New Media Storytelling (JOUR90004)

The subject will equip students for navigating their careers in a world of changing business models. It also considers how journalists create a personal brand in a fracturing media landscape and how they develop an entrepreneurial spirit, which is both a mindset and a problem-solving skill set. The subject will focuses on web based publication and small and medium sized journalism enterprises, and the particular skill combination needed to make a commercial success of online journalism outlets, including those serving niche audiences. Students will explore the ways in which social media, including blogs, Twitter and Facebook, are being used to both gather information for journalistic work, and to publicise that work and gather an audience around it. As well as engaging in practical exercises, students will also be introduced to theoretical understandings of the public space, and the ways in which these are being altered by social media. Key examples of journalistic use of social media will be examined. The subject will also examine the managing of money, audiences and people in small to medium news media enterprises.