| Semester 1, 2021 On-campus Toowoomba | |
| Short Description: | Analysing News and Media |
| Units : | 1 |
| Faculty or Section : | Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts |
| School or Department : | School of Humanities & Communication |
| Student contribution band : | 2021 Grandfather Funding Cl 1 |
| ASCED code : | 100703 - Journalism |
| Grading basis : | Graded |
Staffing
Examiner:
Other requisites
Formerly JRN2010: Students who have successfully completed JRN2010 should not enrol in JRN1010.
Students will require access to e-mail and must have internet access to UConnect for this course.
Rationale
At a time when the digital revolution is spawning an unprecedented flood of information and disinformation each day, we need to be able to judge the credibility and reliability of news reports, and we need to understand why that matters.
Synopsis
This course is designed to teach students how to become more discriminating news producers and/or consumers. The course will seek to help students recognise reliable information and teach them how to apply their critical-thinking skills so they can act on such information. As part of their instruction, students also will learn how the journalistic process works and how professional journalists make decisions.
Objectives
On successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
- identify and describe the concept of news literacy and why it matters;
- critically evaluate information to separate news from propaganda and opinion, and identify bias and fairness, assertion and verification, and evidence, inference and influence in news reports;
- effectively deconstruct written and visual texts, and communicate their judgment of the journalistic process and how journalists make decisions;
- exercise judgment to evaluate the ethical standards in journalistic processes and decisions;
- critically and creatively apply knowledge and skills to appraise and analyse various forms of information, including news.
Topics
| Description | Weighting(%) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Power, contexts and functions of news media | 15.00 |
| 2. | Differentiating between news and other forms of media information | 25.00 |
| 3. | Deconstructing print, digital and broadcast news stories | 25.00 |
| 4. | Influences on news credibility and reliability | 20.00 |
| 5. | Journalistic decision-making processes | 15.00 |
Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed
ALL textbooks and materials available to be purchased can be sourced from (unless otherwise stated). (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/textbooks/?year=2021&sem=01&subject1=JRN1010)
Please for alternative purchase options from USQ Bookshop. (https://omnia.usq.edu.au/info/contact/)
There is no set textbook for this course. Students will be required to access a series of selected readings, available online via URL listings on the course Study Desk, to supplement their learning.
Reference materials
Reference materials are materials that, if accessed by students, may improve their knowledge and understanding of the material in the course and enrich their learning experience.
Other readings for this course will be drawn from the various news media and academic sources, with access via URL listings (for online reading).
Student workload expectations
| Activity | Hours |
|---|---|
| Directed Study | 39.00 |
| Independent Study | 126.00 |
Assessment details
| Description | Marks out of | Wtg (%) | Due Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QUIZ | 100 | 20 | 22 Mar 2021 | (see note 1) |
| CASE STUDY & CRITQUE | 100 | 40 | 05 May 2021 | (see note 2) |
| OPEN EXAM - ONLINE | 100 | 40 | End S1 | (see note 3) |
Notes
- This assignment must be completed and submitted online. Students must complete and submit all items of assessment in order to be considered for a passing grade in this course. The use of another person's work as the student's own, without appropriate acknowledgment and according to USQ's academic conventions, is plagiarism. Where such a breach of ethical conduct occurs, the assignment may receive a mark of zero.
- This assignment must be submitted via Moodle. Students must complete and submit all items of assessment in order to be considered for a passing grade in this course. The use of another person's work as the student's own, without appropriate acknowledgment and according to USQ's academic conventions, is plagiarism. Where such a breach of ethical conduct occurs, the assignment may receive a mark of zero.
- This will be an online exam. Students will be provided further instruction regarding the exam by their course examiner via StudyDesk. The examination date will be available via UConnect when the Alternate Assessment Schedule has been released.
Important assessment information
-
Attendance requirements:
Students must attend and complete the requirements of the Workplace Health and Safety training program for this course where required.
External and Online:
There are no attendance requirements for this course. However, it is the students' responsibility to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.
On-campus
It is the students' responsibility to attend and participate appropriately in all activities (such as lectures, tutorials, laboratories and practical work) scheduled for them, and to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration. -
Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
Due to COVID-19 the requirements for S1 2021 are: To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks for that item.
Requirements after S1, 2021:
To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks. -
Penalties for late submission of required work:
Students should refer to the Assessment Procedure (point 4.2.4) -
Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
Due to COVID-19 the requirements for S1 2021 are: To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.
Requirements after S1, 2021:
To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course. -
Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course. -
Examination information:
Due to COVID-19 the requirements for S1 2021 are: An Open Examination is one in which candidates may have access to any printed or written material and a calculator during the examination.
Requirements after S1, 2021:
Candidates are allowed to bring only writing and drawing instruments into the Closed examination. -
Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
Normally Deferred and Supplementary Examinations are held in the next Examination period. In S1 2021 selected courses will pilot an early Deferred and Supplementary Examination period held within 30 business days of results release. The list of courses involved can be found at . -
University Student Policies:
Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at .
Other requirements
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Students can expect that questions in assessment items in this course may draw upon knowledge and skills that they can reasonably be expected to have acquired before enrolling in the course. This includes knowledge contained in pre-requisite courses and appropriate communication, information literacy, analytical, critical thinking, problem solving or numeracy skills. Students who do not possess such knowledge and skills should not expect to achieve the same grades as those students who do possess them.
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The journalism course maintains high standards of spelling, grammar and punctuation. Faults in any of these could render an assignment unacceptable.