This course provides insight into how journalism and the media is changing in a globalised context – from journalism ethics to internet governance, from community media to global communications and from crisis reporting to the transformative potential of new technologies.
Open to all
This degree will suit those with and without media experience who seek to deepen their understanding of the media industries.
International outlook
We attract students from all over the world, providing a rich and diverse environment for academic study and critique.
Cardiff central
You’ll be based in the heart of Cardiff’s vibrant media quarter in a purpose-built facility adjacent to the new BBC Cymru/Wales building.
Research excellence
Your studies will take place in one of the UK’s leading journalism research schools, classed by the Government as the 2nd best in the UK.
Explore the academic study of journalism in a globalised and digitally connected world on our MA in Journalism, Media and Communication. This programme explores the major debates, challenges, and transformations shaping journalism, media, and culture today, equipping you with the critical tools to understand and respond to a rapidly changing media landscape.
You’ll develop a strong understanding of how journalism and news media operate across diverse national, cultural, economic, and political contexts, examining how media institutions both shape and are shaped by society. Through critical engagement with contemporary issues, you’ll explore the relationships between media, democracy, political institutions, conflict, environmental crises, and globalisation.
The programme also addresses the growing impact of digital technologies, big data, AI, and platform cultures on journalism and public communication. You’ll consider how these developments are reshaping the production, distribution, and consumption of news, while raising important questions around ethics, regulation, trust, representation, and democratic responsibility. You’ll also critically examine how themes such as citizenship, race, gender, ethnicity, and class are represented and contested within media and popular culture.
Your studies start by building a strong foundation in the key theories, concepts, and approaches that underpin journalism, media, and communication studies, making the programme accessible both to students with media backgrounds and those new to the field.
You’ll then apply and extend this knowledge through more specialised and future-focused modules. These include an exploration of emerging developments in journalism and entrepreneurial media, and an examination of how stories are constructed across journalism, social media, advertising, television, and film, and how narrative forms shape meaning, ideology, and representation.
While firmly grounded in the academic study of journalism and media, the programme also develops advanced research skills alongside an introduction to selected practice-based approaches, including pitching, editorial product design, and media storytelling, as ways of exploring and communicating ideas about journalism and media.
You’ll graduate prepared for careers across journalism, media, communications, policy, and the wider cultural and creative industries in the UK and internationally. The programme also provides an excellent foundation for doctoral research and careers within academic, public, and private-sector research organisations.
Where you'll study
This is a conversion course. Conversion courses allow you to study a subject unrelated to your undergraduate degree or current career, and support you with a change of career path. No prior knowledge or degree in the subject is required.
In order to be considered for an offer for this programme you will need to meet all of the entry requirements. Your application will not be progressed if the information and evidence listed is not provided.
With your online application you will need to provide:
If you do not have a degree, your application may be considered on the basis of your professional experience. Please provide additional evidence to support your application such as signed and dated employer references.
Application Deadline
We allocate places on a first-come, first-served basis, so we recommend you apply as early as possible. Applications normally close at the end of August but may close sooner if all places are filled.
Selection process
We will review your application and if you meet all of the entry requirements, and places are still available, we will make you an offer.
Applicants who require a Student visa to study in the UK must present an acceptable English language qualification in order to meet UKVI (UK Visas and Immigration) requirements. Criminal convictions You are not required to complete a DBS (Disclosure Barring Service) check or provide a Certificate of Good Conduct to study this course.
If you are currently subject to any licence condition or monitoring restriction that could affect your ability to successfully complete your studies, you will be required to disclose your criminal record. Conditions include, but are not limited to: