years of experience in TV, radio, newspapers and magazines; and by influential academic researchers with powerful international reputations, who write the textbooks that journalists learn from.
Student profiles
I did the Broadcast Journalism MA at Sheffield. The most valuable part of the course was the work experience. That gave me a real idea of what working in the industry would be like. When I did get a job, I felt like I was already up and running.
Over the years I’ve worked in local and regional radio and TV and was a presenter on the BBC News Channel for a few years before moving into network TV.
Dan Walker
Broadcaster and MA Broadcast Journalism graduate
A day in the life of an MA Broadcast Journalism student
Entry requirements
Minimum 2:1 undergraduate honours degree.
We may also consider your application if you do not meet the standard academic requirements but you have considerable work experience in a media-related role.
Overall IELTS score of 7.5 with a minimum of 7.0 in each component, or equivalent.
If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the department.
Fees and funding
Apply
You can apply for postgraduate study using our Postgraduate Online Application Form. It's a quick and easy process.
Contact
journalism-admissions@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 2500
Any supervisors and research areas listed are indicative and may change before the start of the course.
Recognition of professional qualifications: from 1 January 2021, in order to have any UK professional qualifications recognised for work in an EU country across a number of regulated and other professions you need to apply to the host country for recognition. Read information from the UK government and the EU Regulated Professions Database.