Kim Pham
22 June 2016: University of Canberra journalism students are gaining real newsroom-like experience as they delve into the 2016 Federal Election as part of UniPollWatch.
UniPollWatch is a national collaborative reporting initiative on a scale never before attempted in Australia.
The University of Canberra is one of 28 Australian universities, and the only in Canberra, working to provide comprehensive coverage of the Federal Election via its students.
Journalism staff and students across the country have covered 150 House of Representative electorates, with electorate and candidate profiles, and stories on key issues and policies.
The stories have been published on the UniPollWatch website
University of Canberra Bachelor of Communications and Journalism students Amanda Smith and Elliot Williams are taking part in UniPollWatch as part of their long-form and investigative journalism unit.
Guided by professor of journalism and head of discipline, Matthew Ricketson and journalism lecturer Dr Patrick Mullins, both students investigated election issues, with Ms Smith, 24, exploring the topic of same-sex marriage and Mr Williams, 23, researching freedom of information.
Mr Williams said the project was a great experience and although challenging at times, it gave him a better understanding on how to navigate the media and political system.
"Unless you are involved in a major network or paper, you don't have that much access to top politicians. But I learned to persevere and just jump through the hoops and keep hounding people," he said.
"My story changed a lot from the initial idea. Ultimately, you have to be adaptable."
Ms Smith and Mr Williams have been invited to continue working on the project and will dedicate time over the semester break to UniPollWatch.
They will also be looking at the ACT Elections to be held in October.
Professor Ricketson said UniPollWatch was a great initiative for journalism students.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for our students to learn about the political process as well as good forms of journalism. They play an important role in providing coverage of newsworthy events and issues in a way that no other media organisation in the country has resources to undertake," Professor Ricketson said.
"Students have really embraced it; to them it's a live project, not just a class exercise."
UniPollWatch started as a small project with four universities covering the 2014 Victorian election. It has now been replicated on a larger scale and is published with the assistance of the Journalism Education and Research Association as the publisher. The project can be followed at www.unipollwatch.org.au.