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Key details

Start date(s)
September 2026
Study Mode
Full-time (1 year)
Location
Horsforth Campus
School
Computing and Creative Industries

Our MA Journalism is an exciting programme that prepares graduates for the dynamic and competitive world of journalism and communications.

It has the rare advantage of dual accreditation by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC). This highly regarded combination, along with our impressive work placement and industry mentoring programmes, opens the doors to organisations including the BBC, ITV, and a whole network of local, regional and national newspapers and radio stations.

The Student Contract

About this course

Our MA Journalism programme provides you with all the skills you will need to work across different platforms – online, TV and radio. You will learn how to find and write news stories, interview and establish contacts. Hands-on camera, studio, editing and mobile journalism skills are taught so that our trainees are confident and competent on their industry work placements.

We also cover the increasingly important areas of social media skills, verification techniques, data journalism, AI and analytics. Shorthand is embedded in the course and you will sit your NCTJ diploma alongside your Masters.

Awareness of professional roles, law, public affairs and the regulatory responsibilities of journalists is taught, along with a critical understanding of the political and commercial structures within which the media operate. All the skills you learn come together for your Journalism Project when you can do more in-depth research on a topic of your choice to produce a multi-media project, a short video documentary or a podcast.

Our annual Journalism and Media Week runs every November consistently attracting big names from the industry. You will report the events live across multimedia platforms, interview guests and develop longer features. Above all else, it’s a great chance to make key contacts. To view some of our MA student reports throughout Journalism and Media Week, visit Journalism and Media Week - Yorkshire Voice

Specialist Facilities

You’ll have access to industry-leading spaces and equipment including production rooms, Mac and PC editing suites, and TV, radio and photography studios. These specialist facilities are designed to help you produce high-quality professional work across platforms including web, newspapers, magazines, television and radio.

View our facilities

Scott Trust Bursary

Join Us By Applying For The Scott Trust Bursary

The Guardian Foundation’s bursary scheme for a place on Leeds Trinity University’s MA Journalism programme has now opened. 

The primary aim of the bursary award is to assist students who face financial difficulty in attaining the qualifications needed to pursue a career in journalism, and who come from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the media. In particular those from a lower socio-economic background; Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds; LGBTQ+ and people with a disability.

Those who are awarded a bursary get tuition fees; living expenses; mentoring and paid work placements at the Guardian. Following graduation, bursary recipients are supported to take their next steps into journalism. Bursary recipients are offered the opportunity to take part in a 9-month fixed term traineeship, with the goal of developing their skills in journalism, newsroom immersion and supervised professional practice.

Check out the Guardian Foundation’s website for more information.

Accreditation

NCTJ Accreditation Logo.
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 Our MA has rare dual accreditation by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC).

These are the accreditations that editors look for because they mean that the trainee has successfully completed a course that meets the 'gold standard' of journalism training. The accreditation recognises the quality of the course in developing journalists for the demands of a fast-changing multimedia industry. Students sit the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism alongside their MA at no additional cost for their first attempts.

Why study with us

  • Meet the ‘gold standard’ of journalism training on our MA Journalism programme. The rare dual accreditation by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and the Broadcast Journalism Training Council (BJTC) are the accreditations which recognise the quality of the course and are what editors look for when recruiting trainee journalists.
  • Receive financial support through a PG loan or bursary. Postgraduate degrees are an investment. For eligibility criteria and for more information, visit our Student finance pages.
  • Learn from experienced journalists with an in-depth knowledge of the industry, coming from a variety of backgrounds, including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and digital media.
  • Make valuable industry connections from:
    • Your lecturers, many of whom still work as journalists and who have worked for national broadcasters such as BBC Radio 1 and 4, ITV, Channel 5 and Sky News, as well as international publications like Seventeen magazine in New York.
    • Industry placements which form part of your degree
    • Journalism and Media Week – our annual week of talks, gives you the opportunity to hear from industry experts representing the UK’s leading broadcasters, newspapers, magazines and digital media outlets. Past guests have included journalist and broadcaster Piers Morgan and Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman.
Two media students working with a camera.

Course modules

You will study a variety of modules across your programme of study. The module details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

Year 1

These are the core modules you'll study on this degree.

News Skills – Core

The module covers the core skills needed to be a successful and effective journalist in the digital age. You will learn how to source, verify and write content and learn the most effective ways to tell those stories making best use of online platforms. We also cover interviewing; video; photography; smartphone journalism; using data; understanding analytics and social media skills. This module also includes shorthand.

Many employers in the journalism industry insist on shorthand qualifications and all employers consider it a valuable skill. The ability to write accurate notes when interviewing or covering meetings and court cases is vital – both ethically and legally.

 

Shorthand – Core

Many employers in the journalism industry insist on shorthand qualifications and all employers consider it a valuable skill. The ability to write accurate notes when interviewing or covering meetings and court cases is vital – both ethically and legally.

Law, Ethics and Regulation – Core

This module gives you the knowledge required to operate as legally safe journalists and be confident in what you can and cannot report. It will cover relevant law including defamation; contempt of court; reporting restrictions; defences; copyright; juvenile crime; sex offences; hate crime; trolling and privacy. It also includes media ethics, Ofcom and the Editors’ Code of Practice.  You will also attend court hearings. An innovative and exhilarating module.  

Live Production – Core

In this module you’ll be learning all the skills needed to broadcast in radio, TV, online and on social media including voice training. You’ll learn how to film, edit, record audio, make podcasts and present live news programmes.

Public Affairs – Core

You’ll develop your knowledge and understanding of how government works at a national and local level, how they are linked, where news stories come from and how to develop them. You’ll learn how to hold public bodies to account by using freedom of information requests.

Professional Placement – Core

There’s no better way to learn than to spend time in a professional working environment and you’ll fulfil a minimum of two weeks on a journalism-related placement. It’s a chance to get a sense of real-world roles and responsibilities while those offering the placements get the opportunity to identify potential talent. You will also learn how to use the latest digital tools to create your own professional network and develop skills to prepare you for a career in the media industry.

Journalism Project – Core

You will showcase all the skills developed over the year with us to create your own journalism related ‘showstopper’. It could be a tv or radio documentary or a multimedia portfolio. This tests your ability to research and create the content of your choice with a compelling story at its heart.

Course structures

September - Full-time
Year Term Module Credits Contact hours
1 1 Public Affairs 15 2 hours per week for 12 weeks
1 and 2 News Skills 30 14 hours per week for eight weeks and 60 hours newsdays across two weeks
Law, Ethics and Regulation 30 2 hours per week for 10 weeks
1, 2 and Summer Professional Placement 15 Total of 3 hours
2 Live Production 30 TBC
2 and Summer Journalism Project 60 Total of 12 hours

Learning and teaching

The Student Contract

Assessments mainly consist of coursework portfolios where you will be producing journalism of your own for different platforms including online, TV and radio studio output. Some modules are assessed through exams – for example, Law, Ethics and Regulation, Public Affairs and News Skills.

Learning and teaching

At Leeds Trinity we aim to provide an excellent student experience and provide you with the tools and support to help you achieve your academic, personal and professional potential.

Our Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy delivers excellence by providing the framework for:

  • high quality teaching
  • an engaging and inclusive approach to learning, assessment and achievement
  • a clear structure through which you progress in your academic studies, your personal development and towards professional-level employment or further study.

We have a strong reputation for developing student employability, supporting your development towards graduate employment, with relevant skills embedded throughout your programme of study.

We endeavour to develop curiosity, confidence, courage, ambition and aspiration in all students through the key themes in our Learning and Teaching Strategy:

  • Student Involvement and Engagement
  • Inclusion
  • Integrated Programme and Assessment Experience
  • Digital Literacy and Skills
  • Employability and Enterprise

To help you achieve your potential we emphasise learning as a collaborative process, with a range of student-led and real-world activities. This approach ensures that you fully engage in shaping your own learning, developing your critical thinking and reflective skills so that you can identify your own strengths and weaknesses, and use the extensive learning support system we offer to shape your own development.

We believe the secret to great learning and teaching is simple: it is about creating an inclusive learning experience that allows all students to thrive through:

  • Personalised support
  • Expert lecturers
  • Strong connections with employers
  • An international outlook
  • Understanding how to use tools and technology to support learning and development

Entry requirements

Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits; we value highly the experience you illustrate in your personal statement.

The following information is designed to give you a general overview of the qualifications we accept. If you are taking qualifications that are not included below, please contact our Admissions Office who will be happy to advise you.

  • A good honours degree in a relevant subject (usually 2:2 or above) or relevant industry experience.
  • Applicants will be invited to attend an interview where we want to find out more about your interest in our course and journalism in general.

For more information on meeting English language requirements and academic requirements by country, visit our International Applicants page.

Please contact us for personalised advice on 0113 283 7123 or at admissions@leedstrinity.ac.uk

Fees and finance

Funding

UK Home Students:

For information about our tuition fees please visit our Student Fees and Finance pages.

If you studied your undergraduate degree at Leeds Trinity University, you may be eligible for a discount of up to 50% on the cost of your tuition fees. This discount may be subject to change for 2027/28 entry.

International Students, including EU Students:

Visit our web page for international students.

Journalism Bursaries

The Journalism Diversity Fund Bursary 

This bursary is available to UK students from a socially or ethnically diverse background who are planning on studying for an MA Journalism​ degree. For eligibility criteria and further information, visit the Journalism Diversity Fund website

Scott Trust Bursary

The Guardian Foundation’s bursary scheme for a place on Leeds Trinity University’s MA Journalism programme opens early in 2026.

The primary aim of the bursary award is to assist students who face financial difficulty in attaining the qualifications needed to pursue a career in journalism, and who come from backgrounds that are underrepresented in the media. In particular those from a lower socio-economic background; Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds; LGBTQ+ and people with a disability.

Those who are awarded a bursary get tuition fees; living expenses; mentoring and paid work placements at the Guardian and the opportunity for a fixed-term contract at the Guardian starting after graduation.

Check out the Guardian Foundation’s website for more information.

Leeds Trinity Alumni Discount

Some Leeds Trinity graduates are eligible for a tuition fee discount on postgraduate courses of up to 50%, excluding PGCE Delivery Partner Model and Lead Partner Model, and Masters by Research courses. You will need to achieve a 2:2 or above in a Leeds Trinity undergraduate course to qualify. This discount may be subject to change for 2027/28 entry.

Postgraduate course Leeds Trinity Alumni Discount
MA programmes 50% for Leeds Trinity graduates with a 1st class honours degree
MA programmes 35% for Leeds Trinity graduates with a 2:1 honours degree
MA programmes 20% for Leeds Trinity graduates with a 2:2 honours degree

How to apply

Applications for September 2026 entry are now closed. Applications for September 2027 entry open at the end of October.

If you need advice on your application, please contact our admissions team on 0113 283 7123 (Monday to Thursday, 9.00am to 5.00pm, or Friday 9.00am to 4.00pm) or admissions@leedstrinity.ac.uk

Home applicants - How to apply

Applicants who require a Student Route Visa

Applications for September 2026 entry are now closed for applicants who require a Student Route Visa. Applications for September 2027 entry open at the end of October.

Part-time study is not available for international students on a Student Route Visa.

For additional information, including academic requirements by country, visit our country and region page.

International applicants - How to apply

What happens next?

Our admissions team will acknowledge receipt of your application by email.

Where applications are submitted but references are still in progress, admissions will wait for the reference(s) to be received and then will process it, and forward it to the relevant Programme Leader within five days of receipt of the reference(s).

The Programme Leader will make a decision based on your application. You may be asked to provide a reference to demonstrate your academic and non-academic experiences, or you may be invited to attend an interview. If you are successful and are made an offer, the conditions will be outlined in your offer letter. 

Applications will be acknowledged within five working days. Applicants will be contacted within 15 working days with a request for additional information, an invitation to an informal interview or an application decision.

Made an offer?

You should accept or decline your offer by emailing admissions@leedstrinity.ac.uk.

If you accept, you'll need to prove you satisfy the conditions outlined in your offer letter.

You may be asked to present the relevant supporting documentation in person to the student information point on campus - if originals are not needed, you’ll be contacted and given details of how to provide the supporting documentation.

I loved every aspect of the course, but the news days were the best part for me – especially the TV news days because my goal was to work in TV journalism. Now that I work for ITV, I realise even more how helpful those news days were. The facilities, equipment and training we received on TV news days were of the same standard as what I now use every day at ITV.

Charley Bergman

Production Journalist, ITV Calendar and Student of the Year, NCTJ Awards for Excellence 2022 MA Journalism graduate

“The experience I gained learning about mobile journalism, TV and radio, and creating content for a range of different platforms and audiences has been important in my career. Being asked to knock on people’s doors in week one of the course, helps build your confidence and ability to interview people in real life. Being taught in a small group means you know your tutors as actual people, which really makes a difference to how you learn.”

Katie Haseldine

Reporter/Producer for BBC Radio Merseyside and winner of the Grassroots category at the ARIAS Awards 2023, MA Journalism graduate

Top University in the UK for Journalism, The Guardian University Guide 2026

The Guardian

Meet the team

Carolyn Jackson-Brown.

Carolyn Jackson-Brown

Carolyn Jackson-Brown

Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Sports Journalism and Media

Overview

Having first written and directed, as her undergraduate final project, an entire TV News bulletin, using BBC’s journalist, Nicholas Witchell, and ITN’s News at Ten anchor Carol Barnes, she understood that you could write fake news and present it as truth far too convincingly. So, her interest in the construction of meaning was born then, and developed over 23 years of putting together packages for broadcast TV, adapting from beta to digital, working on location and at base, editing films for Newsnight, and even when she was involved in setting up BBC Millbank, for their televising of Parliament.

Carolyn then became an accredited Avid Media Composer Trainer for Panorama, Sky News and ITV regional news crews and journalists, helping people with all different learning styles and aptitudes, to master something complicated. Luckily, we have smartphones and Mojo now.

Her first foray into HE was as an industry practitioner, being the executive producer for more than 40 student films at York St. John University before she went back to university herself. Two degrees later (an MA and a PhD from the University of Leeds) Carolyn now stretches students academically, teaching critical analysis skills within Communication and Journalism Studies, whilst conducting peer-reviewed media research to help inform policymakers in journalism, media, and sport.

She also supervises postgraduate students within her field.

Qualifications

  • PhD Media and Communication
  • MA Social Research
  • BA(Hons) Photography, Film and Television

Speciality Areas

How should journalists tell stories?

Cultural Production of Meaning,

incl. Media Representation within the workforce and onscreen (of ‘others’)

Identity, Production, Consumption & Regulation

Political Economy of Sport

Lexical, thematic an discourse analyses

Critical Analysis of journalistic practices and media content more generally

Current Research

  • UKRI Cross Council Research Pilot Scheme: Developing an assistive AI tool to improve social attitudes toward disability through mainstream media representations (outline stage for funding bid)
  • Media representations of Farmers, Farming and Climate Change (pilot)
  • Breaking Barriers 2025 Gender in Sport (upcoming conference)

Other co-lab projects are both underway and accepted.

Publications

Peer-reviewed journals

Jackson-Brown, C. (2021) ‘Mega events, media, and the politics of sport: Media coverage and representation’ in Olympic and Paralympic Analysis 2020. Centre for Comparative Politics & Media Research (2021) [online]

Jackson-Brown, C. (2020). Borrowing Brands to Create a Brand: The Commercial Mediation of Paralympic Athletes. Communication & Sport. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167479519896542 

Communications Committee, (2016) A privatised future for Channel 4? (House of Lords Paper -17) https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201617/ldselect/ldcomuni/17/1702.htm 

Books

Jackson-Brown, C. (2020). Disability, the Media and the Paralympic Games. Routledge, London.  

ISBN: 9780367434458   

Other Publications

Jackson-Brown, C. (2024) ‘To trust or ignore? How are Gen Zs finding their political information and what might they do with it?’ in General Election 2024: The Media and the Messengers Eds. Mair, J., Beck, A. & Riley, J. MGM, Oxford

Jackson-Brown, C. (2022) ‘You’ve been framed Mr.Putin’ in The Reporting of Ukraine. A First Rough Draft of History Eds. Mair, J. & Beck, A. Abramis Academic Publications, Oxford

ISBN: 9781845498023

Jackson-Brown, C. (2022) ‘Whose line is it anyway?’ in Boris Johnson Media Creation, Media Clown, Media Casualty  Eds. Mair, Beck, A. & Connew, P, MGM, Oxford

ISBN: 9798840856055

Online Magazine

(June 2024) Available here: InPublishing: To trust or ignore? How is Gen Z finding political information and what might they do with it?

Book launch

(July 2024) Available here: General Election 2024 - The Media and the Messengers | Live Book Launch - YouTube

Public lecture

(Dec. 2024) Info here: Dr. Carolyn Jackson-Brown in Conversation with Leigh Purves - Leeds Playhouse

Podcast Credits

Email
Kostas Maronitis.

Kostas Maronitis

Kostas Maronitis

Senior Lecturer in Media

Overview

Kostas Maronitis is Senior Lecturer in Media at Leeds Trinity University. He is a writer and researcher specialising in comparative European politics, technology and labour, immigration and national identity. Kostas Maronitis is the author of two books: Robots and Immigrants (Bristol University Press, 2022) and Postnationalism and the Challenges to European Integration in Greece (Palgrave, 2017).

He has published widely on topics including EU immigration and asylum policies, social democracy and the rise of the far-right in Europe, sovereignty and market economies, and on the automation of labour and re-industrialisation of European economies and societies. His work has appeared in European Politics and Society, British Politics, Cultural Politics, Angles, Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, the International Encyclopaedia of Mass Media and Society, the Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Sociology, Radical Philosophy, and other leading publications.

Kostas Maronitis has been awarded research funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for his doctoral thesis on immigration, national identity and social cohesion in south Europe. Currently, he participates in the Yorkshire Policy Innovation Partnership funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.  

Kostas Maronitis regularly contributes expert commentary to local, national, and international media, including the BBC (UK), ITV News (UK), LBC (UK), Yorkshire Post (UK), Huck magazine (UK), Movement Radio (Greece), Rzeczpospolita (Poland), and La Razón (Spain). He is an expert contributor to the UK Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology (POST) and has spoken at public fora such as the Onassis Foundation, the Leeds Salon, and Forum 2000.

His opinion pieces and essays have been featured in the New Statesman, Friedrich Ebert Institute, ETERON, Re-Shaping Work, Documenta Exhibition Daybook, Yorkshire Evening Post, Rosa, Athens Voice, and City of Athens Radio.

Qualifications

  • PhD Immigration and its Discontents: Social Theory and the Reorganisation of Society (European Politics, Immigration, Nationalism, Social Theory) University of Greenwich, School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
  • MA Communication, Culture and Society (Distinction) Goldsmiths, University of London, Sociology Department.
  • BA (Hons) Media and Society (First Class) University of Greenwich, School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Speciality Areas

Media and Politics, Immigration and Automation of Labour, International Relations and Social Policy.

Current Research

Kostas Maronitis’s current research focuses on the restructuring of labour relations though automation and AI, and on military Keynesianism and EU defence policy.

Publications

Maronitis, K. (2026). Invisible Labour: AI, Migration, and the Racialised Political Economy of Platform Capitalism in the UK. In: Mediating Industrial Change: Construction and Perception of Discourses about (De-) Industrialisation. Perspectives from northern England and eastern Germany. (Anke Fiedler, Darren Lilleker and James Morrison eds.). Routledge.

Maronitis, K. and Pencheva, D. (2026). Artificial Intelligence, Automation and the Future of Migrant Workers. In: The Handbook of Migration and Artificial Intelligence (Ana Beduschi ed.). Edward Elgar.

Zervas, K., & Maronitis, K. (2025). Digital bonds: a gamers’ perspective on the role of online gaming communities in fostering social interaction and identity. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902251349297

Maronitis, K. (2023). Governing the Greek Consolidation State: The Far Right as a Symptom of Failure and Manifestation of Efficiency. Journal of Mediterranean Studies 31(2), 155-169.  https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/912067.

Maronitis, K. (2022). The People’s Priorities: Recognition, Redistribution and Conservative Hegemony. Angles. New Perspectives on the Anglophone World, (14). https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.5588

Maronitis, K. (2021). The present is a foreign country: Brexit and the performance of victimhood. British Politics, 16(3), 239-253.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41293-020-00151-7

Books

Maronitis, K and Pencheva, D. (2022). Robots and Immigrants: Who is Stealing Jobs? Bristol: Bristol University Press.

Paperback edition published in 2024.

Maronitis, K. (2017). Postnationalism and the Challenges to European Integration in Greece: The Transformative Power of Immigration. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave-McMillan. Paperback edition published in 2018.

Other

Maronitis, K. (2026). The Deep Petro-State. Critical Muslim, 57, Fire. Muslim Institute and Hurst Publishers. April 2026.

Maronitis, K. (2025). Libertarian Bastards. Critical Muslim; 55, Fascism. Muslim Institute and Hurst Publishers. November 2025.

Podcast Credits

20/10/2022. Uncovering Politics (The Podcast of the School of Social Policy and the Department of Political Science at University College London). “Robots and Immigrants”. 

Email
Lindsay Eastwood .

Lindsay Eastwood

Lindsay Eastwood

Senior Lecturer in Digital Media Production

Overview

From plane crashes to potty-mouthed parrots, Lindsay has reported on thousands of stories for local, regional and national newspapers as well as for ITV Yorkshire, where she was an on-screen journalist, producer and documentary maker. For more than 10 years she has had the privilege of passing on her skills and knowledge to the next generation. Her expertise includes ideas generation, newswriting, researching, filming and editing for multiple platforms including social media, documentary-making, shorthand and TV studio production.

Qualifications

  • University of Leeds Teaching Award II

Speciality Areas

Journalism, Video Journalism, Documentary, Teeline Shorthand, Televison Studio production.

Podcast Credits

Leeds Digital Festival “Digital Dynamics: Navigating a Journalism Career”

https://www.youtube.com/live/GPoLBj4edag?si=-BcLzAJTOO6cMc1c

Email

Can you give an example of a professional career highlight and/or experience that informs your teaching of your subject area?

I have reported on a variety of stories that made national and international headlines, including the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, the Selby train crash, the Bradford Riots, the kidnapping of Shannon Matthews and the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky. I also reported from Iraq during the second Gulf War.

What do/did you enjoy the most about working in Journalism/Media?

I love being able to give ordinary people, and often the marginalised, a voice, and in some cases to help enable change. No two days are the same and working to tight deadlines is a great adrenaline rush.

During your career, who are some of the most interesting people you’ve interviewed?

I have interviewed a variety of high-profile people including former US president Bill Clinton and his lover Monica Lewinsky (although not at the same time!), King Charles (when he was Prince), Jimmy Savile, Cheryl Cole and Leigh Francis (aka Keith Lemon). They were all interesting in different ways, but some of my favourite interviewees include a swearing parrot, a singing lollipop man and a cockroach collector!