Overview
Program aims
Attendance
Program structure
Articulation and progression

Overview

In democratic societies the rights and responsibilities of journalists are founded on the public's right to know. Journalism education at UTS aims to produce graduates who understand the role journalists play in democratic public life; provide a voice for the opinions and information needs of diverse communities; provide a forum for community discussion; and ask questions of the powerful. The aim is achieved by developing professional skills of the highest calibre across all media and critical engagement with the intellectual, ethical and political foundations of journalism.

The Graduate Program in Journalism is designed for people who want to start a journalism career and for experienced journalists wanting to broaden their skills and professional technological expertise and refresh the intellectual basis of their practice.

Program aims

Graduates of the program:

• have strong research and reporting skills and be able to effectively retrieve and analyse information from a range of sources
• have a knowledge and critical understanding of the media
• are equipped with the necessary skills to either enter professional practice in the media or continue with additional skills and intellectual depth
• have a knowledge of the historical, philosophical, ethical and cultural foundations underpinning journalism and strive to promote the important role of professional and ethical journalism in the service of the public
• have an understanding of the role of the media in local, regional, national and global contexts
• have an understanding of the relationship between media theory and practice
• have a critical understanding of the relationships between technology, professionalism and social change and are able to adapt their professional skills to future change and to new production challenges
• have a critical understanding of issues of gender, race, ethnicity, disability and class and the way these are linked to issues of media representation, production and reception
• understand the role the media has played in the dispossession of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the importance of the role the media can play in the reconciliation process and bringing justice to all communities
• have developed the ability to be self-reliant and pro-active, flexible and innovative
• have an understanding and commitment to ethical journalism practice, and
• have a commitment to lifelong learning in journalism professional practice.

Attendance

Subjects in this program may be offered in weekly classes, or accelerated or block mode. Accelerated mode enables full-time students to complete 57011 Research and Reporting for Journalism in the first half of the semester and 57014 Advanced Print Features or another subject in the second half of the semester. This arrangement enables full-time students to meet prerequisite requirements. Block mode generally requires attendance at weekend blocks or intensive four-week blocks plus participation in web-based activities.

Program structure

All courses consist of core and elective subjects.

Core subjects in the Graduate Program in Journalism

57011 Research and Reporting for Journalism 8cp
57014 Advanced Print Features 8cp
57013 Journalism Studies 8cp
57012 Regulation of the Media 8cp
57019 Journalism Research Project 16cp
57071 Journalism Research Project Part A 8cp
57072 Journalism Research Project Part B 8cp
57017 Journalism Studies Project 8cp
57018 Journalism Professional Project 8cp

Electives

Elective subjects (400 level) available to Journalism students enrolled in graduate courses:

57015 Political Reporting 8cp
57021 Journalism Attachment 8cp
57091 Advanced News Reporting 8cp
57092 Introduction to Broadcast Journalism 8cp

Elective subjects (200 and 300 level) available to all students enrolled in Journalism courses:

50151 Radio Journalism 1 8cp
50194 Radio Journalism 2 8cp
50150 Television Journalism 1 8cp
50195 Television Journalism 2 8cp
50301 Editing and Publishing 1 8cp
50302 Editing and Publishing 2 8cp
50303 Online Journalism 1 8cp
50304 Online Journalism 2 8cp
50192 Investigative Journalism 8cp
50305 Specialist Reporting 8cp

Students can choose other elective subjects offered by the Faculty or other faculties in consultation with the Graduate Course Adviser.

Articulation and progression

Students who successfully complete the Graduate Certificate or Graduate Diploma and who are admitted to a more advanced level course in the program are eligible for exemptions for completed subjects in the more advanced course.