COM00481 Week 1 Defining Journalism

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The Fourth Estate:News JournalismTopic 1: Defining Journalism

+The Fourth Estate Syllabus (see also back page of UIG)

Topic 1: Defining Journalism

Topic 2: What is news?

Topic 3: Style and language

Topic 4: Story Structure

Topic 5: Focus and follow-up

Topic 6: News technology & people

Topic 7: Ideas and research

Topic 8: News sources

Topic 9: Interviewing

Topic 10: Moral minefield

Topic 11: Journalism law

Topic 12: Indigenous issues in the media

+Jeanti St Clair

See UIG for contact details.

Twitter: @jeantistclair1

Student Contact Hours:

Tues 2pm – 3pm (appointment only)

Thursdays: 10am – 11am (open office)

Please make an appointment by email

Former ABC, News Limited journalist. Extensive experience in independent and community media

+Today’s lecture

Journalism’s role in society

Journalism as a set of cultural practices

Trust, objectivity and truth-telling

Journalism as a conversation with readers

Journalism as a profession

Unit materials, assessment overview, and weekly topics

Defining Journalism

+What is a journalist?

‘news workers, information workers, gathers, reporters, entertainers, historians, researchers, explainers, probers and writers…editors, communicators, storytellers, producers and presenters’

(Tapsall and Varley pp. 5-6).

+ Superman’s alter ego was a journalist, Clark Kent

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Cinematic and television depictions

Watch:

All the President’s Men,

Goodnight and Goodluck,

Veronica Guerin,

Balibo

State of Play,

and the Newsroom series

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Wikileaks Founder

Accepting the 2011 Walkley Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-28/assange-accepts-journalism-award/3698074

is Julian Assange a journalist?

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Media as social change agent

+ Why do you believe what you read?

+News of the World Phone Hacking

+Roy Morgan 2013 poll of professional PUBLIC IMAGE

In 2013, Federal politicians rate 14% , and state pollies

13%(toxic party political fighting)

In 2013, Newspaper Journalists rated 19%.

Why is this?

http://www.roymorgan.com/~/media/Files/Findings%20PDF/2013/May/4888-Image-of-Professions-2013-April-2013.pdf

+Roy Morgan 2013 poll of professional PUBLIC IMAGE

IN 2013, university lecturers rated 68%

Nurses top the list at 90%

Source: http://www.roymorgan.com/~/media/Files/Findings%20PDF/2013/May/4888-Image-of-Professions-2013-April-2013.pdf

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Journalists have the job of accurately and fairly processing this information for public consumption.

News circulates ‘new’ information about the world through a process of mediation, filtering, interpretation and re-presentation

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Journalism as a cultural practice

forms culture (our ways of living/behaving/ understanding the world)

is made up of ritualised ways of doing things (techniques of reporting, styles of writing)

is influenced by relationships of power

whose practices are impacted by technological change

+The Fourth Estate

The ‘estates of the realm’: Historical roots in French Revolution - included clergy, nobility, and commoners.

Today, the media claims title of the Fourth Estate and plays an integral part of representative democracy alongside

the parliament,

the executive (ministry)

the judiciary.

Journalists monitor actions of other ‘estates’ on behalf of the public, and communicate between people and parliament.

But is the relationship between press and parliament too close to ensure journalists maintain their independence?

A Fifth Estate? Emerging theory that ‘networked individuals’ via internet (social media, bloggers, whistleblowers and Wikileaks) constitute a Fifth Estate (See Dutton or Cooper, S.)

+Journalists safety

Reporters Without Borders (rsf.org) found:

75 journalists killed 4 media assistants

killed 38 netizens and

citizen journalists killed

Iraq (10), Syria (10) India (8) and Somalia (7) among most dangerous countries.

DATA FOR 2013PETER GRESTE TRIAL IN

EGYPT

en.rsf.org/annualoverview-21-12-2011,41582.html

+Journalism on the Open Web

News, not a product

News is a process

The Guardian ad promoting its Open Journalism processes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW_dBQPAeDY

News is not one-wayNews is a conversationbetween journalists & readers

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News production as a conversation

Social Media: about half of all Twitter and Facebook users get at least some of their news from those sites

Twitter as a source of breaking news content

Crowdsourcing story ideas - Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill -

Be transparent in showing your research or source materials where possible

Follow me on Twitter: jeantistclair1

+Your mission

On completing this subject, you should be able to:

Discuss the roles that news journalism can play in contemporary societies

Define news and distinguish its characteristics from feature and opinion writing

Explain how news is produced and published for different readerships.

Apply journalistic techniques and conventions to the accurate research and writing of news stories.

Critically discuss representational, legal and ethical issues in contemporary journalism.

COM00481 Unit Information Guide, page 8

+Assessments

Online quizzes – test your current affairs knowledge as well as theoretical and practical skills. Weeks 3, 6, 9, 12

News article production – build your skills in write in news style and form. Includes reflection and development of your network of sources. Weeks 5 and 8.

News story revision – develops your editing skills. You must improve on your two news stories, and explain why you have made those edits.

See UIG – and more detail in tutorial in week 1 (Externals attend scheduled collaborate session).

+To do this well….

Read newspapers, online news, your readings, your UIG and the study guide

Do the writing and reporting exercises

Participate in class and online

Follow the assignment guidelines

Hand in your assignments on time

+Tutorial is next ….

In Room 193 (computer lab directly downstairs)

From 10am-12pm