Module: Newsdays

Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

Module Title	Newsdays
Module Code	JRR1025 (ITS: CM3680)
Faculty	Communications	School	Humanities & Social Sciences
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5

Description

Newsdays will emulate the work of a daily newsroom. The class will be divided into two groups and, on alternate weeks, each group will participate in an all-day Newsday. On those days, between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., each student will work to produce stories under tight deadline pressures, under the direction of a three-person team of student news executives, guided by faculty and working journalists who will operate as Newsday editors-in-chief. The standard of journalism produced by students in their Newsdays will reflect, to a large extent, the amount of effort students put into their stories. Newsdays will, therefore, demand intense effort by individual students.

Learning Outcomes

1. Conduct advanced journalistic research and reporting
2. Develop multi-media news stories from concept to finished product
3. Demonstrate advanced storytelling skills in the production of high-quality original journalism across a range of platforms
4. Exercise appropriate professional judgement in the production of original journalism, accepting accountability for all decision-making
5. Act effectively under guidance in a peer relationship with qualified practitioners

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full time hours per semester
Laboratory	100	No Description
Independent Study	50	No Description
Total Workload: 150

Section Breakdown
CRN	20577	Part of Term	Semester 2
Coursework	0%	Examination Weight	0%
Grade Scale	40PASS	Pass Both Elements	Y
Resit Category	RC1	Best Mark	N
Module Co-ordinator	Mark O'Brien	Module Teacher	Alice O'Sullivan, Colleen Murrell, David Robbins, Dawn Wheatley, Declan Fahy, Jane Suiter, Paul Mcnamara

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assessment Breakdown
Professional Portfolio	n/a	100%	n/a

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; RC1: A resit is available for both^* components of the module. RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module. RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element. ^* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Indicative Reading List

Books:

UNESCO: 2011, Story-Based Inquiry: A Manual for Investigative Journalists, UNESCO, Paris,
David Randall: 2011, The Universal Journalist, 4, Pluto Press, London,

Articles:
None

Other Resources

None