Journalism and Society (9303.3)

Please note these are the 2017 details for this unit
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Journalism and Society
Available teaching periods Delivery mode Location
View teaching periods
EFTSL Credit points Faculty
0.125 3 Faculty Of Arts And Design
Discipline Study level HECS Bands
Discipline Of Communication And Media Level 2 - Undergraduate Intermediate Unit Band 2 2021 (Commenced Before 1 Jan 2021)
Band 4 2021 (Commenced After 1 Jan 2021)
Band 4 2021 (Commenced After 1 Jan Social Work_Exclude 0905)
This unit provides a framework for students to understand the role played by journalists in a democratic society, and shows how that role can differ in societies with other forms of government. The syllabus begins by providing a framework of ethics for individual practitioners, examining a range of approaches to journalism ethics and showing how they can be applied in practice. Issues such as dealing with sources, invading people¿s privacy and covering traumatic events are covered. The syllabus moves on to locate the individual practitioner in the workplace and examine a range of issues arising for practitioners, whether by being part of a large media company or as a sole practitioner in a small start-up. New and emerging approaches to journalism practice are examined.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Understand the important role performed by journalists in a democratic society, and how that role has developed;
2. Understand the ethical principles that underpin journalism and how they are applied in practice;
3. Examine the issues that arise for journalists in their workplace, whether in a large media company or a small start-up;
4. Appreciate how the role and practice of journalism is changing; and
5. Examine new and emerging approaches to the practice of journalism.


Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - take pride in their professional and personal integrity
2. UC graduates are global citizens - adopt an informed and balanced approach across professional and international boundaries
2. UC graduates are global citizens - behave ethically and sustainably in their professional and personal lives
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas
2. UC graduates are global citizens - understand issues in their profession from the perspective of other cultures
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development


Skills development

The attributes of UC graduates listed in this outline are gained by students during their degree. Each unit you take will contribute to this, but not all skills and attributes are gained in all units. Some units may emphasise some attributes but not others. In this unit, though, you will learn something but not everything about all three attributes.  The attaining of particular graduate attributes to which this unit contributes is set out in the table about assessment in this outline.    



Prerequisites

Must have passed Reporting, 5572 OR Mobile Reporting, 9923.

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None

Equivalent units

None

Assumed knowledge

Units in first year of the Bachelor of Communication (Journalism).
Year Location Teaching period Teaching start date Delivery mode Unit convener
Not available

Required texts

There is no prescribed text for this unit, however the following books are very useful:

-  Australian Journalism Today, edited by Matthew Ricketson, Palgrave Macmillan, South Yarra, 2012.

- Kovach and Rosenstiel (2014), The Elements of Journalism: What newspeople should know and the public should expect, Three Rivers Press.

- McNair (2010) Journalists in Film: Heroes and Villains, Edinburgh University Press.

Relevant readings will be supplied via Canvas each week.

NOTE: What follows is a list of materials and resources of relevance to this unit. The list may seem lengthy but it is essential to your success in this unit (and for your future career prospects) that you stay up to date with local, national and international news and current affairs. It is also essential that you gain an understanding of the news media industry. Uninformed aspiring journalists are unlikely to win jobs in what has long been a competitive industry to enter. The changes sweeping through the industry, which are discussed in this and other journalism units, are making it even more competitive to enter; they are also opening up new opportunities for graduates.

 Journals and resources:

Australian Journalism Review, British Journalism Review, Columbia Journalism Review and the Poynter Institute. The first two are academic journals about journalism; there are many others available but these will introduce you to academic debates about journalism. The third named, Columbia Journalism Review, is a longstanding industry journal that discusses professional practice issues. Finally, the Poynter Institute is a philanthropically funded journalism school in Florida that provides a mass of useful guides and discussion materials about the practice of journalism.

News media:

Journalism students should be immersed in the news media, including newspapers such as The Australian, The Canberra Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Daily Telegraph, radio and news and current affairs on both ABC and commercial stations, and online news websites both locally, such as www.crikey.com.au, and overseas, such as The Guardian, which opened an Australian edition in 2014 and which can be found here: www.theguardian.com.au. .

Media about the media:

For this unit, you should also look at what and how the news media reports on itself. There are many potential sources but for the weekly quiz you should begin by looking at the following:

  1. The Nieman Journalism Lab is an attempt to help journalism figure out its future in an Internet age. It does not have much news about the media as such but rather it has news about new developments in news media and journalism. It is available at: http://www.niemanlab.org/.
  2. mUmBRELLA is a free online site that diligently covers the media and is available at: http://mumbrella.com.au/. mUmBRELLA spends as much time covering marketing, public relations, and advertising as it does news media and journalism but it is still a useful source for you to look at.
  3. The Guardian is a news organisation based in England but it has an Australian office that produces a free online-only news and current affairs website. It has a Media section that is easily found via the website (http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news). You can subscribe to its online media newsletter that delivers media news to the device of your choice each evening.
  4. http://mediashift.org/
  5. Crikey reports regularly on media issues. Crikey is a subscription-based news and current affairs website but some of its material is posted daily for free at:   http://www.crikey.com.au/.
  6. The Australian has a Media section published each Monday and regularly updates its stories online, but many of these are now behind a paywall.
  7. The Australian Financial Review has a Media and Marketing section that is also published on Mondays, and also behind a paywall. The UC library has hard copies of both these newspapers that are available daily on level C of the library. It also has the Factiva database which carries a range of Australian newspapers and is searchable via the UC library website.

 

 

 

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

Assessments 2 and 3 are to be uploaded to Canvas assessment boxes.

Special assessment requirements

If you are having difficulty managing your workload for whatever personal or professional reasons, please speak to your tutor so they can help you find a solution. There is always a solution, but sometimes you can't find it on your own. 

Extensions will only granted if the student speaks to the tutor beforehand and provides a medical or counselling certificate. If no documentary evidence is supplied, the student will lose 5% per day late in line with university policy.

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Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Learner engagement

As with most things in life, the more you put in, the more you will get out of this unit.

Participation requirements

Attendance to lectures and tutorials each week is not compulsary, however 30% of your grade depends on weekly in-class quizzes (20%) and your participation in class discussion (10%).  It will be very difficult for you to achieve a strong grade if you do not attend class.

Required IT skills

There are no special IT requirements for this unit.

Students are expected to be able to competently use the internet and have basic word processing skills.

Familiarity with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook would be useful.

In-unit costs

There are no in-unit costs.

Work placement, internships or practicums

None

Additional information

Please see assessment item details regarding such issues.