The fundamental pedagogical idea behind this Master’s degree is to create a common learning environment for documentary students and journalist students. The Faculty of Media and Journalism has for a long time seen the benefits of having these two subject areas come together, e.g. through common courses relevant to both professions. This applies to the debate concerning media’s role in society and social responsibility, questions concerning methods, ethics etc. The first academic year starts out with the introductory course The Documentary and Journalism’s Role in Society (DJM305). This is a common course discussing the function of documentarians and journalists in a democratic society.  The course presents and problematises documentarians’ and journalists’ fundamental concept and practice. This is particularly evident through the use of the term “social responsibility” – which in later years has become a key term in the academic debate.  The term is now thought to represent a string of ideas dealing with how journalism is legitimized and given, or rather is claiming, a particular role in society when it comes to democratic processes. These ideas are, in part, concerned with media’s role as the fourth estate, their role as a professional run and socially responsible system, and their status as a guarantor ensuring a functional public dialogue. Critical perspectives problematise these presumptions, for example in relation to the market.     Investigative Journalism (DJM302), with a value of 15 credits (ects), is the other course students will take during that first year. This course gives students an insight into what today’s qualitative demands in journalistic production require. Students should gain a solid understanding of journalism and the journalistic work process. The development of ideas and hypotheses, methodical selection and a systematic approach to one’s own research are key elements in this course. Other important areas are the choice and use of different sources and source materials, ethical dilemmas and critical analysis of sources in connection to different types of journalistic investigations and choice of methods. The journalistic method of working with sources and data will be related to the scientific way of working with sources and data, in particular qualitative method in the social sciences and to a lesser degree quantitative method in the social sciences. The course covers, in theory and practice, central ethical and methodical challenges in journalistic research. The production of journalistic texts/programmes based on the method of investigative journalism is included in the course.  In the spring semester of the first academic year, students may choose between different courses offered at VUC: Ethics in Documentary Production and Journalism (DJM 303), Media production (DJM304), Media and the Cold War 1975-1991 (DJM309) and Documentary Photography (DJM311). From this selection, at least two of them will be offered depending on student interest.  The programme description gives room for students to go on student exchange or take courses offered at different Master’s degree programmes that semester. Courses from other institutions must be approved by the faculty in order to be included in the Master’s degree programme. The course  Documentary and Journalism: Research traditions, methods and history (DJM301) commences the second academic year. This is a compulsory common course on fundamental issues in the philosophy of science which are relevant to the programme of study. The course is also relevant to work connected to the master’s thesis, and has a credit value of 15 credits. The remaining of the semester is used to get started on the master’s thesis (DJM306). The final semester is dedicated to the master’s thesis only.  See course tables regarding further information on the course of study.