“Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens,” chose a recent media issue and look at whether the coverage has the audience’s first interests in mind Custom Essay

You should refer, where relevant, to the week by week readings for this subject. Feel free to refer to other material if you wish.
This is an academic essay, not a news writing assignment. Please provide references and a bibliography. However, clarity of expression is still very highly valued, and we penalise rather than reward padding.

“Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens,” say Kovach and Rosentiel at page 52 of The Elements of Journalism, (Three Rivers Press, 2007.)
Choose a recent issue that has been widely reported in the Australian media
Did the journalists fulfil their "first loyalty"? What other considerations did the journalists have to heed as they did their work? Did they make the right choices?

As with the news writing exercises, brevity, clarity and concise expression will be rewarded, and padding will be penalised. The 2000 word limit is a MAXIMUM. Normal academic referencing is expected for

this essay,and it should include a bibliography.
Strict adherence to News Limited style is not required for this essay,but mistakes in grammar, punctuation and spelling will be penalised.
Course participants should feel free to suggest an essay topic if there is an issue of particular interest to them. We are prepared to be flexible.
The assessment criteria for the essay are:

Demonstrated understanding of the issue
Demonstrated clear thinking and argument
Ability to research the issue, and to assemble and assess evidence
Clarity of expression
Correct spelling, grammar and punctuation

The essay will be marked out of 100. You will be given a core mark, then one mark will be deducted for each mistake in spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Reading 1.
Introduction and Chapters 1, 2 and 3
,
Kovach, Bill and Rosentiel,
Tom.
The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the
Public Should Expect.
Three Rivers Press, New York 2007
Reading 2.
Reading 2. Chapters 10, 11 and 12 of Alysen, B., Oakham, M.,
Patching, R. and Sedorkin, G.
Reporting in a Multimedia World
–
An Introduction
to Core Journalism Skills
. (second edition) Allen and Unwin 2011.
Reading 3.
Introduction and
Chapters
2, Michael Schudson,
Why Democracies
Need an Unlovable Press
Polity Press, 2008.
Chapters
4 and 14 of
Stephens
, Mitchell
The History of News
(Third
Edition) Oxford University Press 2006.
(The websites below are not included in your compiled reader. Please take
the
time to explore the
m.
)

–
Readings.
Reading 3.
Living Stories
–
Google Lab
http://livingstories.googlelabs
.com/
Reading 4.
Explainer.net
–
http://explainer.net/
Reading 5.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/data
Reading 6 and 7
Katharine Murphy
One of the interesting innovations in
political reporting is live
–
blogging, of which
the leading Australian practitioner is Katharine Murphy, now working for the
Guardian in Australia.
Listen to how she developed the form on the ABC Media Report here:
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/mediareport/katherine
–
murphy
–
on
–
live
–
blogging
–
journalism
–
in
–
the
–
canberra
–
pr/4609204
And read her deeper
reflections here:
http://meanjin.com.au/articles/post/this
–
connected
–
life/
And have a look at what she is doing this week on The Guardian in Australia
website:
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/series/politics
–
live
–
with
–
katharine
–
murphy
Reading 8
Another innovation is sourcing news and reporting via Twitter. Please read this
piece on Andy
Carvin and Twitter as a news tool. Click on the links in the piece
for more information and background.
http://gigaom.com/2012/05/25/andy
–
carvin
–
on
–
twitter
–
as
–
a
–
newsroom
–
and
–
being
–
human/
Reading 9
Finally, to prepare for the interview skills role play exercise, and thinking about
interview skills more generally, please take a look at this website.
Interview
Technique,
Media.College.com
3
333818 JOUR90001_Txt_A4+3_1up_A.pdf
10
Readings:
Edition)
Macmillan
1996.
(No
t in reading guide.)
Reading 1
.
Stage 1,
Chapter 2
“Treatment of Survivors and Victims”
from
Muller, Denis
& Gawenda, Michael
Black Saturda
y
. In the Media Spotlight
Cussonia
Press 2011
Reading
2.
Clarke, Peter
The Interview: A Hollow Dance Looking for
New
Moves?
Chapter 5 of Ricketson, Matthew (ed)
Australian Journalism Today,
Palgrave Macmillan 2012.
Reading 3
.
Chapter 6
“Explaining the Explainer”
and 7
“The Journalists in the
Audience”,
Simons, Margaret
Journalism at the Crossroads
, Scribe 2011
(e
–
bo
ok)
Contemporary examples of interviews will be provided in class
.
4
Week beginning March 24
Class title: Contacts and Sources
The class deals with
the knotty business of contacts and sources, their uses and
abuses. We practice our writing and interview s
kills, and begin to develop
contact
books.
Draft of First
Portfolio Story due this week
An assessable
news
writing exercise will be delivered.
11
Readings:
(The
readings for this week are mostly
websites
hotlinked from the LMS.
The
Carlson article is available as a .pdf from the LMS.)
Reading 1.
ABC Editorial Policies
Final Report, Sources and Conflicts
, July
2008.
http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/200806_confidentialsources_fi
nalreport_july2008.pdf
Reading 2.
Carlson
, Matt
in
Dueling, Dancing or Dominating? Journalist and
Their
Sources
Sociology Compass
Volume 3, Issue 4
July 2009.
Reading 3.
Right to Know Coalition
Submission to the Inquiry into the Evidence
Amendment (Journalists Privilege) Bill 2009.
http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/legcon_ctte/journalists/submissions/sub
08.pdf

This class will examine the idea of objectivity. What does it mean? Is it possible,
and does it remain important in an age when anyone can
publish
news and
opinion?

Readings:
Reading 1.
Chapter 4 and 5
,
Kovach, Bill and Rosentiel, Tom.
The Elements of
Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect.
Three
Rivers Press, New York 2007
.
Contemporary examples will also be used this week.
6
Week beginning April 7
Cla
ss Title: Reporting Public Forums
–
Parliament
Final of first portfolio news story to be submitted.
The class discusses how parliament works, and how both the forum and the
surrounding politics are reflected in news reportage.
We will hear from key
playe
rs on their experiences of political journalism, and gain some tips on the
differences between good and bad public forum reportage.
An assessable news writing exercise will be delivered.
333818 JOUR90001_Txt_A4+3_1up_A.pdf
12
Readings:
Reading 1.
Fact Sheets A1
–
B5
at
http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/publications/fact

Reading 1
.
Life in the Clickstream
–
The Future of Journalism
–
Published by
the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, 2011.
http://www.alliance.org.au/documents/foj_report_final.pdf
(H
otlinked from the LMS)
Reading 2
.
Chapter 1 “Digital First”
of Simons, Margaret
Journalism at the
Crossroads
, Scribe 2011, pp. 20
–
34.
9 Week Beginning 5 May
Class title
–
Reporting Public Forums Part Two
–
Readings:
Reading 1.
Supreme Court of Victoria
Covering the Courts: A Basic Guide for
Journalists
May 2006.
Published at:
http://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/justlib/supreme+court/ho
me/library/supreme+
–
+covering+the+courts+
–
+a+basic+guide+for+journalists+(pdf)
Reading 2
.
Chapters
4
,
5
and
6,
Pearson, Mark
The Journalists’ Guide to
Media
Law
(
Fourth
Edition) Allen and Unwin 20
11
.
10
Week
beginning May 12
Class title Excursion
Final of Third Portfolio story to be delivered
333818 JOUR90001_Txt_A4+3_1up_A.pdf
14
Class excursion to the courts
–
basis of part of portfolio.

.
Reading 1.
Chapters 1
and
2,
Ricketson, Matthew
Writing Feature Stories
Allen
and Unwin
2004