Program Overview
Examine how journalism can improve and address ethical challenges, enhancing your critical media literacy skills. The course is delivered by renowned experts and is CPD certified.
Program Outline
Outline:
The course is made up of 3 units, each will require approximately 4 hours of study.
- Unit 1 - Journalism and its Promise
- This unit introduces you to some of the basic principles and concepts of journalism, as well as some of its history and development.
- You will learn something about why journalism developed in the way that it did and the ideas that have underpinned it throughout its development.
- In addition, you will learn about press regulation and the importance of accuracy, as well as some of the threats that journalism and journalists face in the course of their work.
- The unit draws on recent research into journalism ethics but also points to possible solutions to some of the current problems of journalism and public trust.
Assessment:
Throughout the learning process you will be awarded a Digital Open Badge for completing each unit. These are internationally recognised by many employers and educational institutions and will allow you to display your study achievements, even if you only wish to complete a specific unit. Upon finishing the course, you will be issued an E-Certificate featuring all earned badges and stating that you have completed the full course, so that you can add it to your CV or education portfolio.
Teaching:
The course is delivered through an easy-to-use online learning platform. Professor John Steel, Research Professor in Journalism, is the program leader.
Other:
The course stems from, and responds to recent research which signals the need for greater awareness of journalism’s ethical and normative parameters and a necessity of enhanced media literacy more generally. Though you will not learn how to become a journalist by doing this course alone, you will learn more about how and why journalists undertake the work that they do and gain useful critical media literacy skills in the process. The course also draws insight from a range of perspectives of stakeholders within and around the industry, including the Ethical Journalism Network, the National Union of Journalists, the press regulators IPSO and IMPRESS, advocacy groups such as Migrant Voice, Trans Media Watch and reform organisations such as the Media Reform Coalition and of course you will get insight from journalists and journalism scholars themselves. The course is suitable for anyone who is interested in finding more about:
- The news media in the UK
- Journalists’ approach to news gathering and story telling
- Ethical standards and the regulation of journalism in the UK
- The history and development of journalism in the UK
- The variations of journalism as a broad topic area
- Journalism as a precursor to undertaking further study in the subject
