Journalism

Journalism is the discipline of gathering, verifying, and communicating information in the public interest, and it sits at the heart of democratic life. Good journalism enables people to make informed decisions, holds power to account, and bears witness to events that might otherwise go unrecorded or misrepresented. The field has been transformed by digital technology, social media, and the economic pressures that have reshaped the news industry, but the core values of accuracy, fairness, and independence remain as relevant as ever.

Modern journalists must be versatile practitioners: able to report and write, to work with audio and video, to produce for multiple platforms, and to maintain rigorous standards in an era of misinformation.

At Edinburgh Napier University, this four-year, full-time programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study and practise journalism in a different national context. Edinburgh is an excellent city in which to train as a journalist: it has a vibrant media scene, hosts the world's largest arts festival, and contains several significant newspaper and broadcasting organisations. The programme develops your reporting and writing skills from the beginning, emphasising practice alongside theory.

You will study investigative journalism, feature writing, broadcast journalism, digital storytelling, data journalism, and media law and ethics. The year abroad opens up comparative perspectives on how journalism is practised and regulated in different media environments. A typical entry tariff of 152 UCAS points indicates the academic expectations for the programme.

Journalism develops writing precision, rigorous research habits, the ability to work quickly under pressure, and a sharp sense of what is newsworthy.

Graduates work across print, broadcast, digital, and data journalism, as well as in public relations, content strategy, communications, and media management. Postgraduate journalism study or NCTJ qualifications are paths taken by some graduates seeking specialist professional credentials.