What sort of final investigation do students publish on the BA Investigative Journalism?

Past graduating investigations have covered local council enforcement spending, small-charity governance failures, regional NHS waiting-list patterns and adversarial procurement practice in higher education. Subject matter is your choice, agreed with your tutor and legally reviewed before publication.

Does the BA Investigative Journalism cover data journalism?

Yes. Data journalism is a core component across all three years — spreadsheets, basic SQL, scraping, statistical reasoning and visualisation. You graduate able to find the story in a dataset and explain a chart honestly to a general reader.

How much media law does the BA Investigative Journalism cover?

Substantially more than a generic journalism BA — taught alongside an in-house legal adviser across three years. By graduation you understand defamation defences, contempt, reporting restrictions, harassment law and data protection in journalism at working-newsroom standard.

Can I study the BA Investigative Journalism online?

Yes. Online students complete the same investigations and final project with remote tutor supervision, secure communication exercises and published outputs. Distance learners attend two short intensives in London for hands-on workshops.

Will the BA Investigative Journalism prepare me for a national-newsroom trainee scheme?

Yes. The degree is built around what UK investigations-track trainee schemes recruit for — a portfolio of investigations, evidence of FOI campaigning, demonstrated data literacy and a published final project under your byline.

BA Investigative Journalism in London | LSJHML | Harold International College of London

Course Overview

The BA Investigative Journalism at the London School of Journalism, Humanities & Modern Languages (LSJHML) is a three-year UK honours degree designed to produce graduates capable of holding power to account from the day they enter the newsroom. You will run sustained investigations from term one, build a year-long final project under editor supervision, and graduate with a published byline on a piece that has cleared legal review and reached a real audience.

This degree treats investigative journalism as a craft that takes years to learn rather than a couple of optional modules at the end of a generic journalism BA. By the end of the BA Investigative Journalism you can file an FOI campaign that gets results, read a leaked document set with discipline, defend your work to a lawyer, and write the kind of long-form accountability piece a national editor would commission with confidence.

Key Features

UK honours degree in Investigative Journalism — three years full-time, with online and distance routes.
Year-long final investigation with editor supervision, legal sign-off and a published outcome.
Cumulative FOI campaign series across all three years, building from single requests to coordinated campaigns.
Data journalism core — spreadsheets, SQL, scraping, statistical reasoning, visualisation.
Media law and ethics taught alongside an in-house legal adviser — defamation, contempt, harassment, data-protection in journalism.
Industry-led masterclasses from investigative reporters working at UK national titles, the BBC, ITN and independent investigative newsrooms.

What You Will Learn

The BA Investigative Journalism is structured around the working life of an investigative reporter — over three years, repeatedly. You graduate able to plan a multi-month story, file an FOI series that survives appeal, read a document set with proper scepticism, protect a source, and explain to a lawyer why your story stands up.

Investigation planning — hypothesis, sources, document trail, timeline, ethical assessment.
Freedom of Information Act practice — including ICO appeals and decision-notice work.
Document analysis — Companies House, Land Registry, Charity Commission, Insolvency Service, Hansard.
Data journalism — cleaning, joining, statistical reasoning, mapping, visualisation.
Source work — recruitment, protection, on-the-record management, whistleblower handling.
Media law — defamation defences, reporting restrictions, contempt, harassment, data-protection in journalism.
Long-form construction — narrative architecture, document attribution, right-of-reply protocols.
Multi-platform publishing — print, longform online, podcast, social distribution, accessibility.

Who This Course Is For

School leavers committed to a career in accountability journalism rather than general newsroom work.
International students seeking a UK investigative journalism degree taught in central London.
Career-changers from research, the civil service or NGO work entering journalism.
Existing junior reporters at regional newsrooms wanting a structured investigative qualification.

Career Pathways

Graduates of the BA Investigative Journalism move into staff investigations roles at UK regional and national newsrooms, non-profit investigative outlets and current-affairs broadcast units. Typical post-graduation roles include:

Investigative Reporter (regional press, national title)
Long-form Feature Writer (national newspaper, longform digital)
Data Journalist (specialist desk, fact-checking unit, non-profit)
Open-Source Intelligence Analyst (newsroom, NGO, monitoring agency)
Documentary Researcher (BBC, ITN, current-affairs production)
Editorial Researcher (longform podcast, magazine, broadcaster)

Graduates progress to our MA Investigative Journalism or MA International Journalism, or directly into staff trainee schemes at UK national newsrooms.

Entry Requirements

Three A-Levels at BBC or above (or international equivalent — IB 28 points, BTEC DMM, or accepted national qualification).
GCSE English Language at grade 5 or equivalent English proficiency test.
IELTS 6.0 overall (no band below 5.5) for non-native English speakers.
A short personal statement and a writing sample (any form, 800–1,500 words).
Mature applicants (21+) without standard qualifications may apply with a portfolio and short interview.

Why Study at LSJHML

The London School of Journalism, Humanities & Modern Languages is a specialist higher-education provider based in central London. Our programmes are designed in dialogue with working professionals — journalists, translators, civil servants, academics, broadcasters, editors, publishers and policy researchers — so what you learn in seminar on Monday is what your future employer is using on Tuesday. We deliberately keep cohorts small, give every student named tutor support, and treat employability as a structural part of every programme rather than an optional add-on.

London is the work — politics, courts, capital markets, theatre, broadcasting, publishing, public service, the global press. Your studies are taught in the same square mile where the stories you read about happen. Whether you join us on-campus, online or by distance learning, the city is your classroom and our industry network is your launchpad.