Journalism (Multimedia)
Full-time
Three year
September 2025
In a nutshell
Stories. They’re what our world is made of. And in the digital age, there are more ways of sharing those stories than ever before. On this multimedia journalism degree course, you’ll learn not just how to find, research and write your story, but how to communicate it through a wide range of digital platforms across the web, mobile, social media, video, audio and print. What’s more, you’ll have the chance to explore a range of specialisms, including sports reporting, music journalism and magazine journalism to name just three. So, what’s your story?
Multimedia journalism is challenging, demanding and exciting work. This BJTC-accredited course is taught by leading experts in the field, providing you with the practical experience you need to be a professional journalist – from live blogging and reporting to podcasting and feature-writing. You’ll also be learning in a state-of-the-art newsroom equipped with the latest new media technologies, as well as specialised radio and television studio spaces.
You'll be given plenty of opportunities to put your skills into practice through regular production days and practical assessments. Alongside this, you’ll be learning about the law, ethics and theory that are involved in journalism. Want to put your skills to the test? You’ll have the chance to contribute to the student-led website SalfordNow and to Salford’s student-led broadcast, Quays News, which is supported by guest editors from the BBC and ITV.
To find out more about what it’s like to study journalism at Salford, follow us on Twitter, and read real news created by our students.
You will:
- Work across multiple media platforms while learning specialist immersive story-telling skills for online and print
- Be taught by professional journalists at MediaCity, in a state-of-the-art newsroom equipped with industry-standard radio and television studio spaces
- Understand how to think and act like a professional multimedia journalist
students accepted
Course accreditations
This is for you if...
You’re eager to begin a career in journalism and want to explore the full range of digital media including web, mobile and print
You already have some journalism experience, whether it be through a work placement, a school newspaper or an online publication.
You have strong English written and verbal communication skills, combined with the tenacity to find and develop a great story.
All about the course
Throughout your multimedia journalism degree, you’ll get hands-on experience of the types of media you’re likely to encounter in your professional career as a journalist. You’ll explore a variety of formats, including digital, online, print, audio and video.
Want to specialise in a particular area of multimedia journalism? During your second and third years, you can branch out into specialist modules focused on sports, music and politics. This course also includes shorthand tuition, so you can reach the gold standard of 100 words per minute. You’ll also take part in workshops in editing and use of equipment, including cameras and recording devices.
Interested in learning more? Take a look at the course breakdown below to understand what will be covered in each module.
Asian Media Awards
The University of Salford is tremendously proud to have been the premier partner for the Asian Media Awards over the last ten years and is determined to play its part in inspiring the next generation of Asian talent to consider and pursue a career in the creative industries.
Introduction to Journalism
You will study and discuss the purpose, ethics and culture of journalism in lectures, workshops and seminars. You will be introduced to key journalism models and theories, and the expectations of academic study skills and writing. You will analyse the historical development of journalism in the UK and place it within a wider social, cultural, political and economic context.
Audio and Video Journalism: Storytelling
Seasoned broadcast professionals will teach you how to produce audio and video news content, introducing techniques of mobile journalism as well as basic broadcast editing and studio use.
Essential Reporting
This module will enable you to identify the distinctive qualities of news journalism. You will learn how to source and produce stories, providing you with fundamental editorial and technical skills such as news judgment, interviewing, accuracy, verification, writing and structuring news stories, and working to deadlines.
Law and Ethics
Understanding media law and ethical boundaries is essential learning for any aspiring journalist. For that reason, this module provides you with a basic understanding of the legal, regulatory and ethical frameworks to which journalists work, including visits to local courts.
Audio and Visual Journalism: Production
This module will equip you with the technical skills necessary to produce broadcast quality news. In addition to gaining a strong understanding of camerawork, video and audio capture and editing, you will also learn how to write and structure packages for a variety of broadcast formats.
Multimedia Reporting
You will develop as a networked journalist by developing your own blog and exploring the multitude of digital platforms available to source and output journalistic content. You will also learn techniques of immersive storytelling.
Critical Journalism Studies
The main purpose of this module is to develop your understanding of the ways in which technological, social, political and cultural changes have impacted journalism. You will learn to analyse journalism practice and the contemporary trends emerging within the profession whilst improving your research skills and your ability to critically evaluate your own practice.
Multimedia Newsdays
You will develop as a networked journalist by developing your own online platform and exploring the multitude of digital platforms available to source and output journalistic content. You will also learn techniques of immersive storytelling.
Multimedia Journalism
This module adds extra dimensions to your multimedia journalism skills across text, images, audio, video and infographics to originate content for print and digital platforms in a range of formats building to your first converged newsdays.
A number of options from the list below will run each year:
Future Journalism
Journalism is always changing. This module tracks emerging trends in journalism and particularly the ways in which technological developments can be harnessed by journalists to create content and engage audiences. You will analyse and experiment with cutting-edge tools and techniques of journalistic storytelling to develop the practical skills involved in using new technologies and formats for creating journalistic content.
Feature Writing
You will learn how to write different types of features for newspapers and magazines in various markets. By the end of this module, you will have gained practical skills in the art of feature writing as well as enhanced your ability to formulate and pitch story ideas to commissioning editors.
Lifestyle Journalism
Lifestyle Journalism is an increasingly popular area of journalism, whether for newspaper supplements, magazines, lifestyle programmes or podcasts. Students taking this optional module will learn how to research and write stories about all aspects of lifestyle and how to bring them to life with eye-catching text, graphics and images.
Music Journalism
This module provides an overview of journalistic methodologies as applied to the fields of music and the music industry. You will examine and construct a variety of forms of journalistic output as related to music as well as develop a critical understanding of the interrelationship between market, industry and culture.
Public Affairs
This module will raise your awareness of UK government systems, providing you with an overview of national, regional and local government and the relationship of each with the news media. You will learn how to report council meetings, parliamentary committees and understand the relationship between journalists and local and central government.
Celebrity Journalism
This module will provide you with an overview of how the media views and reports on the world of celebrity. You will learn the professional skills of celebrity journalism as well as develop a critical understanding of the challenges and constraints facing celebrity journalists today, including ethical dilemmas such as media bias, cheque book journalism and issues around privacy.
Podcasting
This module will explore podcasts as a form of journalistic storytelling. You will learn how to pitch, research, structure and produce podcasts for target audiences.
Quays News
Students on this module are at the heart of our Quays News output, planning the content, creating packages and presenting the weekly TV programme while learning more about production skills in the gallery and studio.
Sports Journalism
The exciting field of sports journalism encompasses everything from football matches and rugby games to global Olympic events. In this elective module, you will learn essentials skills for writing clear and concise sports copy, interviewing players and officials, and producing match reports for print and online sports publications.
Court Reporting
Focusing on the law surrounding court reporting, this module will build upon your learning from the Law and Ethics module in year one. You will analyse court procedures used in the development of UK law and explore the effect of court reporting restrictions on the news gathering process.
War and Conflict Reporting
This module aims to provide you with a broad history of war reporting from the Boer War to the present day. This will enable you to assess the role of technological developments in war reporting and the social, cultural and political trends affecting war reporters today.
Political Communication: Media and Democracy
This module explores the relationship between the media and politics in liberal democracies. You will focus on the nature of political media and reporting, the media's influence on politics, and how political actors use the media. You will also study the rise of the internet and new media technologies and what this means for democracy.
University Wide Language Programme
This module provides the opportunity to learn or develop a language with the University-wide language programme.
Journalism Practice
The core aim of this module is to provide you with professional journalism experience in our multimedia newsrooms. By working alongside professional journalists during multi-platform newsdays, you will sharpen your professional skills and further prepare yourself for the demands of working in a modern digitalised newsroom.
Major Journalism Project or Dissertation
You will produce an in-depth piece of online, print, radio or TV journalism with professional tutorial supervision or undertake a dissertation in a journalism-related area with academic support.
A number of options from the list below will run each year:
Interests, Power, and Media Policy
The purpose of this module is to provide you with a critical awareness of the ways in which influential interests and power can shape the nature of communication media policy. You will explore a range of policies as well as the main actors and institutions who devise and influence media policy creation.
Journalism and Public Relations
This module will examine the role of the PR industry and its link to journalism and the media. Through a number of practical workshops, you will gain a strong understanding of the principles and practices behind successful PR strategies and campaigns.
Photojournalism
You will gain an in depth understanding of photojournalism by critically evaluating this specialised craft from technical, practical, aesthetic, ethical, legal, sociological and psychological perspectives. You will have the opportunity to enhance your expertise as a photojournalist by developing your own portfolio and engaging in a range of briefs.
Political and Campaigning Journalism
You will examine how journalists approach the reporting of political issues, gaining a broad understanding of techniques and practices used in regional, national and international contexts. You will also analyse the use of social media in political reporting as well as consider relevant ethical dilemmas around editorial control, spin and the lobby system.
Magazine Journalism
This module will develop your understanding of the entire process of creating a magazine publication in print and/or online. You will learn how to originate, write, assess and develop ideas and have the necessary organisational and practical skills to see them through to completion.
Investigative Journalism
This module examines the historical context of investigative journalism and the challenges faced by news organisations and by investigative journalists when publishing their work. It studies the specialist methods used by investigative journalists including secret recording and analysis of documentary evidence and the legal and ethical issues involved.
University Wide Language Programme
This module provides the opportunity to learn or develop a language with the University-wide language programme.
Advanced Sports Journalism
Take this module to develop your sport journalism skills, particularly in a live environment for both broadcast and digital platforms. Industry guests will also help to expand your understanding of the role of journalists within sport, of issues such as racism and gender, and of the audience for sport across delivery platforms.
Please note that it may not be possible to deliver the full list of options every year as this will depend on factors such as how many students choose a particular option. Exact modules may also vary in order to keep content current. When accepting your offer of a place to study on this programme, you should be aware that not all optional modules will be running each year. Your tutor will be able to advise you as to the available options on or before the start of the programme. Whilst the University tries to ensure that you are able to undertake your preferred options, it cannot guarantee this.
Be a part of a creative, supportive community
All our Journalism courses are delivered by the Salford School of Arts, Media, and Creative Technology. Our focus is to ensure that you have the skills you need to pursue your dreams, and we encourage our students, past and present, to collaborate with each other and achieve great things.
Each year - through the Create Student Awards – our School rewards the incredible achievements and successes of our final year and postgraduate students.
Whatever you choose to study with us, you’ll be mentored and supported by experts. And once you graduate, it won’t end there. You’ll join a thriving alumni network across Greater Manchester and beyond, meaning you’ll be supported professionally and personally whenever you need it.
Journalism facilities
Our MediaCity facilities are industry-standard, so much so that they are used by our industry partners themselves.
When you study with us, you’ll learn from our experienced tutors and demonstrators, who’ll teach you how to use our facilities. These include:
- TV News studio - a state-of-the-art news set, including three HD cameras with teleprompters.
- This studio also can link up to the other two TV studios in the building based on the ground floor, enabling live feeds.
- TV studios - our TV studios have been used by the BBC for a variety of broadcasts, such as the Olympics and Christmas music concerts, and they’re equipped with the same audio-visual systems used by the ITV and Sky too.
- The studios have green screen facilities as well as basic props so you can design and build sets for a range of projects.
- Newsroom - you’ll use this space as a hub to simulate a full working day in a newsroom, covering breaking stories. Software available includes Avid iNews, Avid NewsCutter, Adobe Audition and Premier, all of which are used by the industry.
- Radio studios - we can offer you three cutting edge studios which have been used for live contributions to shows on talkSPORT and Capital.
- Equipment stores - cameras, tripods and mics – they’re all essential to media production. But don’t worry, you won’t need to spend thousands of pounds to get the set-up you need – we have a fully equipped equipment store available for you to use and take out industry-standard kit.
You’ll be able to shoot and record on location in the high quality you need to bring your vision to life.
What about after uni?
Employment
Where can a degree in multimedia journalism take you? Following completion of your course, you’ll be well equipped for a career in the media, digital communications or information sectors. The variety of modules on this degree will give you the flexibility to work in a variety of contexts, whether that’s writing for online or print publication. Many of our graduates have gone on to establish successful careers within news organisations such as the BBC, ITV, and Reach plc. They’ve also pursued roles in related areas like public relations.
Further study
Graduates showing strong academic and research skills can pursue a further postgraduate path through our postgraduate programmes on a full-time or part-time basis subject to a satisfactory proposal.
Career Links
Graduates have secured journalism jobs at the BBC, ITV, newspapers and online sites. They have also found work in related areas, including public relations.
What you need to know
Applicant profile
Are you an aspiring journalist? Do you have experience with verbal and written communication? Have you reported on recent events in a local publication, such as a school website, social media or newspaper? If so, this multimedia journalism university course would be a great choice for you.
To gain a place on this Multimedia Journalism degree course, you’ll have to submit a personal statement and meet our entry requirements when you apply.
Within your Multimedia Journalism degree personal statement (up to 4,000 characters), we’ll want to understand:
- What motivates you and what current experiences do you have in terms of journalism and multimedia content creation?
- How have you been involved and what did you do?
- Are you an evidence-based and creative thinker?
- How do you develop your ideas?
- Do you have any knowledge of the multimedia journalism sector; are there any brands or projects that inspire you?
- Why do you want to work in the journalism sector?
- Why is the University of Salford and this multimedia journalism degree the right choice for your future goals?
For some applicants, you’ll be asked to provide us with a portfolio of work and potentially take part in an informal group seminar discussion or interview– either live or on camera – to demonstrate your skills.
GCSE
English Language at grade C/level 4 or above (or equivalent). Maths at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent) is preferred but not essential.
You must fulfil our GCSE entry requirements as well as one of the requirements listed below.
UCAS tariff points
112 points.
A level
112 points.
T level
Merit
BTEC National Diploma
DMM
Access to HE
112 points including Media or Humanities subject area
Scottish Highers
112 points
Irish Leaving Certificate
112 points
International Baccalaureate
29 points including HL 5 in Media or Humanities
European Baccalaureate
Pass in Diploma with 74% overall including Media or Humanities
International students
We accept qualifications from all around the world. Find your country to see a full list of entry requirements.
If you are an international student and not from a majority English speaking country, you will need IELTS 7.0, with a written element of 8.0 and no element below 6.0,
We also accept a range of other English language qualifications. If you do not have the English language requirements, you could take the Pre-Sessional English course to gain entry onto this degree.
Salford Alternative Entry Scheme (SAES)
We welcome applications from students who may not meet the stated entry criteria but who can demonstrate their ability to pursue the course successfully. Once we have received your application we will assess it and recommend it for SAES if you are an eligible candidate.
There are two different routes through the Salford Alternative Entry Scheme and applicants will be directed to the one appropriate for their course. Assessment will either be through a review of prior learning or through a formal test.
How much?
| Type of study | Year | Fees |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time home | 2025/26 | £9,250.00per year |
| Full-time international | 2025/26 | £17,650.00per year |
Additional costs
You should also consider further costs which may include books, stationery, printing, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits.
Scholarships for international students
If you are a high-achieving international student, you may be eligible for one of our scholarships. Explore our international scholarships.