PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMA IN JOURNALISM
Prices Starting At €795
Live Online
- Live & fully online
- Archived for review
- 10 Weeks, 1 evening per week
- Starts 3rd January 2024
- 6.30 to 9.30pm
On Demand
- Fully online
- Pre Recorded
- Start Anytime
- Suit your own Schedule
- Access for 12 weeks
- 12 -13 weeks to send in the assignment
Interested in a career in Journalism?
This 10 week Professional Diploma in Journalism is designed for those who are passionate about great journalism. The programme is offered live online and on demand.
Journalism is more than a job. It is a passion, a life, a life’s work of engaging with the world. Journalists are not mere ‘processors of information’. They are also observers, interpreters, analysts, writers – and occasionally are called upon to be philosophers and poets as well! Reporting reality means more than just regurgitating someone else’s words or perspectives. It means giving the reader an insight into the event, person, or phenomenon through the only eyes, ears, and emotional apparatus that is available to you – your own. This means placing yourself at the centre of the story, issue, or situation, even if you never actually use the word “I” or “me”. The great journalists have in common the understanding that there is no such thing as “objectivity”, that the world is best understood by the human head and heart, and that the subjective position before reality is the one that other people are most interested in. The best journalists are those who leave aside bogus notions of detachment and become protagonists in the things they write about.
The Diploma in Journalism syllabus includes the following topics:
- The Long Shadow of “Fake News”
- Radio Journalism
- Photo Journalism & Videography for Journalists
- Investigative Crime Journalism
- PR & Journalism
- Social Media/Blogging for Journalists
- Writing For A Living – Writing for Print, Radio, TV & Online
- Writing the Book: Long-form Non-fiction Journalism
- Fans With Typewriters – Journalism and Sport
- Journalists staying within the law
To successfully complete the course students must achieve a pass grade in 3 assessments.
- Short form print journalism (500-600 words)
- Radio journalism (2 minute .wav file)
- Long form journalism (2000 words OR 6 minute .wav file)
The assignment/project must be handed in on the due date unless a sound reason for lateness is provided. In such instances, an extension may be awarded at the discretion of the lecturer.
Dr. Myles Dungan – Course Director
Presenter & Broadcaster, RTE
Dr. Myles Dungan (PhD Trinity College, Dublin, 2012) is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster and is also Programme Director of the annual Hinterland Festival in Kells, Co. Meath.
He currently presents the weekly RTE Radio 1 programme The History Show, writes a weekly column (‘Fake Histories’) for the RTE Radio 1 Drivetime programme, and has worked as presenter of various RTE radio and TV programmes for the last thirty years (Five Seven Live, Rattlebag, Prime Time).
He is an Adjunct Lecturer in the UCD School of History and is the recipient of two Fulbright Awards. He has taught Irish history in UCD, Trinity College and the University of California, Berkeley.
He is the author of more than a dozen books on Irish and American history (including Irish Voices from the Great War, How the Irish Won the West and Mr. Parnell’s Rottweiler).
Ms. Brenda Power BL
Barrister, Journalist & Broadcaster
Brenda Power has been in journalism for almost 40 years. She has worked for the Irish Press and Sunday Press, initially as a news reporter, later as a feature writer and columnist, and then moved to the Sunday Tribune as a reporter, feature writer, and columnist.
Brenda has worked as a presenter/reporter in RTE on the series Would You Believe, and also for two years as presenter of Crime Call. In radio, she stood in for Marian Finucane and Joe Duffy, as well as presenting several series of shows of her own, including a daily live interview series and a Sunday morning moral maze-type programme called The Grey Area. Brenda worked for Newstalk for two years presenting a daily morning phone-in show. She has worked for The Sunday Times for many years as a columnist, and also at The Irish Daily Mail, also as a columnist,
Brenda was called to the Bar in 1996 and is currently practising as a Barrister as well as continuing to work as a Journalist and Broadcaster.
Moira Lawson
Documentary Photographer / Journalist / Production Manager / Researcher (Film and TV)
Moira has been travelling the world since 2003 photographing and writing about people and their cultures.Throughout the years she has spent time as a photo-journalist for NGO’s in countries such as South Africa, Malawi, Colombia and Kenya. This work has seen her capture numerous images for Concern Worldwide and other organisations, working alongside some of the top dignitaries such as Kofi Annan (7th Secretary-General to the United Nations), Mary MacAleese and Mary Robinson (former Irish Presidents).
She spent 5 years working for a South African magazine (Camera & Image) as the Travel Feature Editor where her work took her across 7 Continents in 10 years. Her work focuses strongly on ethical and respectful photography and when she is not out taking photos Moira works as a Production Manager and Researcher in Film and Documentary.
Mr. Niall O’Flynn
Journalist, Writer/ Director
Niall O’Flynn is a writer and director. A former award-winning journalist, he covered major international news and sports events for newspapers, radio & TV – working in the Middle East, USA, Australia, Europe, UK & Ireland, and heading national radio coverage of elections, referenda, budgets and major international news stories, including the 9/11 attacks.
He now directs a variety of TV’s flagship programmes and special events. He is the author of two books – Writing For A Living & Ireland’s Olympians – and a member of the Irish Film & Television Academy.
Course Award
A City College’s Professional Diploma Course is a focused, practical programme designed and delivered by an industry practitioner, that consolidates, upskills or reskills learners in a professional area. They are stand-alone qualifications that indicate that you have been trained in a particular area or specific subject matter.
City College Diplomas are suitable for career minded learners wishing to advance their professional skills and prospects. They are widely accepted by employers and many students are sponsored to study here by their organisation.
Corporate Training
In addition to our scheduled Professional Diploma courses, City Colleges can provide bespoke training over 3 – 4 days, please contact Kevin.Coyne@citygroup.ie for further details.
Who Should Apply?
If you are interested in learning how to become a newspaper columnist, how to develop a print persona, how to translate your engagement with the world into great copy, how to develop your ideas and make them live on the page, this course is for you.
If you would like to know about the politics and ideologies of journalism, and how to protect your unique perspective in a context that is often hostile to difference and dissent, then look no further.
Graduates Success
Congratulations to one of our recent alumni Sarah Bredin, a graduate of our Professional Diploma in Journalism who has just published an article in The Irish Times “The ethical shopper: Buy local, read labels, think before you shop”.
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