MSc in "Journalism and New Media"
The MSc "Journalism and New Media" aims to examine the rapid changes taking place in the field of media and the political, social, and economic on the field of journalism.
The MSc focuses on the field of journalism and the changes taking place in the working conditions, content, and role of the media in contemporary society.
The MSc aims to provide its students with a strategic and systematic understanding of the theory and practice of journalism, aiming to equip them with the knowledge, skills and abilities required to function effectively as professional journalists in a completely different – in relation to with the past – and at the same time a highly competitive environment.
THE MSc is designed for candidates interested in working in the field of media and journalism, to train them in a wide range of knowledge to acquire skills that will allow them to respond to the new developments created by convergence and digitization of communication, as well as from the financial conditions.
The MSc aims to apply knowledge about the operation of the media nowadays, as well as to offer education and training in the investigation of new information in the field of journalism. It also emphasizes how developments in the field of technology affect the structure and operation of the media field and aims to analyze new tools and develop new skills that are required in the digital world, as well as exploiting the knowledge in the field of integrated communication.
Additionally, the MSc programme invites a number of highly talented media practitioners, journalists, and researchers as quest speakers. This is because we aim to give students an opportunity to keep up with new practical developments in the field as well as cutting-edge research.
Students will attend lectures on the structure, function, and practices of journalism, as the modern cognitive arsenal of a journalist requires being able to discern and analyze the rapid changes in social structures and social institutions that have occurred in Greek and global society.
We accept University graduates (including equivalent educational institutions) or equivalent recognized institutions abroad and candidates who hold a degree in Communication, Culture, Journalism and Media, Philosophical, Social, Legal, Economic and Human Sciences, as well as Educational Sciences. The MSc programme is taught in Greek.
The standard duration of studies for the Postgraduate Diploma in Communication and Media is defined in three (3) academic semesters. Completion of the Master's degree program requires 90 credits (ECTS) (each course carries 10 credits and the thesis carries 30 credits). The teaching of each course is 3 hours per week without including any laboratory applications.
Curriculum 2022-23
First Winter Semester
Media and Journalism
We are in a period of constant and major changes in the field of communication and media. Undoubtedly, the structure and operation of media systems in all countries has changed significantly, and the changes have coincided with or been more closely related to new understandings of the economy and society and communication. The course consists of two parts: the first part discusses the developments in the whole range of communications, the development and globalization of markets, the increase and intensity of competition, as well as the effects on the field of media. The second part aims to analyze the new tools and new skills required in the new modern digital environment. Based on the basic principles of audio-visual production and the circulation of information in the new online environments, technological changes and how they affect each journalist will be examined. New digital tools and the secrets of their use, as well as new technologies in research and publishing on the internet (metadata, search engines, cloud storage, etc.) are examined too.
Design of Information Websites and Applications of Data Science in Journalism
This module presents the procedure of user-oriented design applied to the design of information websites on the Internet. These websites are intended with rules that ensure usability, reduce complexity, support increased levels of interaction, adapt to the specificities and preferences of each user, ensure user-friendliness and ergonomics, as well as human-centered design, to avoid disorientation and difficulty in navigating users within the interaction environment. The concept of intelligent interaction and the automatic generation of recommendations to the readers of an information website is analyzed. Techniques for capturing user navigation, profiling, understanding user behavior and automatically generating informative content according to the specificities and interests of the readers are presented. Finally, an introduction to the Python programming language and its applications in Data Journalism is given. Unstructured datasets are presented, which are cleaned, analyzed, and processed, highlighting modern journalism projects. Participants become familiar with a variety of data formats and methods of storing, accessing, and processing information, for example, comma-separated documents, interacting with website APIs and JSON, document libraries, regular expressions, text mining, databases, and more.
The Legal Aspects of Media
New media is one of the most interesting challenges for law in the modern era. Their regulation is based on the one hand, on the freedoms that guarantee their operation, and on the other hand, on the need to deal with the risks that this entails. In this context, however, it must mainly respond to the specificities of the new media and to the specificities of the journalistic activity that is part of them. The module aims to offer an analytical approach to the legal problematic of the new media and the journalistic activity that develops in them not only by analyzing the regulatory sources, but also by studying cases that have been judged by decisions of the Greek and European courts, as well as foreign courts or independent authorities.
Quantitative Research and Analysis Methods
This module is offered as a common course in four directions of the graduate program. It is a sequence continuation of two compulsory undergraduate courses, namely “Research Methodology” and “Quantitative Research Methods”, including a theoretical and an applied part:
- The first/theoretical part is a brief and condensed review in research methodology with respect to theoretical approaches to methodology, characteristics of quantitative and qualitative methods, structural research elements and tools, means of data collection, research stages, research methods (subject, design, advantages and disadvantages), applications in communication and media research.
- The second/applied part is an introduction to data processing and analysis using the statistical package SPSS: SPSS environment, data entry, data check and correction, data processing, analysis using descriptive statistics and inferential techniques of parameter estimation and hypothesis testing with applications in real data.
Second Spring Semester
Advertising, Social Media and Marketing
From advertising to journalism, and from the newspaper to the corporate press release and social media, communication has numerous practical facets. The module aims to map the new and rapidly changing digital environment of "integrated" communicative action (integrated communication) in which modern communication professionals are called upon to act and make decisions.
In particular, this module aims to understand communication management, branding, i.e. the communicative transformation of the product into a brand, the role, value and main tools of advertising and public relations, highlighting both at a theoretical and practical level their basic principles and operating rules. Special emphasis is placed on approaching the integrated communication of a product, a service, a company, an organization, a person or an idea, to the audience it is addressed to. In addition, the types of social media are presented and the uses and benefits of new media are analyzed, as well as their effective utilization to promote commercial purposes.
Journalism and Social Media
In the era of digital communication, social media is gradually gaining a pivotal role in journalism and news reporting. They have increased their role and reach as a source of information on any aspect of social life. At the same time, an increasing number of people are informed about the news through the social media. Although the social media terms of use for major press groups are constantly changing, the platforms are still a source of information. This course examines the relationship between journalism and social media, as it is shaped in the new digital environment. The new media ecosystem is mapped, and the changes brought about by new media and especially social networking platforms in the production and consumption of news content are analyzed. The ways of using social media and the consequences of this use in the field of journalism and publicity are approached.
Multimedia Journalism
This module is consisted of two parts. In the first part, selected current topics are analyzed based on the methods of social sciences and the practices of investigative journalism. It is obvious that the journalist in the era of digital media is called upon to distinguish and analyze the rapid changes in social structures and social institutions that have occurred in Greek society. In the second part of the course, after getting to know the new methods and tools for presenting their topics, the students are asked to present the topics assigned to them not only in the form of a presentation, but also in the form of journalistic production (e.g., text, visualization content, blog, etc.).
Qualitative Methods of Research
The module centers on the understanding and practice of qualitative research design methods and mixed methodological designs. The differences in research strategies and the epistemological and ontological considerations that emerge in the quest for an appropriate strategy will be discussed. Also, the criteria for selecting a research and data collection method will be presented. The five traditions of qualitative research (narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography and case studies) will then be outlined. The course will emphasize the formulation of research questions, sampling strategies, research ethics, and research validity and reliability criteria as they apply to qualitative research. In terms of qualitative data collection techniques, students will become familiar with in-depth interviews and focus groups, content analysis, and observation. They will be guided on how to compile a data collection plan according to each qualitative method and how to process the collected data. As to the aspects of mixed research design, the requirements for implementing mixed designs and the different types depending on the research objectives will be discussed. Finally, students will be trained in writing research papers and research publications and the use of the latest APA citation system.
Third Winter Semester
Master thesis
Unlike thesis projects for undergraduates, which are shorter in length and scope, a master’s thesis is an extensive scholarly paper that allows student to research into a topic, expand on it and demonstrate how they have developed their knowledge and argumentation. At the MSc Journalism and New Media, we ask from our students to provide original research in their thesis. The master thesis is prepared during the third semester of the studies. It counts for 30 ECTS. The MSc thesis is examined by a three members committee which includes the thesis supervisor. The student is proposing a supervisor at the end of the second semester of the studies. At the beginning of the third semester the proposal of research area and a summary of the proposed thesis should be submitted to the program secretary to be approved by the Program Board.