Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: Journalism
Credit points: 8 cp
Result Type: Grade, no marks

Handbook description

This subject aims to develop sound basic practices in professional journalism. It focuses on news and current affairs research and reporting, the role of journalism in liberal democracies, and journalistic techniques, ethics and standards. Students develop a series of stories in a chosen round. Through group discussion and a close analysis of news and current affairs, students develop an understanding of, and ability to contribute to, contemporary debates in journalism. Students also work to deadlines researching and reporting news stories for journalism publications.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On completion of this course students should be able to

1. demonstrate an ability to identify and research a story
2. demonstrate an ability to write in a clear, concise, factual way and conduct interviews
3. apply basic industry standards
4. identify key ethical and legal obligations associated with reporting
5. undertake individual and group work
6. demonstrate an ability to set and meet deadlines
7. demonstrate an awareness of local, national and international people and events, current issues and media issues
8. demonstrate an ability to write under pressure
9. demonstrate an ability to identify particular issues relevant to journalism, review, reflect and discuss

Contribution to graduate profile

• Have strong research and reporting skills and be able to effectively retrieve and analyse information from a range of sources
• Have a knowledge and critical understanding of the media
• Be equipped with the necessary skills to either enter professional practice in the media or continue with additional skills and intellectual depth
• Have an understanding of the relationship between media theory and practice
• Have a critical understanding of issues of gender, race, ethnicity, disability and class and the way these are linked to issues of media representation, production and reception
• Develop the ability to be self-reliant and pro-active, flexible and innovative
• Have an understanding and commitment to ethical journalism practice

Teaching and learning strategies

This subject is offered in weekly mode, including 13 classes during the semester. The subject activities will include practical journalistic assignments in researching and reporting news, lectures and discussions, in-class exercises and quizzes.

The assessment tasks are linked and designed to provide students with cumulative research and professional practice learning activities. Students are individually assessed.

All assignments and written exercises must be completed and delivered on deadline and in the manner specified by the lecturer. Failure to meet deadlines will result in loss of marks.

Content

The key activity in this course involves students in research and reporting that produces three news stories. In Week 1 students will be assigned to cover a local 'round', that is, they will be assigned to report on the area in which they live (designated according to their nearest local council.)

As their first assessable task, students will be required to complete a Preliminary Research Report and a News Story in their local area . This will include on the ground research: that is, checking out the area (places/ events/ things going on/ developments/ changes); noting gathering places/ notice boards/ posters etc; looking with new eyes, asking questions of people working/living in the area about events/issues of interest or concern, which may point to potential stories.

• The Research Report due in Week 3 will provide a brief snapshot of the area, highlighting some key contacts (people or organisations who could potentially be sources for stories), collecting a sample of local area voices and compiling a shortlist of potential stories the area might yield based on this early research. This exercise is intended to lay the groundwork for the first local news story, (due in Week 5) News Story One (600 words).
• This model will also be used as a base for News Story 2 (600 words max) and News Story 3 (750 words max).
• Each student will also be assigned a week to present a 10 minute media seminar to class. This will involve a brief critical analysis of some aspect/issue of current journalism practice/news or current affairs coverage. Students are also expected to include in their class presentation, where relevant, references to any weekly readings which may be designated for their particular week.

COVERING A LOCAL ROUND
Being given a local round means you are assigned to operate as a reporter in your own area, (roughly defined by your nearest local council) e.g., inner west, Sutherland Shire, Katoomba, Illawarra, Bondi/Waverley, etc. Being assigned to a Local Round in this way allows you to effectively operate as a General Reporter within your chosen area, writing stories ranging across a number of areas that would be classified as specialist rounds areas on a major newspaper/news program.

Rounds: Rounds are the areas you see specialist reporters covering in major media outlets, e.g. an education round, a health round, a political round, a science/environment round, an arts round, a business round, an industrial round, an ethnic affairs round etc. However, as you have been assigned to cover your local area, you must keep in mind that all those different rounds areas will be on your agenda - and thinking about stories under those different rounds headings will help you in your ideas search.

* Ideas book/notebook. It is a good plan for students new to journalism to keep an ideas book or file throughout the semester. Make jottings/paste in references or cuttings of interest on events/issues arising in the media or via your own reporting, note fresh contacts you may observe via your media watching, etc – this will be a resource for story ideas.

Setting up a Google Notebook is a simple way to enhance your monitoring/filing of story ideas, news items etc gathered from particular sources on issues of interest/concern with potential for follow up.

* Contact Book. A contact book/file (containing sources, their contact details, company name, position held etc) is a journalist's most jealously guarded resource. Journalism students are expected to initiate and maintain a contact book/file from the time they enter the course and should be building on it at all times to expand their contacts in commonly reported areas.

Assessment

Assignments 1: Local News Story

Objectives	a,b,c,f
Value	25% News Story
Due	The news story will develop one of the story ideas identified in the Research Report file in week 3. It will be due and filed on line in Week 5.
Task	To research and write up a brief preliminary report on your local area and locate a story via that process. The story should be no more than 600 words and will include information from at least two named sources (interviewees) as well as other researched information. (Assignment logged online; hard copy supplied to class.)
Assessment criteria	Coverage of essential primary and secondary sources Quality of intro and its ability to interest readers; Choice of sources for interviews and use of quotes; Integration of background information; Use of appropriate news writing style; Accuracy in reporting facts; Clear writing and correct English expression.

Assignment 2: News Story 2

Objectives	a,b,c,f
Value	25%
Due	Week 7 (due online)
Task	The story should be no more than 600 words and will include information from named sources acquired via at least two interviews as well as other researched information. (Story logged online; hard copy supplied to class.) Students are expected to demonstrate that they have built skills on the basis of workshopping and feedback for first News assignment
Assessment criteria	Coverage of essential primary and secondary sources Quality of intro and its ability to interest readers; Choice of sources for interviews and use of quotes; Integration of background information; Use of appropriate news writing style; Accuracy in reporting; Clear writing.

Assignment 3: Media seminar

Objectives	d,g,i
Value	20%
Due	Individual sessions to be arranged in week one.
Task	Each student will conduct a media seminar in class which will open a discussion. This will be a 10 minute presentation which discusses either ethical issues or other issues involving journalistic practice as reflected in some aspect of recent print/broadcast/online journalism. Students are expected to make reference to any weekly readings which may be designated for their particular week and to illustrate their presentation with examples from recent news and current affairs.
Assessment criteria	Evidence of wide reading and background research; Evidence of independent research; Demonstrated awareness of news and current affairs; Quality of evidence for your point of view.

Assignment 4: Feature story

Objectives	a,b,c
Value	30%
Due	Week 12 (due online)
Task	Produce a feature story of 800 - 1000w (max) using multiple sources (with substantial quotes from at least three on the record sources) and extensive research. Feature story logged online; hard copy supplied to class.
Assessment criteria	Quality of intro and its ability to interest readers; Demonstrated narrative skills Skill in construction of story; Use of multiple sources; Skill in selecting appropriate quotes from interviewees; Breadth and relevance of information gathered; Clear writing and appropriate use of English.

Important assessment information

All reporting assignments in UTS journalism courses:

1. Identifying sources on all stories. All news or feature stories submitted in our journalism courses must be accompanied by a final separate page listing the names of all sources quoted in the story, and noting whether they were interviewed face to face, by phone or by email. That is, you must list the name of the individuals you have quoted, their title/organization, and contact number. NB: Students must indicate whether interviews were conducted face to face/by phone or email.
2. Deadlines for journalism assignments must be strictly observed, as they are in the workplace. An automatic penalty of 10 percent will be deducted from any assignment received after deadline (unless a written extension without penalty has been approved ahead of time with your lecturer, or unless students have applied for and been granted Special Consideration).

Further details for exercises and assessment tasks

Preliminary Research Report for first news story assignment: This exercise highlights the importance of planning. Your report will be, in effect, a snapshot of your local area, highlighting key institutions/organizations/individuals (i.e. potential sources), a sample of local voices speaking about matters of interest/concern in the area. With this exercise you are starting to chart the terrain in which you will be operating as a reporter (and from which you will get your stories).

The Research Report will contain three discrete elements:

1. A contact list containing a list of names and contact numbers of key institutions/ organisations/ individuals who are, or could be, potential players in stories, as interviewees or as key sources of information. Obviously this requires students to think about the most commonly reported areas (rounds areas) that crop up in the news, e.g., health, education, welfare, environment, youth, business, arts, religion, etc.
2. Vox pops. This involves a brief record of conversations (brief quotes only 2-3 sentences altogether) conducted with at least three local people (living/working in area) about what they perceive as local events or issues of interest or concern. This is to demonstrate that you have been out and about asking questions/seeking local knowledge on newsworthy events/issues.
3. A list of potential story ideas (two or three story ideas is usual) based in your round area, keeping in mind that a story is due in Week 5. Be aware that what you present on t his list must be story ideas NOT just subject areas of interest. If you have thought through a story idea, you should be able to express it in ONE sentence, i.e., The story is about …… (obviously this list of ideas is central to your Research Report since the search for potential stories is the object of the exercise).

Compulsory class exercises

Apart from the four Assessment tasks, students are required to complete the following compulsory class exercises. (Attendance at all 13 three hour workshops is compulsory, unless special arrangements are approved in writing).

Exercise 1 - Research report on local area: details to be provided in first class.

Exercise 2 - Writing under pressure: Students will attend a press conference and immediately write a 400 word story based on that press conference, all within the time frame of the weekly workshop.

Exercise 3 - Peer reviewing (for all three Writing Workshops): The peer reviewing exercise is designed to focus on the individual stories being put together within the group and the opportunity they offer to observe in practice the process/problems involved in reporting and writing stories. Writing Workshops will follow all three news and feature story deadlines. To prepare for the workshops, students must read all the stories logged online. They must also log online ONE (one only) peer review (always choosing the story logged BELOW their own). The review will be a BRIEF appraisal (two or three dot points only), focused on key story elements (intro/ storyline /sources). Students will use their review to lead the discussion on that story in the workshop.

Minimum requirements

Students are expected to read the subject outline to ensure they are familiar with the subject requirements. Since class discussion and participation in activities form an integral part of this subject, you are expected to attend, arrive punctually and actively participate in classes. If you experience difficulties meeting this requirement, please contact your lecturer. Students who have a reason for extended absence (e.g., illness) may be required to complete additional work to ensure they achieve the subject objectives.

Required text(s)

Students must purchase the Research and Reporting course reader, which contains selected chapters and articles for reference during the course.

Course reader available from: UTS Union Shop, Level 3, Tower Building

You must present the CN number nominated by your lecturer when purchasing readers.

Indicative references

Recommended online sites, programs and texts
International Federation of Journalists http://www.ifj.org/en/splash
Project for Excellence in Journalism http://www.journalism.org/
Poynter Institute http://www.poynter.org/
Reporters Sans Frontieres http://www.rsf.org
Nieman Watchdog Project www.nieman.harvard.edu/watchdog/index.html
Columbia Journalism Review http://www.cjr.org/
Online Journalism Review http://www.ojr.org/
Media International Australia http://www.emsah.uq.edu.au/mia/
Australian Journalism Review http://www.jea.org.au/journal.htm
ABC TV Media Watch http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/
ABC Radio National: Specialist current affairs reports: Media Report; Law Report; Sports Factor; Religion Report http://abc.net.au/rn/
Background Briefing http://abc.net.au/rn/
ABCTV Lateline http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/

Australian Associated Press: http://aap.com.au/
ABC news online: http://www.abc.net.au/news/
Crikey.com: http://www.crikey.com.au/
Ethnic Media Newspapers http://www.crc.nsw.gov.au/ethnicmedia/index.htm
Fairfax Community Newspapers http://www.fcnonline.com.au/fcnnsw.asp?pcode=fcn
Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Macquarie National News: http://www.2gb.com/
New Matilda: http://www.newmatilda.com/home/default.asp
News Interactive: http://www.news.com.au/
News Limited Community Newspapers http://community.newsmedianet.com.au/home/
Ninemsn: http://ninemsn.com.au/
Online Opinion: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/
SBS News online: http://www.worldnewsaustralia.com.au/
SKY News online: http://www.skynews.com.au/index.asp
Ten News: http://ten.com.au/ten/tv_news.html
The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/
The Australian Financial Review: http://www.afr.com/home/
The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
The Daily Telegraph: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/
Electronic Intifada: http://electronicintifada.net/
The Green Left Weekly: http://www.greenleft.org.au/
The National Indigenous Times: http://www.nit.com.au/
The Sunday Telegraph: http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/
The Sun-Herald: http://www.sunherald.com.au/
The Sydney Morning Herald: http://www.smh.com.au/
The Sydney Star Observer: http://www.ssonet.com.au/
The Wire http://www.thewire.org.au
Webdiary: http://webdiary.com.au/cms/
Yahoo!7 News: http://au.news.yahoo.com/
Anthony Loewenstein's blog: http://antonyloewenstein.com/blog/ (links to blogs and sites in Media section)

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Alysen, Barbara, Sedorkin, Gail, Oakham, Mandy, Patching, Roger, 2003. Reporting in a Multimedia World, Allen & Unwin
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