Specialist Certificate · Master's level · CPS-26

Newsroom Management and Media Economics

For: Editors-in-chief and their deputies, news editors, founders and managers of online media, radio stations and newspapers.

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Organisation over 20 weeks

Four 5-week blocks (4 weeks of classes, 1 week of assessment). The two course units are taken unchanged from the original degree: same content, same assessments.

Blocks 1 and 2 (weeks 1 to 10): EDI 532 — Editorial Leadership and the Multimedia Newsroom
Blocks 3 and 4 (weeks 11 to 20): ECM 533 — Media Economics, Artificial Intelligence and Newsroom Transformation

EDI 532 - Editorial Leadership and the Multimedia Newsroom

To move from production to leadership: designing an editorial offering, organising a newsroom and producing a complete edition under time pressure.

Learning outcomes

Define an editorial line and an editorial charter for a multimedia outlet.
Lead an editorial meeting and prioritise the news.
Create a complete multimedia edition within a limited time, covering news in a specialist field.
Supervise a team of journalists and technicians and evaluate its output.

Content

Editorial line, charter, positioning; choice of a specialism (politics, economics and public finance, health, environment, culture, sport).
Editorial meeting, news prioritisation, planning, going to press, special edition.
Approval chain and multimedia sub-editing.
Covering major events: elections, crises, major trials.
Team management: journalists, technicians, correspondents; employment conditions under the Convention collective nationale du secteur de la presse (national collective agreement for the press sector).
Training newsroom: producing a complete edition in real time.

Assessment: Project (60%): multimedia edition produced in the training newsroom within a limited time, assessed against a rubric. Continuous assessment (40%): editorial charter and organisational plan for a newsroom.

ECM 533 - Media Economics, Artificial Intelligence and Newsroom Transformation

To prepare the future newsroom manager to ensure a media outlet's viability without sacrificing its independence, and to oversee the arrival of artificial intelligence in news production.

Learning outcomes

Analyse a media outlet's business model and assess its viability.
Propose revenue sources compatible with editorial independence.
Evaluate the uses and risks of artificial intelligence in a newsroom.
Draft an artificial intelligence usage charter based on recognised ethical principles.

Content

Media economics: value chain, costs, revenues (sales, subscriptions, advertising, subsidies, donations, partnerships), dependencies.
Advertising: framework under reform, projet de loi portant Code de la publicité (Advertising Code bill) adopted by the Conseil des ministres (Council of Ministers) on 12 November 2025; separation between news and advertising.
Digital platforms: audience, search ranking, value sharing; monetising content under copyright (loi n°2008-09 [Copyright and Related Rights Act], SODAV).
Setting up a media outlet: finding, in the Code de la presse (Press Code; loi n°2017-27), the provisions on setting up and running a press company; entreprenant status, OHADA company and cooperative forms, associations; electronic communications framework (loi n°2018-28 [Electronic Communications Code]), to be studied on the text as regards digital distribution.
Artificial intelligence in the newsroom: transcription, translation, including into national languages, summarisation, research; errors, biases, synthetic content, rights.
Governance: human oversight, transparency towards the public, usage charter; UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (2021).

Assessment: Continuous assessment (40%): economic analysis of a fictitious media outlet. Project (60%): newsroom transformation memo, including an artificial intelligence usage charter.

Career opportunities

Editor-in-chief, news editor, editorial manager, founder or manager of a media outlet.

At your own pace: the self-paced pathway

In a class, this certificate takes 20 weeks, on the cohort's dates. On the self-paced pathway, you start whenever you like, online, and progress at your own pace. The price is the same.

Estimate how long my pathway will take

12 h / week · 240 hours in total

Duration: about 20 weeks
Estimated end: 20 weeks after you start
Examination: Online, subject to available slots, no earlier than 20 weeks after you start
Payment: In 1 to 5 monthly instalments, as you choose

An indicative estimate, for a start today and 240 hours of work. You can change your pace along the way; the pathway must be completed within 60 weeks (about 14 months) of your start. Your e-Campus access opens with your first payment.

Admission

Bachelor's degree in a related field or experience in journalistic production assessed on application. Admission based on application; detailed requirements set by the school.

The credits you earn are recognised without further assessment if you later join the programme they come from, Professional Master's degree in Journalism, within a period set by the certificate regulations.