Sports Journalism Master's Degree
Spain has many sports references that transcend its borders, from Real Madrid or Barcelona to Rafa Nadal or Fernando Alonso, but the Spanish language has a great reference in sports journalism, the newspaper Marca. The School of Unidad Editorial, the group of Marca newspaper, Expansión, El Mundo and other well-known media, organizes, together with CEU-San Pablo University, the Master's Degree in Specialized Journalism in Sports by MARCA, a program that aims to offer the necessary knowledge and tools to work in any sports news media or communication department of a company in the sector.
The Master's Degree, which has both an in-person version (link) and an online version (link), has the best active professionals in its teaching team, most of them from Marca newspaper, and offers paid internships of six months in the newsrooms of Unidad Editorial, the largest media group in Spain.
Almost 80% of the MARCA Master's program is practical, both in class development and in the evaluation system. The academic program covers all areas of sports journalism, written, digital, television, radio, and corporate and institutional communication. The master's degree was born with the vocation of training journalists and specialized communicators in the field of sports, who are knowledgeable not only in journalistic skills but also in the sports environment, management, law, history, and sociology of sports.
Within the current labor market situation of journalism and communication in general, and sports specialization in particular, students must train with the aim of acquiring the necessary competencies and skills that lead them to become professionals. Part of these competencies are acquired during the academic period of the master's degree, but there are others that can only be acquired in the media. With this purpose, internships are included as mandatory, curricular subjects to be taken within the curriculum.
Internships in the Marca newsroom are an excellent training mechanism for master's degree students and their subsequent job placement, which provide substantial added value for their future employability.
The internships have a duration of six months for in-person edition students (from July to December). In-person edition students do mandatory internships at MARCA, MARCA.com or Radio MARCA. Students enrolled in the online edition complete the Prácticum which is a 24-credit subject taken from July to December and with which the master's degree ends. It is a set of internships designed as a mandatory itinerary specifically intended for online group students, equivalent to the externships of the in-person edition group. The Prácticum is conceived to develop skills and abilities in research, writing, and editing in the production of publishable journalistic material.
After completing the online modules in which they have been introduced to the practice of Sports Journalism, the Prácticum wants to immerse the student in intense activity that involves the professional routines of producing pieces similar to those published in specialized sports media such as MARCA.
In-person classes take place at the group's headquarters from Monday to Thursday from 10am to 2:30pm. However, starting in March, the audiovisual module classes will be taught at the Audiovisual Center of CEU San Pablo University on Fridays from 10am to 3pm.
The Sports Journalism Master's program consists of six modules.
The first module is composed of subjects that a media professional needs to know in order to contextualize information. Subjects such as sports history, sociology, sports law, and general overview of sports. As well as an in-depth knowledge of sports journalistic genres. Emphasizing practice in the field of journalistic research, source treatment, and data handling for subsequent analysis.
The second module focuses on journalistic writing and different specialized journalism. It is one of the most practical modules, as students, imitating the workflow of the MARCA newsroom, create a newspaper and an informative website within the classroom. These practices are repeated weekly so that they can improve in writing and become familiar with the programs used in the newspaper. This block also includes the topics of managing social media in sports journalism, adding professional experiences from reputable journalists in this sector and formative visits to institutions and sports organizations, so that they can get a first-hand understanding of the practices in managing these entities.
The third block focuses on radio and television subjects. In fact, students go to CEU San Pablo University facilities every week for two months to do internships in their radio studios and TV sets, which are optimally prepared for teaching in this area.
The fourth module consolidates one of the most transversal competencies of the program, bringing together the economic management of sports, marketing, and communication. These are skills that will always be important for job placement in any field of communication and sports journalism.
The last module corresponds to the Master's Final Project, which involves the student carrying out a journalistic research project or developing a practical journalistic product.
The MARCA Sports Journalism Master's Degree has become a true reference in the profession, and those who have already completed it are pursuing their careers in major media outlets and communication departments.