General description

This course enables students to understand and engage effectively with opportunities for entrepreneurial development as professional journalists and managers, and deals with characteristic requirements and challenges. Students will analyse current development in news production and distribution with a focus on the enterprise as a business, and will be able to critically evaluate the implications – at both an industry level and a personal level. Professional participants will be encouraged to reflect on their understandings and practices to develop fresh insights about the limits and possibilities for journalistic work and the journalistic enterprise in today’s increasingly digital and multi-media environment.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course the student will be able to:

• Recognise and analyse trends in news production and distribution
• Understand and appreciate the theory of entrepreneurship, as well as distinctions for an intrapreneurial orientation in legacy firms
• Address implications of the changing news industry that are critically important for successful practice among journalists and managers
• Contrast and reflect on new media and traditional media in news environments
• Evaluate personal professional development needs for entrepreneurial skills and behaviours that are essential for success
• Understand business models and business planning as essential successful factors for start-ups

Contents

The course features a reading list and connected topical lectures, The course begins with a one-day intensive seminar that looks at cases and includes guest lecturers to illustrate practical cases from the industry. The course concludes with a half-day workshop where students present and discuss the results of teamwork projects.

Evaluation and evaluation criteria

Numeric 1-5.
Participation in classes and a team-produced research paper and presentation (2 ECTS). Readings and lecture notes that culminate in an examination (3 ECTS).

Study materials

Contemporary readings from academic journals and books, trade press sources, international news magazines, and on-line reports.  Many are posted on a course Moodle site and others are supplemental and recommended by the instructor. There are four required books for all students:

•  Briggs, M. (2011) Entrepreneurial Journalism: How to build what?s next for news. London: SAGE.

• Grueskin, B., Seave, A. and Graves, L. (2011) The Story So Far: What we know about the business of digital journalism. NY: Columbia Journalism School. (Provided as nn e-book on the Moodle site)

•  Jarvis, J. (2014) Geeks Bearing Gifts: Imagining new futures for news. NY: CUNY Journalism Press.

•  Sirkkunen, E. and Cook, C. (eds.) (2012) Chasing Sustainability on the Net. Tampere: Comet.  (Provided as an e-book on the Moodle site)

 

 

Belongs to following study modules