Masters Degree

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED. WE WILL ONLY CONSIDER APPLICATIONS FOR 2014.
You can apply for 2014 from 1 August 2013 online or at the Enrolment Centre, Senate House
Deadline September 30 for South African citizens
Deadline August 31 for Internationals

WHO SHOULD APPLY

The Masters degree is open to:
Journalists who have an Honours degree in journalism (or equivalent) and at least two years professional experience;
Working journalists with more than five years experience, who have a four-year degree in any field.

PROGRAMME REQUIREMENTS

The Masters can be taken full-time (one year) or part-time (two years). Students must take three courses and produce a research report of about 25 000 words. Students are required to take the core course, Media and Society, then choose two optional courses. The optional courses and the research need to reflect whichever stream or specialisation students have chosen.

REQUIREMENTS FOR SPECIALISATIONS AND TOPIC AREAS
Investigative Journalism
Media and Society, Investigative Journalism A and Investigative Journalism B.
Research report on an investigative topic
Convener: Margaret Renn ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Financial Journalism
Media and Society, Financial Journalism, Advanced Financial Journalism
Research project on financial or economic topic.
If the student has done Financial Journalism courses at the Honours level, he or she can
substitute an appropriate option, with permission from the specialisation convener.
Financial journalism can only be taken part-time.
Convener: Kevin Davie ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Development Communication
Media and Society and Development Communication
By arrangement with the specialisation convener, a third course
can be chosen from Journalism or from other postgraduate options.
Research report on a development communication topic.
Convener: Felicity Levine ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

For general information on the Wits Radio Academy, the unit which offers this specialisation, click here. 

Ethics
Required courses: Media and Society, Media Law and Ethics and a third optional course.
Research report on ethics topic.
Convener: Franz Kruger, ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

Writing
Media and Society, Creative Writing for Journalists, and an option from Wits writing or journalism courses.
Research report on an aspect of creative non-fiction, literary journalism, or journalism editing and production. With permission from the convener, the candidate can opt for a writing project.
Convener: Lesley Cowling ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

COURSES

Seminars are mostly scheduled for weekday evenings to accommodate working students, while some are offered on a block-release basis - generally two weeks of full-time work (see timetable). The classes are made up of working journalists from a wide range of backgrounds and media, which results in a dynamic and exciting environment for discussion and debate.

(Please note that not all these courses are offered every year, depending on student demand and teacher availability. Please check what is offered from year to year.)

• Media Law and Ethics - This course is designed to equip journalists with the knowledge and skills to deal with the legal and ethical issues essential to the practice of their profession. It is run in conjunction with the Law School. Weekly seminars.
• Radio Journalism - The course examines the history, practice and theory of radio journalism, teaching students to be able to report, write, research, produce and edit various forms of news stories and feature packages and to critically assess such work. The course is presented in a two-week block, followed by a requirement to work on the campus radio station, Voice of Wits.
• Online Journalism - This course is designed for students with a basic foundation in journalism skills to learn to be effective journalists for online digital media. The course gives students a background to the structure, development and practice of online journalism.
• Creative Writing for Journalists - This is a writing course in which students will examine different traditions of creative non-fiction, including profiles, new journalism, reportage, and the personal essay, and look, in particular, at the way in which fictional devices and structures can be used for factual stories. The course will also look at the gathering of information, interviewing and ethical issues around this kind of journalistic representation. Weekly seminars.
• Sub-editing - This course looks at some of the skills needed by people working at senior levels on a subs desk, or aspiring to move there. Weekly seminars.
• Television journalism - On this course you will learn to research, write and produce a piece of television journalism. You will learn skills in writing for television and how to tell stories using pictures. You will gain an understanding of the entire production and editorial process involved in producing television news and current affairs. The course is practical and will require a time commitment of at least one month.
• Financial Journalism - This course is part of a stream for those who wish to specialise in Financial Journalism.
• Advanced Financial Journalism - This course is for those wishing to specialise in financial, economic or business journalism. Students are required to have completed our Financial Journalism course or equivalent.
• The Story of Money - This course has two aims: to improve the understanding of how economies work and to upgrade the writing skills of participants through examining great authors on the subject. Numerous authors, some dating back hundreds of years, who have written about complex economics in clear and understandable terms, are studied as case studies of exemplary writing. Course work will focus on a research and story component, students being required to show they are able to cover complex economic subjects in a clear, accessible manner. 
• Investigative Journalism A This course will involve reading and discussion on the role of investigative reporting, its history and ethics, as well as contemporary investigative skills, such as internet searching, using data bases, freedom of information requests, etc.
• Investigative Journalism B Students will undertake a supervised investigation. They will also study advanced investigative techniques, history and ethics.

For one of the optional courses, students may also select a course from the vast range offered at Masters level at the university, subject to the approval of the Masters co-ordinator or specialisation convener. These options may include courses in history, politics, economics, science, sociology, languages or literature.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Masters Degree:
An Honours degree in Journalism and Media Studies (or equivalent) with at least 65 percent average, and at least two years experience working as a journalist;
OR
65 percent average in previous Honours degree in any field, and five years experience in journalism. Students may be required to pass an entrance test. Applicants who did not receive 65% or more for their Honours research project may be required to do a research course as a prerequisite.

HOW TO APPLY
For information about the Masters degree, and whether you are eligible or not, please contact us. However, once you have decided you would like to apply for the programme, you need to do that through the university's official structures. You can apply online here, or you can go to the Enrolment Centre, Senate House, to fill in a hard copy application form.

Along with the form, you should provide a work history or short cv, and a copy of your Honours research project or long essay. Please provide your supporting documents before the deadline for applications closes,as we cannot make a decision without them.

Applicants may be required to write entrance tests or language tests. Places in the programme are limited and late applications will not be considered.

YOU MUST CHOOSE ONE OF THE SPECIALISATIONS OUTLINED ABOVE. Please do this by emailing the MA convener This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   AND This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . If you are interested in more than one of the areas, please indicate that in your email. 

For international journalists, applications must be in by August 31. All other applicants should submit by September 30.

For students completing an Honours degree, the applications should also be submitted by September 30, but decisions will only be provisonal until your final results become available.

If you have not received a response from us letting you know whether you have been accepted by early December, please check your status by sending an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

There is no mid-year admission for the Masters programme.

FEES
Fees for the Masters degree (three courses and the research report) are about R22 000. Please check the university website for the latest information. International students pay a special fee. Please click here for information on the special circumstances of being a foreign student at Wits.

Bursaries are available for Masters students who are interested in focussing on research on China-Africa. See here for contact information. 

For more information about the application process, see Wits' postgraduate website. For information from the Journalism programme, please contact the programme administrator at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Registration Details