APG5640 - Journalism in society - 2018

The unit examines the ways in which the production and distribution of media and journalistic products are regulated and how journalism is held accountable. Legal, economic, political, technological and social processes are considered. An underlying theme is a critique of the development of and contradictions among different ideas of free speech, and how these are used to promote or defend a range of communication practices.

This unit asks students to engage with a range of historical and contemporary perspectives on journalism, and equips them to reflect critically on one of the core questions in journalism studies - what is journalism for?

At the satisfactory completion of the unit, students will be able to:

1. Have a strong working knowledge of the legal rights and responsibilities of journalistic practice, their ethical dimension, and their historical and political contexts
2. Understand major scholarly approaches to and debates about researching journalism organisation, practice and consumption in a social context
3. Analyse critically and deploy reflexively the principles of 'the public right to know', 'freedom of expression' and 'access to information'
4. Understand issues and debates about freedom of expression in an international and cross-cultural context
5. Understand, and be able to apply, critical knowledge of major scholarly debates in journalism studies in face-to-face and online discussion, and to further apply these in written assessments across practice and research
6. Critically understand the various roles of journalism in society and based on this formulate your own value base regarding these roles, addressing the question - what is journalism for?

Within semester assessment: 100%

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. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Journalism