Viewing course details for 2024 year of entry

How to apply

Code: PGP500
Attendance: Full-time
Start: September 2024
Fees: £8,600 (UK) £8,600 (INT)
Duration: 1 year full-time
Course Leader: Sophie Knowles
Study mode: Online
Location: Hendon campus
School / Department: School of Arts

Currently Reading: Course overview

Why study MSc Digital Journalism at Middlesex University?

Consultants from pioneers in the digital world, such as Google News Lab and the Guardian/Observer, have contributed to make this master's course industry-relevant and at the forefront of the most innovative developments in the news business. The curriculum has been specifically designed to be consumed and shared with an online, diverse community of students from around the world.

This programme will develop your existing core and technical journalistic skills while you are encouraged to discover the type of journalist you would like to be. Find a topic or subject that truly sparks your interest and become an expert as you explore this topic critically and creatively in your final project.

Build and improve your intellectual rigour as you learn about the relevance and legacy of trends and affairs that are shaping the media landscape right now. You'll gain the skills and knowledge required to work in the media industry in a number of ways: for instance, as a data or digital journalist, or as a media analyst or researcher.

This course gives you the opportunity to push your academic work or take on a work placement. We have industry links with the a variety of national and international news outlets and our academics are at the forefront of their fields and will guide you as you develop your own specialist knowledge and practice.

All of the modules you'll study link theory with practice, giving you the chance to reflect on how you practice, why you should practice in a certain way, and the implications of journalistic practice.

Course highlights

This course is up-to-date and innovative; we continually consult with big industry players like Google, the BBC and the Guardian
You'll be able to use our state-of-the-art materials and tutorials around your own schedule and connect with people around the world, from different countries, cultures and backgrounds
Exploit the opportunities that this level of access and expertise brings from the comfort of wherever you are in the world.

About your course

What will you study on MSc Digital Journalism?

Over the course of this master's, you'll learn about the key issues that are impacting the journalism and media industry from a technical, practical and intellectual perspective. For example, you'll investigate how artificial intelligence is benefitting and challenging the power dynamics that shape the news industry.

You'll consider the ethical challenges that global shifts in power are bringing to journalism and you'll explore some of the fundamentals you need to both practice and understand coding for journalistic purposes and big data trends in storytelling.

In addition to building your knowledge about these latest trends, including where they have come from and projections about where they are heading, you'll specialise in a subject or topic to advance your critical, independent and researching skills.

What you will gain

This course will allow you to hone your critical and independent thinking skills, especially as you embark on the major project to explore a subject of your choosing.

You'll learn new technical skills in shooting and editing using mobile phones, and building multi-modal journalism online. You'll also develop new and existing skills of coding, data analysis and data visualisation techniques.

You'll develop your story-telling skills through reporting and interviewing, and you'll be able to build more rigorous research skills, both academically and journalistically.

Modules

Here is a brief overview of the modules

This module will teach you how to work across and within mediums to exploit the power of synthesising a number of them together in one place. You'll learn new and innovative ways to record, report and edit stories online. If you already have skills in shooting and editing videos, you'll still be encouraged to develop these skills and create packages for online consumption.

In this module, you'll learn about the shifts in power we have witnessed in recent decades, as the world has been brought closer together by globalization, technology and financial markets. These developments present a myriad of challenges for journalists to overcome as their ethical practices are being stretched in a way they have never been before.

Algorithms are becoming a new power broker in news, deciding what stories are most popular, and even identifying sources for new ones. However, these are just some of the basic ways to understand how AI is changing the game in the news industry. In this module, you'll build on your knowledge of AI and learn how you might use it appropriately in your own practice.

Big data is big news! Learn all the historical, current and future ways data is changing the paradigm for storytelling. Understand the basics you need to code as a journalist and data visualisation techniques. Data surrounds us in a digital world, offering journalists opportunities to identify, access and report in new and innovative ways. The reporting of the Panama papers, for instance, demonstrate the sheer breadth of information that needs to be covered, synthesised and reported in ways that a wide audience can understand.

There are two pathways to choose from in this module which offer you a degree of flexibility to specialise in a way that suits you best: either the dissertation route or through a work placement route. You'll learn some investigative techniques to use either in an academic sense, or in a journalistic sense. You'll be encouraged to develop your critical and independent thinking, drawing on themes you have covered during the course, and explore more forensically a subject that has sparked your interest.

For more information, please download the Digital Journalism MSc Online Distance Learning course specification (PDF).

Register your interest

Teaching

You'll be taught by an experienced teaching team with a wide range of expertise and professional experience.

This module is taught solely and specifically online. You'll be given the flexibility of working from wherever you are in the world, while being connected to some of the world’s best educational resources, practitioners and prestigious academics. You'll also be able to take advantage of the many benefits from connecting with students from all over the world.

You can choose to do a work placement as part of your major project. We'll encourage and help you to build on your current work experience to develop a stronger sense of the media industry and where your skills and interests lie within it.

Throughout the course, you'll have the opportunity to showcase your work on a dedicated sharing platform for other students and your tutors. You'll work in teams online to produce news stories in real-time and you'll benefit from numerous practical tutorials recorded in our state-of-the-art newsroom.

Assessments are based 100% on coursework. This means that you'll not be assessed by an examination. The work that you submit will be diverse and take various forms from practical audio-visual work, critical and traditional essays, to reports, reflective writing, and group work.

Entry requirements

Qualifications

We normally require a second-class honours degree 2:2 or above
Applicants who do not hold a degree but have a significant level of experience are welcome to apply but must also supply a portfolio of recent work for consideration

If you have relevant qualifications or work experience, academic credit may be awarded towards your application.

Qualifications

We accept the equivalent of the below qualifications from a recognised overseas qualification:

We normally require a second-class honours degree 2:2 or above
Applicants who do not hold a degree but have a significant level of experience are welcome to apply with a portfolio of recent work for consideration.

To find out more about the qualifications we accept visit your country support page. If you are unsure about the suitability of your qualifications or would like help with your application, please contact your nearest regional office for support.

If you have relevant qualifications or work experience, academic credit may be awarded towards your Middlesex University programme of study.

Visas

You will not need a visa to study in the UK if you are a citizen of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland. If you are a national of any other country you may need a visa to study in the UK.

English language

You must have competence in English language to study with us. The most commonly accepted evidence of English language ability is IELTS 6.5 (with minimum 6.0 in all components). We also normally require Grade C GCSE or an equivalent qualification.

If you don't meet our minimum English language requirements, we offer an intensive pre-sessional English course.

Applications for postgraduate study should be made directly to the university. Please visit our postgraduate application page for further information and to apply.

Interviews

You will not be required to interview for this course.

Student support

We offer lots of support to help you while you're studying including financial advice, wellbeing, mental health, and disability support.

Additional needs

We'll support you if you have additional needs such as sensory impairment or dyslexia. And if you want to find out whether Middlesex is the right place for you before you apply, get in touch with our Disability and Dyslexia team.

Wellness

Our specialist teams will support your mental health. We have free individual counselling sessions, workshops, support groups and useful guides.

Work while you study

Our Middlesex Unitemps branch will help you find work that fits around uni and your other commitments. We have hundreds of student jobs on campus that pay the London Living Wage and above. Visit the Middlesex Unitemps page.

Careers

How can the Digital Journalism MSc support your career?

The career routes on offer to journalism graduates is broadening and diversifying. There are many new roles becoming available in journalism and your journalism skills are easily transferable to other careers. This marks a transition from jobs principally being available at newspapers and other legacy media to a wide range of other jobs that are being made available online, through alternative media and the wider communications industry.

Prospective students could find themselves in the following jobs:

Journalists, news writers, editors and reporters – specifically as online, digital, data journalists or as international correspondents
Working for international organisations, charities, NGOs
Online platforms have expanded rapidly in the past decade. Google is now as big an employer of journalists as major broadcasters
Analysing or producing media for various corporations and companies in the communications sector.

Fees and funding

The fees below are for the 2024/25 academic year.

UK students¹ / International students²

Full-time students: £8,600

Postgraduate scholarships

If you are an undergraduate alumnus continuing postgraduate studies at Middlesex, you are eligible for an alumni award worth 20% off your fees.

Find out more about our postgraduate scholarships.

Help from your employer

Your employer can contribute towards the cost of your postgraduate study as part of their staff development programme.

Fees disclaimers

1. UK fees: The university reserves the right to increase undergraduate tuition fees in line with changes to legislation, regulation and any government guidance or decisions. The tuition fees for part-time UK study are subject to annual review and we reserve the right to increase the fees each academic year by no more than the level of inflation.

2. International fees: Tuition fees are subject to annual review and we reserve the right to increase the fees each academic year by no more than the level of inflation.

Any annual increase in tuition fees as provided for above will be notified to students at the earliest opportunity in advance of the academic year to which any applicable inflationary rise may apply.

Alumni testimonials

"This course has prepared me for the working world and has allowed me to gain many valuable skills to be a great journalist in the future."

Rasheeda Campbell, MSc Digital Journalism graduate

"After a long hiatus from work, I realized I was going to need to re-train if I wanted to have a career again. The faculty members were supportive, informative, and came from relevant and interesting positions in the media. MSc Digital Journalism was the first course I've really enjoyed doing, and it was great for my career."

Heather from Texas

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Next steps

We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.

Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.

Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.

At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.

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