What you will study
Our Magazine Journalism MA prepares you to work in the magazine industry. It gets you ready for anything you might come across: from writing features for a women's weekly or putting together a news story for a trade publication, to making a video or building a brand. It offers detailed, hands-on grounding in core journalistic skills, including feature writing, news gathering and writing, design, production and media law. Context is provided through the study of the business of magazines, ethics and journalistic practices. You can choose to study shorthand as an optional extra.
You'll be expected to take five core modules, four of which are worth 30 credits each; the other one worth 60 credits. You can also choose an option module. Altogether you'll need to complete 180 credits.
You can also study shorthand in order to assist with your NCTJ exams.
Year 1
You will be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars and practical workshops covering writing, interviewing, subediting, magazine production, blogging, and writing and uploading copy for the web. You will produce a magazine (print and online), and undertake at least one placement on a published title.
You will also write a 12–15,000-word dissertation or carry out a related practical project.
Core modules
Journalism in Context: Law, Ethics and the Industry
30 credits
This year-long module aims to provide students with a thorough understanding of the legal and regulatory structure within which journalists operate. In recent decades, the industry has changed significantly as it adapts to the opportunities and challenges of the internet age. You will be invited to examine and debate the direction and future of journalism, thinking about everything from legal restrictions on reporting to fake news to the public's perception of journalists.
As well as counting towards your MA, this module leads to the NCTJ's Essential Law and Ethics exams.
Creating Magazines: Content and Context
30 credits
This module aims to provide you with the practical skills necessary to work as successful journalists, underpinned by an understanding of the constraints and tensions inherent in magazine offices, and online operations developing in a changing industry. You will examine the structure of this fast-expanding sector, with a particular emphasis on the role played by freelance journalists and production staff in generating content.
You will have the opportunity to acquire the core skills for producing online and print publications which will include the use of social media/analytics/branding/research and interview techniques. You will be equipped with multimedia reporting, production and design skills in demand in the journalism industry and will be confident about telling stories through video and audio as well as the written
word.
The module offers valuable opportunities for you to work together to produce and run your own group website, and magazine, developing your teamwork skills and experiencing the reality of different job roles in a multimedia operation. This classroom experience will provide a valuable introduction to the two-week work placement all students will be required to undertake as part of the module.
Feature Writing
MA Journalism Dissertation
60 credits
Students wishing to undertake a substantial piece of academic work can opt to take the dissertation module, which is carried out between May and September, after core teaching has finished. Once you have narrowed down your area of interest, you will be given a supervisor who will work individually with you to help you develop your ideas, frame a hypothesis and conduct appropriate primary and secondary research. The MA dissertation is a good bridge for any students wishing to pursue further study, at PhD level or beyond.
Practical Journalism Project
60 credits
Students who wish to go straight into the workplace can opt to do a Practical Journalism Project module while they work, in lieu of a dissertation. This module includes a piece of academic research as well as a portfolio of journalism produced as a working journalist. You will also be asked to reflect on your practice, considering how you can learn from your experience and develop as a journalist. This module takes place between May and September, after core teaching has finished.
Not for credit
Shorthand (Postgraduate)
0 credits
All students on the MA Journalism course study Teeline shorthand, and the module is also available to those studying MA Magazine Journalism. Shorthand is an extremely useful skill for journalists, and one prized by employers: it generates trust with interviewees and increases the speed and efficiency of reporting. You will be taught Teeline, which uses written outlines derived from consonants, by a teacher of longstanding experience; the aim is to reach a speed of 100 words per minute (wpm) by the end of the course.
Shorthand exams at 60, 80 and 100 wpm, count towards the NCTJ diploma.
Option module
Journalism Specialism
30 credits
This highly practical module allows students to explore in depth, and actively engage with, a range of journalism specialisms which could include: sports journalism, fashion journalism, investigative data journalism, creative non-fiction, foreign correspondence, environmental journalism, business journalism, arts and entertainment journalism, health and science journalism or political journalism.
Students will develop the researching, writing, reporting and digital skills they acquired through prior learning to produce professional copy and other outputs pertinent to each specialism, such as social media, video and data visualisations. They will apply their newly-gained specialist knowledge and acquired skills to the production of a portfolio of cutting-edge specialist journalism.
The practices of each area of specialist journalism will be placed in a context throughout the module. Through a series of lectures and in-class discussions students will gain insight into each specialism and how it works. They will acquire an appreciation of the historical, cultural, global and economic issues which specialist journalists must understand. The module prepares students to pursue jobs within specialist beats upon graduation.
Optional placement year
Many postgraduate courses at Kingston University allow students to do a 12-month work placement as part of their course. The responsibility for finding the work placement is with the student; we cannot guarantee the work placement, just the opportunity to undertake it. As the work placement is an assessed part of the course, it is covered by a student's Student Route visa.
