The MLitt Digital Media, Publishing and Law offers a flexible interdisciplinary exploration of key contemporary developments shaping the creative industries. Core modules explore legal, theoretical and industrial perspectives on the contemporary communications environment. Optional modules offer students the potential to specialise in aspects of media, law and/or publishing studies, including media economics, news and digital media, advertising, marketing management and communications, and information technology law. The culmination of the degree is the final independent research project, devised by the student in consultation with an academic supervisor. This course will benefit those seeking to develop their understanding of contemporary communication and its legal, regulatory and industrial contexts.
Entrance requirements
An applicant for the MLitt should normally hold a single or joint Honours degree in any humanities or social science subject at a minimum of upper second class level or should possess an equivalent qualification. Applicants with other qualifications or other appropriate experience may be admitted on the recommendation of the Course Director(s), normally to the Diploma in the first instance. It is anticipated that any candidate so admitted will be transferred to the MLitt on evidence of satisfactory progress. The course does not normally otherwise admit students for the Postgraduate Diploma.
English language requirements
If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence of your proficiency such as a minimum IELTS score of 6.5 (minimum 6 in each skill), or TOEFL: Listening 23, Reading 23, Speaking 23, Writing 23.
Funding
information on possible sources of funding
Modes of study
Full-time, 12 months
Part-time, 27 months
Course start date
September
Structure and content
The degree of MLitt comprises a total of eight modules plus a dissertation. In Semester 1, which runs from September to December, all candidates take core modules in Publishing Dynamics, Intellectual Property Law, and Training for Masters in the Arts and Humanities, along with one optional module. In Semester 2, which runs from February to May, all candidates take a core module in Digital Cultures, along with three optional modules. All candidates for the MLitt then write a 12,000-word dissertation, which is due in August.
Delivery and assessment
Teaching involves a mix of lectures, seminars and workshops, and one-to-one supervision, all of which are delivered on campus at Stirling. Assessment tasks vary between modules, and include essays, reports, presentations, practical assignments, exams, and collaborative course blogs. A grade is given for each assessed module according to the University’s Common Grading Scheme for Postgraduate Courses, which is set out in the General Regulations section of the Taught Postgraduate Calendar.
Preparation
Contact the School for information on your timetable and reading lists.
Module titles
Module Titles
- LAWP03 Intellectual Property Law
- PUBP16 Publishing Dynamics
- ARTP01 Training for Masters in the Arts and Humanities
- MCCPX1 Digital Cultures
- LAWP06 Information Technology Law
- MMAP11 Media Economics
- MCCPX8 News, Journalism and Digital Media
- PUBP17 Marketing Management and Communications
- PUBP18 Editorial Practice and Content Creation
- IPMP19 Skills for Publishing Management
- PUBP21 Publishing, Literature and Society
- LAWP12 Sport and the Law
- PCMPX3 Advertising
- MMAP15 Media Rights
- MMAP14 Media Policy and Regulation
- ARTP08 Dissertation
Why study Digital Media, Publishing and Law at Stirling?
Course Director
Dr Graham Meikle
RAE rating
This degree is a collaboration between three department of the School of Arts and Humanities — Communications, Media and Culture; Publishing Studies; and Law. All of these divisions performed very well in the most recent UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). Communications, Media and Culture, for example, saw 70 percent of its research placed in the two highest categories of ‘world-leading’ and ‘internationally excellent’, which means Stirling is the top university in Scotland for that area of research, and among the top-ranked in the UK.
Strengths
The course is based in the Communications, Media and Culture department, which is ranked 1st in Scotland for research in Communication, Cultural and Media Studies by the most recent UK government Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), and is ranked 1st in Scotland for Communications & Media (The Complete University Guide 2012 and The Guardian University Guide 2012)
Our staff
Dr Graham Meikle is Senior Lecturer in Communications, Media and Culture. He came to Stirling in 2007, after teaching for eight years at Macquarie University in Sydney, and teaches modules in digital media cultures, news theory, and research methods every year. Graham is the author of Media Convergence: Networked Digital Media in Everyday Life (with Sherman Young), Interpreting News, and Future Active: Media Activism and the Internet, and editor of News Online: Transformations and Continuities (with Guy Redden).
This degree provides a unique perspective on key developments that are shaping the creative industries — an area of crucial and growing importance in many economies. It is an innovative and flexible interdisciplinary course that brings together the fields of law, publishing, and media into an original Master’s. Our programme combines theoretical, practical, industry and legal perspectives on communication in a networked digital media environment. Students will work with leading academic researchers to explore and better understand the changing dynamics of creative industries, and will develop their understanding of the legal, regulatory and policy challenges that these industries face in a communications landscape that combines both broadcast and broadband.
Find out more
http://www.stir.ac.uk/schools/arts-and-humanities
Career opportunities
This degree will be of particular interest to those who plan to work in the creative industries, as well as those already working in this field. It will also provide an excellent preparation for those wishing to continue their studies to PhD level. It will benefit those seeking a competitive edge in a careers market that values high-level skills in communication, research and critical thinking.
