ATS2282 · Crime, courts and cabinets

Overview

In this unit students will learn the skills and knowledge necessary to fulfil the fundamental journalistic task of reporting the key forums of civil society. Students will discover how these key forums function, and develop the practical skills, legal knowledge and theoretical understanding to fulfil the important tasks. Students will learn the key skills by undertaking practical exercises revolving around excursions, for example to parliaments, courts, local government and the AGMs of public and private sector organisations. Content will include: a. reporting public forums including public meetings, courts and the three tiers of Australian politics - Federal government, state government and local government; b. the functioning of these forums, including their history, structure and place in civil society; c. the role of the media in reporting these forums; d. impacts of relevant laws, including contempt of court and other court reporting restrictions, contempt of parliament, and privilege pertaining to public documents and public forums under the Defamation Act 2001; e. journalistic use of public documents arising from public forums such as parliaments, the courts and local government meetings

Areas of study: Journalism

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Within semester assessment: 100%

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. identify a range of public forums and explain how they function in civil society;
2. critically analyse the journalist's role in reporting these public forums;
3. research and produce reports that differentiate the approaches required to cover these public forums;
4. critically analyse these forums to construct audience-specific reportage;
5. create an industry-standard report.

Workload

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.