PATHWAY DESCRIPTION
LEARNING OUTCOMES
graduates of the European Journalism pathway can develop the following skills during their studies:
1) To have a critical understanding of European journalistic cultures and the heterogeneity of the European media landscape,
2) Understand the challenges facing the development of European journalism and the European public sphere,
3) To analyze Europe as a distinct area of discourse and controversy,
4) To exercise high-level research, analytical and informative skills in covering issues from a European rather than a national perspective.
PATHWAY CORE COURSE
This course examines contemporary concepts and aspects of journalism in a ‘European’ context. ‘European journalism’ in this sense is understood and explored as a practice that covers political, economic and social issues explicitly from a ‘European’ rather than a ‘local’ and ‘national’ perspective. Bearing that in mind, the aim of the course is to explore the role of journalism in the context of European interdependence and integration – the process whereby Europe’s countries formally coordinate their laws, economies and policies-, and in so doing, discuss the limits, opportunities and challenges of journalism practices and media coverage on the European Union, its institutions and policies.
PATHWAY ELECTIVE COURCES
The course deals with the topics of data and participatory journalism. Today there is a significant availability of data in digital form, which makes necessary the introduction of this form of journalism. Thus, the journalist must be able to find, extract, adapt, visualize and interpret data. In order to succeed in such a task he must possess all the theoretical knowledge concerning data manipulation as well as the necessary ICT skills in order to create data visualizations (static or interactive) that will be embedded in his news articles. As journalism is often approached in theory and research through the lens of audience participation in news production, this course approaches the concept of participation in the media and examines the existing tools in the context of news organizations. Examples of participatory journalism in Greek and international media are analyzed, while the issues that arise and the management methods applied in practice are also studied. Finally, the course provides the opportunity of empirical use and familiarization with participatory applications.
This course encourages students to work and research on severalimportant political, economic, societal and global dimensions/challenges of Europe, which occupy a central position in the agenda of European Journalism.
Students will work on investigative research projects/reports in small groups. In so doing, they will not only have to develop the plan, methodology and organization of the reports themselves, but will also present their research (during the term) and submit investigative reports (at the end of the term).
The course seeks to introduce students to the concept of cultural and social diversity and analyze the role that media/journalists can play in the social construction, representation and understanding of difference and diversity. It focuses on issues of migration, race and ethnicity, faith and religion, gender, sexuality, age and disability and the way these issues are portrayed by traditional and new media. It also equips the students with practical skills that will enable them to produce a media product (a blog) on a topic related to social and cultural diversity.
Τhe course examines how transnational and multidimensional civil society efforts can work in the trajectory of enhancing the transparency, legitimacy and awareness of European politics and media, by creating spaces for alternative theorizations to mainstream paradigms, aiming and shaping shape conducive ground for alternative, potentially groundbreaking policies, as well as functioning in the direction of existing policies, making them more efficient. In addition, the course will also introduce and examine the concept of strategic communication discursive processes and how it can play an essential role in politics and diplomacy in the twenty-first century. Strategic refers to the need to focus on the mounting problems for and relevant to most, if not all, parts of the global population. Discursive refers to the need to create hubs for discussion, argumentation and counter-argumentation, and feedback.
The current module examines the role of propaganda as a means of communication and persuasion. It focuses on the definitions, content, intent and methods of propaganda throughout the twentieth and twenty first century, and analyses the specific language used for propaganda purposes. It also investigates the relation of propaganda with modern mass communication and technology. The course will be structured around the interaction of
propaganda within several socio-political issues in EU. Such issues include political systems, election campaigns and fake news, warfare techniques and methods, healthcare and immunisation, planet pollution and politics. Particular attention will be paid to understanding the language of propaganda through a linguistic discourse analysis. A series of workshops aims to put theory into practice.
This unit covers in detail the practice of research methods in the field of communication. Students will become familiar with developing the research question(s), formulating the research questions and hypotheses of their study, selecting participants and instruments. Moreover, they will explore the various designs that are used in quantitative (e.g. experimental and quasi experimental design, correlational design, surveys) and qualitative
(e.g. interviews, focus groups) research. During these sessions students will learn how to select the appropriate research design depending on the area they wish to study and the analysis that is required for each set of data (quantitative or qualitative). A great emphasis is also given to the ethical issues in research methods.
The course aims to introduce students to the conceptualization, design, and difficulties of qualitative research methods used in media and communication studies, including participant observation and digital ethnography, depth interviews, focus groups, historical analysis, discourse, thematic, visual and content analysis.
PREPARATORY COURCES
This advanced English course focuses on news (both hard and soft) and feature story writing for the print media. By combining theory and practice it introduces students to headline language, news story format, leads, the Associated Press stylebook and news writing techniques. The students also have the opportunity to practice their interviewing skills and to write personality features for the print media.
This course is designed to help graduate students with academic writing by developing the skills necessary to produce high quality work in term-papers and the end-of-year dissertation. The lectures, tasks and activities are richly varied, ranging from small-scale language points to studying the discourse of journalism, media, and communication. Topics to be dealt with include: writing expository and argumentative texts, writing summaries, introductions and conclusions, discussion of data, citing and attributing sources, researching and creating bibliographies. Students receive feedback on their writing and are expected to engage in self-editing and peer-reviewing. The course is highly recommended for students with little experience in writing academic papers and for those who need to brush up their skills in academic writing.
