6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 4019915FNR for all students in the 2nd semester at a (F) Master - specialised level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Taught in
English
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
Communication Sciences
Educational team
Ike Picone (course titular)
Cristina Michelle Gonzalez
Activities and contact hours
33 contact hours Lecture
18 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
99 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

Scope:

  • provide students with actionable insights in how the practice of journalism is currently evolving and how the context is changing in which they will be working in as media and communication professionals in Europe;
  • cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset amongst the students, i.e. reflect actively and critically on innovative directions for journalism;
  • empower the students as future journalists and media workers to position themselves as knowledgeable, agile and independent journalists and media and communication professionals in the current European media and communication sector.

Outline:

The course will address evolutions and innovations in the practice of journalism, and the challenges journalists and media workers face in the light of the global digital disruption in the sector.
The course will consist of two main parts, addressing different aspects of the professional context:

  1. Theoretical and conceptual frameworks to understand how news is the outcome of a production process in turn shaped by various internal and external pressures, professional routines and journalistic values, adressing amongst others theories like Reese’s hierarchy of influence and Bourdieu’s field theory
  2. Interviews with media professionals where the concepts are benchmarked against the professionals' points of view. 

The course consists of a mixture of lectures and interviews with media professionals, providing students with the necessary insights to work on their assignment. The students will be asked to integrate and apply the acquired knowledge to the practical insights offered by the interviews with the media professionals.

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : Texts and powerpoint slides, Canvas
Additional info

Teaching Methods

  • Lecture: collective contact-dependent moments during which the lecturer engages with learning materials
  • Seminar, Exercises or Practicals (Practical): collective or individual contact-dependent moments during which the students are guided to actively engage with learning materials
  • Independent or External Form of Study (Self): independent study

This description of the teaching methods is indicative, in order to assess the expected study load.

Lecture: 33 hours (11 x 3 hours)

Practical: 18 hours (6 x 3 hours)

  • interviews with media professionals

Self: 99 hours

  • keeping up with the course material and collect extra information during the semester, amounting to 1 hour per week:  11 hours (11 x 1 hour)
  • desk research, interviews, collection of data, etc. in preparation of the interviews with media professionals: 48 hours  (6 days of 8 hours)
  • processing interviews: 40 hours (5 days of 8 hours)
Learning Outcomes

Algemene competenties

Competences: 

  • students will gain knowledge and understanding the dynamics of their future professional context
  • students will be able to apply these insights to identify opportunities for journalism innovation 
  • students will be able to assess the impact of their professional actions from a socio-economical, deontological and entrepreneurial perspective

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 50% of the final mark.
Other Exam determines 50% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Oral Exam with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 50% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Participation to the course with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 50% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation
  • The oral exam (50% of the total grade) will comprise question based on the lectures, interviews with media professionals and an accompanying reader.
  • Participation to the course (50% of the total grade) will be evaluated based on your preparation of, participation to and evaluation of the interviews with media professionals to be discussed in a reflection paper.

Please note that participation in the course is mandatory. Concretely, this means that:

  • Students that are not participating to the interviews with media professionals will be considered absent for participation to the course, and subsequently, for the whole course, regardless of the fact they would still submit a reflection paper;
  • Students that do not hand in their reflection paper in first session will be considered as not having participated to the course, and will also be considered absent for participation to the course, and subsequently, for the whole course;
  • Students that are absent for participation to the course, will not be admitted to the oral exam. Hence, participating to the interviews with media professionals and submitting your reflection paper is a prerequisite to be admitted to the exam;
  • Students that are absent for the course in first session, are also considered absent for the course in second session. Hence, not participating to the interviews with media professionals and submitting your reflection paper in first session means that the course will need to be retaken in the next academic year;
  • Students that hand in their reflection paper in first session, but that do not get a combined grade for the paper and the oral exam of minimum 10 out of 20 can retake the exam in second session.
Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Master of Communication Studies: Journalism and Media in Europe