Overview

This unit gives students the skills and understanding necessary to fulfil the fundamental journalistic task of reporting the key forums of civil society. Students will gain an understanding of the functioning of these key forums in Australian society. They will also have the practical skills, legal knowledge and theoretical underpinnings to fulfil the important task of reporting public forums, specifically public meetings, parliaments, the courts, and local government meetings.

Teaching Periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
26-February-2024
26-May-2024
Last self-enrolment date
10-March-2024
Census date
31-March-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
12-April-2024
Results released date
02-July-2024

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Demonstrate an introductory knowledge of a range of public forums and how they function in civil society
  • Critically analyse the journalist’s role in reporting these public forums
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the different approaches required to cover these public forums by researching and preparing reports
  • Identify and critically analyse these forums to construct audience-specific reportage
  • Demonstrate the capacity to create industry-standard reports

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
On-campus
Lecture		1.00 12 weeks 12
On-campus
Class		2.00 12 weeks 24
Specified Activities
Various		3.00 4 weeks 12
Unspecified Activities
Independent Learning		7.50 12 weeks 90
TOTAL138

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
AssignmentGroup 20% 3,4,5 
AssignmentIndividual 30% 3,4,5 
Class ExercisesIndividual 50% 1,2,3,4,5 

Content

  • Report public forums including public meetings, courts and the three tiers of Australian politics – Federal government, state government and local government
  • The functioning of these forums, including their history, structure and place in civil society
  • The role of the media in reporting these forums
  • 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
  • Journalistic use of public documents arising from public forums such as parliaments, the courts and local government meetings

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.