Street Stories (11085.1)

Required texts

There are no set texts for this unit. Relevant readings will be provided on the Canvas site. However, here are several useful texts and wesbites:

Burum, & Quinn, S. (2016). MOJO : the mobile journalism handbook : how to make broadcast videos with an iPhone or iPad. Focal Press.

Blaine, M. (2014). The Digital Reporter's Notebook. New York and London. Routledge.

Kobre, K (2017). Photojournalism: the professionals' approach (7th edition). New York and London, Routledge.

Bull, A. (2010) Multimedia Journalism - a practical guide. London & New York: Routledge

Pearson, & Polden, M. (2019). The journalist's guide to media law : a handbook for communicators in a digital world (6th edition.). Allen & Unwin.

Butler, Rodrick, S., Ireland, J., & McNamara, L. (2015). Australian media law (Fifth edition.). Lawbook.

Ricketson, & Graham, C. (2020). Writing feature stories : how to research and write articles - from listicles to longform (Second edition.). Routledge.

http://www.mojo-manual.org 

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

As a student journalist, you must assume that all content you generate in this unit is intended for publication. As such, you should aim to produce professional work to a high standard, observing all relevant laws and ethical standards. You are to:

- Observe the MEAA Code of Ethics (refer to The Owl Canvas site);

- Refrain from interviewing anyone who presents a conflict of interest, such as family, friends or colleagues, without the express permission of your tutor;

- Disclose all conflicts of interest or other relevant information in your stories;

- Inform sources and interviewees that your stories are for publication via The Owl and/or UCFM;

- In the first instance, produce your own original video, audio, images and text — if your tutor expressly permits the use of third party material, you must observe copyright law and ‘fair dealing' provisions related to news reporting (refer to The Owl Canvas site) and give attribution if required;

- Not plagiarise; and

- Observe defamation, trespass and other relevant laws

Failure to follow these guidelines could result in a fail grade for an assessment task or for the unit.

If you have any questions about these guidelines or a specific assignment task, speak with your tutor.

Special assessment requirements

Students must retain copies of their work. You must always back up your work to a portable hard drive or to the cloud. Technical failure of an audio or video file could result in a fail grade if you do not got a safety copy of the work. Students must also test all audio and video files and URL links prior to submission. It would not be acceptable for a professional journalist to submit a corrupted file to their editor. Similarly, it is not acceptable to submit corrupted files or inoperable URLs for assessment.

Academic integrity

Students have a responsibility to uphold University standards on ethical scholarship. Good scholarship involves building on the work of others and use of others' work must be acknowledged with proper attribution made. Cheating, plagiarism, and falsification of data are dishonest practices that contravene academic values. Refer to the University's Student Charter for more information.

To enhance understanding of academic integrity, all students are expected to complete the Academic Integrity Module (AIM) at least once during their course of study. You can access this module within UCLearn (Canvas) through the 'Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism' link in the Study Help site.

Use of Text-Matching Software

The University of Canberra uses text-matching software to help students and staff reduce plagiarism and improve understanding of academic integrity. The software matches submitted text in student assignments against material from various sources: the internet, published books and journals, and previously submitted student texts.

Learner engagement

To achieve your best in this unit you are strongly encouraged to consume news media daily. You will be assessed on your general knowledge of current events each week in class. It will also help you in finding your own stories. All journalism employers want graduates with a strong knowledge of the contemporary news environment.

Primary social media and websites to use are:

• ABC News
• The Canberra Times
• Guardian 
• News.com.au

Traditional offline sources:

• ABC TV or SBS TV news
• ABC Radio National/ABC News Radio/ ABC Radio Canberra
• Triple J Hack

Participation requirements

This is a very practical unit. Throughout this unit students are required to apply professional journalism practice standards to their field work as they go about completing their assessment tasks. Students are expected to observe the MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics: https://www.meaa.org/meaa-media/code-of-ethics/

Attendance of tutorials is not compulsory, but failure to attend will jeopardise your success in this unit.

Please be aware that weekly in-class news quizzes also make up part of the assessment.

Attendance for guest lectures from industry experts is strongly advised and in-class activities are based around the content of those lectures.

Attendance at the ACT Magistrates Court is essential to complete the final assessment.

Required IT skills

Word processing skills and ability to use the internet are assumed. Familiarity with the recording functions on the student's mobile phone is also desirable.

In-unit costs

There is no set text book for this unit. Instead, students need a pair of earphones and portable hard drive.

Work placement, internships or practicums

None

• Semester 2, 2023, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (213861)
• Semester 2, 2022, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (208614)
• Semester 2, 2021, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (199676)
• Semester 2, 2020, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (195395)
• Semester 2, 2019, On-Campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (184291)