City University launches new interactive journalism MA

City will welcome the course's first students in September 2011. Photo by Stephen McKay. Some rights reserved.

City University London is to launch a new postgraduate degree in interactive journalism.

The Interactive Journalism MA will welcome its inaugural batch of students in September 2011 and will be led by programme director and newspaper journalism course director Jonathan Hewett.

The course will feature core modules from the university's other journalism MA programmes, including online journalism, media law, journalism and society and journalism practice, alongside new teaching on data journalism, developing and managing online communities and understanding content management systems.

"Journalism is increasingly treating its audiences less as passive consumers and more as active participants, particularly online. The new Interactive Journalism MA programme at City University London will prepare students for roles that reflect this change to a more interactive, participatory and personalised approach," Hewett told Journalism.co.uk.

"Look almost anywhere in journalism online at the moment and you can see exciting activities in data and community management - from newspapers, agencies and B2B magazines to broadcasters and online specialists, both in the UK and internationally. Initiatives such as Hacks/Hackers and open, linked data are making an impact, too. It's a great time to be launching the Interactive Journalism programme and we're already finding a high level of interest."

Paul Bradshaw, who joined City as a visiting professor at the beginning of this academic year, has helped to develop the course, which will build on the university's existing programmes in electronic publishing and investigative journalism.

"This is not a programming or web development course, but one of its key aims is to develop journalists who can work effectively with programmers and developers. This means gaining a solid grasp of how data and communities work, including the underlying technologies and principles, understanding the potential and priorities, and communicating and planning in multidisciplinary teams," said Hewett.

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