Journalism (Communication) BA

This module equips students with the knowledge and skills to produce content for any platform and allows learners to seize opportunities as new platforms emerge. In this module, you'll learn to interview, research, report, write, shoot and edit audio and video; create graphics; and master social media

Journalism, Communication and Politics are intrinsically linked. This module examines key concepts and theories that includes Agenda-Setting, public opinion, journalism in liberal and illiberal societies, social media and its effects, celebrity journalism and the use and effect theory. It grounds students in the field and enables them to think critically about the media intersectionality.

This module provides an introduction to the main theories, approaches and concepts in media studies. It will introduce you to the critical canon, as well as drawing on case studies to illustrate key topics in media and research. Key Ideas in Media will provide you with a firm conceptual and methodological foundation in communication and media studies focusing on themes of power, identity and culture.

This module grounds students in the fundamentals of news and feature writing. It examines the dynamics of the Inverted Pyramid structure for hard news and also explores the flexibilities and creativity that feature writing involves. Students will also be tasked to develop their writing competence as they get involved with the Hillingdon Herald

This module introduce leaners to the development, production and post-production of multimedia productions, and enables students to identify and analyse key concepts that underpin multimedia productions and to develop their own practical work.

The Hillingdon Herald is at the centre of journalism education at Brunel. The newspaper is not only a community-focused publication, it also empowers students to practice what they learn in theory. As a module therefore, it enables students to conduct interviews, gather information, write and edit news and understanding newspaper production processes.

You will be tasked to source and develop a variety of local arts-based stories and then prepare them for publication on a variety of platforms.

This module teaches you to work on this speciality across a variety of platforms - including magazine double pages spreads, video, and websites - while improving your skills in layout, photoshop, photography, writing and filming.

Examine the ways in which the globalisation of communication has transformed social, political, and economic relations. The following themes will be addressed in this module: the state, economy, power, globalisation, nationalism, identity, digitisation, culture and consumerism, media markets, public relations and politics, and political economy of communication.

This module will help you develop an insightful working knowledge and critical appreciation of law and regulation in the practice of professional journalism. You will learn how to craft news reports within appropriate legal and ethical frameworks and navigate the potential conflicts and pressures journalists can be subjected to in their working lives. 

This module provides an advanced understanding of research methodologies, with a particular focus on data analysis. Equipping students with an understanding and appreciation of the important theoretical paradigms that underpin qualitative and quantitative social and communications research traditions. Furnishing students with the tools and skills required to conduct and evaluate their own empirical social and communications research.

This module considers the shape of new media technologies such as iPhones – it explores how new developments in media technology have changed the basis of contemporary social life and culture. This module will examine some of the key transformations that are taking place through digital culture.

This module will introduce students to core ideas in feminism via the key concepts of gender and sexuality. It will develop students’ understandings of social structures, human cultures, and economic inequalities and political relationships. The course will offer theoretical tools and historical insights into gendered, feminised, and sexualised socio-cultural worlds.

This module explores how meanings are developed through contemporary cultural representations, practices and processes, with a focus on creativity and the creative industries sector. It examines popular culture and the rise of the creative and cultural sector in late modernity drawing on relevant sociological, media and cultural studies debates and theories. 

The module aims to provide postgraduate students with a critical knowledge and understanding of how different disciplines have sought to make sense of political hoaxes, fake news or images and disinformation in as well as the contexts in which they flourish and are challenged. 

The dissertation aims to enable students to conduct independent research within their field. This will teach students to choose a feasible research project, locate it within relevant academic literature, and devise an appropriate analytical framework to construct arguments that can justify the research question has been answered. Individual supervision will support students in developing and executing the research project.

The practice project aims to extend students’ understanding of journalism practice and principles through the planning and execution of a mini-portfolio that aims to enable students to begin to develop specialisms. It enables students to apply editorial judgement in the selection of stories, the target audience, and the approach taken and the preferred medium, and to recognise and employ ethical and legal knowledge in researching and reporting.

This module provides students with a critical overview of key debates about media audiences and identities. Students will engage with key contemporary debates about media influence and be able to apply theoretical concepts to a range of contemporary sites.

The module explores how media represent social justice and identity giving particular attention to race, ethnicity, poverty and social justice, and focusing on both theory and production. Over the course of the module, you will learn about theory and practice in relation to diversity, stereotypes and prejudice, and you will produce media content that highlights the importance of social justice.

The module provides students with an understanding of how social movements occur, succeed, or fail in bringing social and/or political change. By focusing on empirical cases, students will study the use of old and new media tools, the role of leaders and collective identity formation during the social movements, as well as governmental and international responses to these developments.

This module will enable students to critically engage and analyse the historical and current impact of social media on social relations and contemporary culture. It will allow students to develop a critical understanding of social media in the context of broader changes in the media landscape, and how it impacts identity, power and everyday life.

An introduction to urban sociology and will develop the students understanding of urban development, cultures, and representation. The course will offer theoretical tools and provide practical applications for the relationship between space, culture, and social life in contemporary cities.