The six-week course is designed to be adapted by universities and colleges to meet local needs.

It explores modern journalism, focusing on technology, ethics, and media production. Students will examine digital newsgathering, fact-checking, and editorial ethics while analysing misinformation and bias in the news. The course also covers the role of AI and algorithms in shaping journalism. Through a mix of theory and practice, students will gain the skills to navigate and influence the future of digital media.

Week 1: Editorial ethics in the digital age

• Overview:
  • In today’s fast-changing digital media landscape, journalistic ethics face new challenges. In the first week we’ll focus on core values such as accuracy, fairness, and integrity. We’ll examine how these principles apply online, the impact of unconscious bias on news, and the pressures of the digital news cycle. Through readings and discussions, we’ll tackle ethical dilemmas and learn how to uphold high journalistic standards.
• Topics:
  • Ethical principles in digital journalism and their practical applications
  • Ensuring accuracy, fairness, and journalistic integrity in online reporting
  • The role of unconscious bias in shaping media narratives and audience trust
  • Ethical dilemmas in the fast-paced, high-pressure digital news environment
• Essential reading:
  • Why editorial ethics are important
  • Lesson: Editorial ethics
  • Integrity and journalism
  • Lesson: Integrity in journalism
  • Accuracy in journalism
  • Lesson: Accuracy in journalism

Week 2: Digital newsgathering and production

• Overview:
  • The digital revolution has transformed journalism, shifting from traditional reporting to advanced digital production. In the second week you’ll learn how newsrooms adapt to a digital-first world. We’ll explore investigative journalism in a multi-platform environment, advanced storytelling techniques for digital and video formats, and strategies for audience engagement. This week will equip you with the skills to create impactful stories in today’s fast-paced media landscape.
• Topics:
  • The transformation of traditional newsrooms into digital-first operations
  • Investigative journalism in a multi-platform and converged media environment
  • Advanced storytelling techniques for digital, video, and interactive formats
  • Effective strategies for online news prioritization and audience engagement
• Essential reading:
  • Introducing a converged newsroom strategy
  • Lesson: Newsroom convergence
  • Creating a converged news operation
  • Convergence workflows: Roles and responsibilities
  • Lesson: How to construct a TV news package
  • Presenting and exploiting content online
  • How to set online news priorities
  • Managing a news website front page

Week 3: Advanced fact-checking in the digital age

• Overview:
  • As information spreads more rapidly and misinformation is a constant threat, it’s crucial to know how to separate fact from fiction. In the third week we’ll focus on the importance of verification in journalism. You’ll learn ethical fact-checking practices and methods for real-time digital verification. We’ll also cover how to create fact-checking systems and explore how AI is used to detect manipulated content. By the end of the week, you’ll be equipped to defend against misinformation and uphold journalistic integrity.
• Topics:
  • The ethical necessity of rigorous fact-checking in modern journalism
  • Investigative methodologies for real-time digital verification
  • Developing and implementing comprehensive fact-checking frameworks
  • The role of artificial intelligence in detecting misinformation and verifying sources
• Essential reading:
  • Fact-checking and adding context
  • Beyond basic fact-checking
  • Lesson: Beyond basic fact-checking
  • Creating a strong fact-checking system

Week 4: Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news

• Overview:
  • Not only has the digital age enabled information to spread faster, it’s also also made it easier to manipulate, which can have serious social and political effects. In the fourth week we’ll explore the dangers of false information. You’ll learn how to spot and counter disinformation and understand the importance of trust in digital journalism. We’ll also look at the rise of deepfakes and AI-generated content and their impact on public trust. This week will help you navigate the challenges of misinformation in today’s media landscape.treacherous landscape of online deception and learn how to defend the truth in an age of pervasive misinformation.
• Topics:
  • The societal and political ramifications of misinformation campaigns
  • Techniques for identifying and countering disinformation tactics
  • The role of trust chains in digital journalism and credibility assessment
  • The impact of deepfakes and AI-generated content on public trust
• Essential reading:
  • How to identify and deal with fake news
  • Fake news and trust chains
  • Lesson: Fake news
  • Dealing with disinformation and misinformation
  • Information disorder: Mapping the landscape
  • Snacking on rumour, feeding on fact

Week 5: Bias, social media, and audience influence

• Overview:
  • The influence of social media where unverified information spreads at speed, along with algorithms deciding what information is shared, maintaining journalistic integrity is harder than ever. In the fifth week we’ll examine how bias affects news production and trust in media. You’ll learn about the powerful role social media plays in spreading news and shaping how it’s created. We’ll look at audience habits and how their demand for instant, personalised content can impact objective reporting. This week will provide practical strategies for reducing bias and keeping your journalism fair and truthful.
• Topics:
  • The impact of bias in digital journalism and media credibility
  • The influence of social media platforms on news production and dissemination
  • Audience consumption patterns and their implications for journalistic integrity
  • Strategies for mitigating bias and enhancing journalistic objectivity
• Essential reading:
  • • Confronting editorial bias in election coverage
    • Social media in news production and news dissemination
    • Adapting to changing audience behaviour and monitoring the market
    • Unconscious bias and its impact on journalism
    • Lesson: Unconscious bias

Week 6: Artificial intelligence and algorithmic influence in journalism

• Overview:
  • Artificial intelligence is changing journalism. It offers new possibilities and raises new factual and ethical challenges. In the sixth and final week we’ll explore how AI is used in news automation, curation, and investigative reporting. You’ll learn about the practical uses of AI and the ethical concerns, like algorithmic bias. We’ll also examine how machine learning and audience targeting are shaping the future of journalism. This week will give you strategies to maintain journalistic integrity in an AI-driven media world, ensuring truth remains the priority.
• Topics:
  • The expanding role of AI in news automation, curation, and investigative journalism
  • The ethical challenges posed by algorithmic bias and AI-driven reporting
  • The implications of machine learning and audience targeting on journalism’s future
  • Strategies for maintaining journalistic integrity in an AI-driven media landscape
• Essential reading:
  • Artificial intelligence assesses its role in journalism
  • AI and investigative journalism
  • Lesson: AI-powered investigations
  • How to detect AI-generated images
  • Systems thinking for journalists

Coursework and assessement

For coursework and assessment, students are expected to combine the theoretical and practical knowledge gained throughout the six weeks. This includes demonstrating an understanding of ethical considerations in digital journalism, proficiency in digital newsgathering and verification techniques, and the ability to critically analyse the impact of emerging technologies. Assessments will include a combination of written assignments, such as essays and case studies, and practical exercises, such as developing fact-checking frameworks or analysing digital news narratives for bias. Students should be prepared to articulate their perspectives on the future of journalism, considering the interplay of technological advancements, ethical dilemmas, and audience engagement. Ultimately, this course aims to foster informed, ethical, and adaptable journalists capable of upholding journalistic integrity in the rapidly evolving digital age.

The post Module: Digital Journalism first appeared on Media Helping Media.

Media organisations need to ensure that the content they produce is available on every device the audience turns to for information.

In previous articles we have looked at the importance of Knowing your audience and Establishing a market differential for that audience which would inform the public debate with original, in-depth journalism.

In the past, broadcasting and publishing were fairly predictable. The audience watched TV, listened to the radio, and bought newspapers.

We worked to deadlines set by the broadcast schedules or the print runs.

The design of devices such as TV and radio changed from time to time, but the basic philosophy of broadcasting bulletins and related programmes changed very little. The same was true with newspapers.

Digital disruption

Then digital journalism disrupted the model. Content could be viewed online, on mobile and on tablets at any time of the day, on demand and on the move. Rolling, 24-hour news channels also contributed to the disruption.

I remember when I was managing editor of BBC News Online and realising when we published the first story that life would never be the same again.

We had started the continuous news cycle for the BBC. Everything had to change, including workflows, how stories were created and developed, roles and responsibilities, job descriptions, and organisational structures.

And then social media grew, and the audience became creators and curator of content, producing, commenting, sharing, adding value, beginning conversations, offering options, and participating in the news cycle. Another powerful and disrupting influence.

While all this was taking place, technology was not only matching the ambitions and aspirations of the content producers and content consumers, it was also creating new ways to do both.

Successful media businesses could no longer relax with legacy systems and known ways. They had to innovate, and to innovate they had to understand the audience, the technology, and the market.

So business development managers were hired and units set up to track the changes in audience behaviour in order to try to see what new platforms were being developed and to feed the information back into the news production and business planning departments.

Luckily, for those of us in the news management business, there also developed groups of people who made a living out of analysing the data surrounding changing audience behaviour, examining the implications for content producers and the market, and offering that wisdom to news business at a price.

One of those companies is WeAreSocial in Singapore who produce a six-monthly report on audience behaviour. The data they produce offers valuable and interesting insights into how content is consumed. Much of that data can be viewed, free-of-charge, on their Slideshare site.

Using such information can help media managers plan how their businesses need to evolve. Decision can be taken which are informed by solid business logic.

Digital first, digital parallel or digital denial

Responding to audience behaviour data will probably mean that a media business decides to introduce a digital first strategy.

Digital first means that content is published on digital platforms before, or at the same time, as it’s published on traditional platforms. Please refer to our article From digital denial to digital first.

But a digital first strategy needs to make business sense. There is no point in delivering to digital platforms if they are not being used by your target audience.

And that is why you need to continually monitor how your target audience is accessing news so that you can adapt and change to ensure you are able to meet their information needs in the way they require.

Otherwise you will probably lose that audience, and more aware and alert media organisations that are monitoring changing audience behaviour might take your place.

If it makes sense to adopt a digital first strategy – and it probably will, then the decision will also involve changes in how news is produced and how decisions are made.

You will need to introduce new workflows based around a news ‘superdesk’ acting as a centralised ‘command-and-control’ for the news operation. New roles and responsibilities may have to be introduced – from existing resources. Please refer to our article Convergence: transforming news production.

Central to this will be a planning editor who will take your unique editorial proposition of original in-depth journalism and ensure there is a steady flow of high-quality news and current affairs items designed to meet the information needs of your target audience.

Please refer to the module about forward planning for media organisations. At this stage you will have taken your first steps towards introducing a digital first strategy.

But let’s return to the theme of the first article in this series about setting up a media business.

I likened a media business to a table with four legs. Each leg having to be as sturdy as the other to ensure the table (the media business) doesn’t wobble.

• Leg one is identifying the target audience and its information needs.
• Leg two is establishing a market differential with original, in-depth, issue-led journalism.
• Leg three is adapting to changing audience behaviour and monitoring the market as set out in this article.
• So now let’s move on to leg four, our media organisation’s values. Please refer to the article Winning audience trust and loyalty.

Related articles

From digital denial to digital first

Convergence: transforming news production

Winning audience trust and loyalty

The post Adapting to changing audience behaviour first appeared on Media Helping Media.