18.02.10. City University launches London's first MA in financial journalism

If you hear breast-beating from a gloomy corner of media land, it's probably a financial journalist confessing he or she failed to anticipate the greatest story in a generation – the still-running financial crisis. How the story was covered has been controversial. But for City University, it's a golden opportunity. Its well-regarded Graduate School of Journalism, set in the heart of the City of London, the epicentre of the economic earthquake, is introducing a full-time MA in financial journalism.

The university is trying to remedy a serious deficiency. Although it has grown rapidly in recent years, financial journalism, in the UK at least, has retained a whiff of old Fleet Street amateurism. "What the crisis has shown is the importance of financial journalism. It's not just a subject which is important for specialists. It's important for all of us. It's more and more important that we have good people doing it," says Steve Schifferes, a former BBC economics correspondent who is the Marjorie Deane Professor of Financial Journalism at the school and the course leader.

The one-year course begins in September. Drawing on the school's extensive facilities, including sophisticated TV and broadcasting studios, it has five modules covering financial journalism specifically and journalistic practice generally. The course looks at major current issues such as the public finances. It studies topics such as financial markets, corporate finance and understanding financial statements. And it does not neglect economics and the politics of globalisation. Read more