Length of course:	One-year, full-time or two years, part-time, day
Location:	Harrow
Course fees:	See westminster.ac.uk/fees

International Media Business is a new course aimed at recent graduates seeking a career in the media and content industries. It provides students seeking entry-level positions with a combination of business and production and skills, recognising the changing demands facing today’s media organisations.

The past decade has seen unprecedented change as digital technologies force organisations to review their business plans, and as new forms of consumption and user behaviour question the traditional functions of the media. The Masters in International Media Business engages with these challenges and aims to give young media professionals the range of skills demanded by media firms as they adapt to radical change in the commercial environment.

This new Masters shares some of its modules with Westminster’s highly successful MA in Media Management. Whether graduates plan careers in traditional media organisations or seek to create their own initiatives and businesses, the MA in International Media Business aims to provide the analytical insight, operational knowledge and planning skills they need in order to prosper.

Semester One

Core Modules

International Media Business Operations

This module addresses the operational challenges involved in the management of media companies.  It examines the structures and managerial practices of media organisations and the design and management of digital supply chains. It also develops transferable skills such as project management and leadership that can be applied in a variety of professional contexts. Topics covered within the module include:

• Media supply chains
• Content creation
• Content aggregation
• Media marketing
• Distribution
• Media organisation structure
• Audiences
• Financing content
• Teams and leadership
  
• Project management

Option Modules

Media Markets

This module will introduce you to the economics of the media and content industries, including broadcasting, print, film, recorded music and interactive forms. You will examine the revenue and cost structures of these industries, and the economics of key processes of production, distribution and consumption. The module provides tools enabling decision-making based on market data.

Media Production Skills

The module gives students a basic understanding of the structures and practical abilities needed in news journalism. They will develop individual skills in study, research and writing and team skills in designing and writing for the web.

Module Aims:

1. Develop a critical understanding of how print, radio and TV operate
2. Develop news-writing techniques for different media platforms
3. Learn individual and team skills across different media platforms
4. Acquire knowledge of ethical considerations faced by journalists
5. Design and develop a website in teams
   

Semester Two

Core Modules

Media Business Strategy

You will study media business and their challenges worldwide. The module will also provide an introduction at postgraduate level to business and strategic issues confronting international media enterprises (both public and private).

Dissertation

A taught module and group workshops in the first semester will guide you in conducting a major piece of independent research. This module will be supplemented by individual supervisions beginning from the second semester. The aim is to give you a guided framework within which you can demonstrate your ability to carry out advanced independent study and write it up in the form of a dissertation. The dissertation is a 15,000-word piece of original research on a topic agreed with your supervisor and related to the political, economic, cultural and/or sociological factors which shape the practices and outcomes of mass media, including media texts and the audience reception of them.

Option Modules

Media Audiences   

This module begins with an overview of media audiences, and goes on to analyse audiences and media institutions, passive/active audiences, media influence and effects, and ethnography and media audiences. The second part of the module is devoted to discussions of media and identity, fans, diasporas and new media audiences.

Political Communication

You will review the main historical and theoretical debates on propaganda and public opinion, and analyse contemporary techniques of political communication and the relationship between mass media and democracy. The module will give you an introduction (both historical and contemporary) to the role of the media in politics, and to the major debates surrounding this role.

Sex, Violence and Politics   

You will analyse the impact of different forms of censorship and regulation on changing patterns of social, political and cultural expression in the media. You will gain an understanding of regulation and censorship in a variety of different political and cultural circumstances, and of the social forces which shape regulation for politics, taste and decency. You will also consider the effects these have on media audiences, and assess how ideas about the nature of audiences and public opinion change and are used politically.

Social marketing

This exciting new module explores how a wide range of complimentary frameworks, techniques and concepts can be applied to the solution of social problems. The module brings together elements from the disciples of marketing, public relations and the social sciences to produce effective, integrated behaviour change campaigns.

Sociology of News

A critical study of the news media in the context of current society; it examines different aspects of how news is created, disseminated and consumed.

Work Experience

As the media capital of Europe there is a great opportunity for students to take work experience as a part of the course. This could be in long established companies or start-ups. While the course leaders will advise students on placements it is up to the student to make their own enquiries about work opportunities.

Note: The University is constantly improving its offer to students. It is intended that some changes, such as practice options under new course titles, may be approved between printing this brochure and enrolment for this course. You are therefore advised to look at the website for updated details.

Entry Requirements

You should possess, or be expecting, a good first degree (equivalent to at least an Upper Second or a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.00) from a recognised university and/or have relevant professional experience. Particular consideration will be given to mature applicants.

You must be able to write and speak fluent English. If English is your second language you should have a score of at least 6.5 IELTS overall with a minimum 6.5 in the writing element. The TOEFL equivalent is 600 overall in the paper-based test (PBT) and 92 in the TOEFL internet-based test (IBT), including at least 20 in the writing element.

Applicants may additionally be asked to write 500 words on a topic assigned by the University. As far as possible, telephone interviews are conducted before offers of admission are made. In these, the interviewer looks for evidence of interest in and commitment to the study of communication, as well as analytical skills.

Related Courses

Communications Policy MA • Global Media MA • Media Management MA • Public Relations MA  • Media and Development MA • Diversity and the Media MA  • Journalism International MA • Journalism MA