Diploma in Journalism

Course details

diploma in Journalism is designed for those who are passionate about great journalism. Commencing in February, April and September each year, the programme is offered from City Colleges’ premises in South Great George’s Street, Dublin 2 and Templeogue Dublin 6W, as well as online throughout the country.

“The Diploma in Journalism course at City Colleges was a fantastic experience. The lecturing team created an encouraging environment where people can once again rediscover their own enthusiasms and energy, or tap into it for the first time as the case may be.

They shared their experiences, opinions, views, values, knowledge in an industry where far too many seek to exclude in order to protect their own positions. It was hugely encouraging to discover someone within the industry with so much decency and appetite to help others, even in a broad sense beyond the course itself. Our tutors were able to reach each of us as individuals, to cater and allow for the different personalities and help get the best from each of us. Creating such an environment of empowering and equipping trust is not easy to achieve.”

Course information

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.

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.

The Diploma in Journalism syllabus includes the following modules;

• Introduction to Journalism/Ways of getting started
• The Importance of a Passionate engagement with reality
• Developing a distinctive subjectivity
• Translating your perspectives into a creative journalism
• The different media disciplines: news reporting, feature writing,Broadcast journalism
• Use of language and writing style
• Interviewing techniques
• The importance of thinking for yourself and generating original ideas
• Great Journalism, Great Journalists: the importance of avoiding the obvious
• Staying within the law
• How to win the Web for good writing
• Writing journalistic books
• Creating an alternative journalism for a new Ireland