units

APG5399

Faculty of Arts

18 September 2017 27 April 2024
Monash University

Postgraduate - Unit

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

print version

12 points, SCA Band 1, 0.250 EFTSL

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LevelPostgraduate
FacultyFaculty of Arts
Organisational UnitSchool of Journalism, Australian and Indigenous Studies
OfferedSunway First semester 2013 (Day)
Coordinator(s)Dr Hah Foong Lian

Notes

Previously coded COM5008

Synopsis

This unit introduces students to professional ethics and the media. Students will evaluate the media's fourth-estate role and its political agency in a commercial environment. Legislation, industry codes of practice and journalistic ethics will be analysed. Investigative reporting will be examined with reference to Watergate and investigative reporting's mythical 'golden age'. The interrelationship between PR, media liaison units and journalism will be explored. Tabloid journalism will be analysed with reference to economic and ethical concerns. The tension between the media's idealistic fourth-estate image and its professional, commercial and public interests is the unit's unifying theme.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the unit students will be able to demonstrate:

  1. A critical understanding of the history and continuing evolution of the media's role as the fourth estate.
  2. A critical understanding of the complex interplay between ethical, regulatory, political and economic factors in media reporting.
  3. An advanced knowledge of the key communications industry codes of conduct and the differing approaches to their enforcement including professional codes of ethics and industry codes of practice.
  4. A critical understanding of the nature of investigative reporting and the impact and legacy of Watergate on journalism, reporting and public figures.
  5. A critical understanding of the interrelationship between public relations, institutional media liaison units and journalism.
  6. An enhanced ability to critically evaluate topical debates about media ethics.
  7. Abilty to conduct research at advanced level.

Assessment

Research essay (5000 words): 50%
Short essay 1 (2000 words): 20%
Short essay 2 (2000 words): 20%
Seminar participation: 10%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Hah Foong Lian

Contact hours

1 x 2 hour seminar per week

Prohibitions

APG4399