ALJ111: Contemporary Journalism A

ALJ111 is a unit as part of the Journalism major. I love writing and have an interest in the media. This unit is perfect for me because it combines both of these two interests.

The assessment for this unit is very manageable and all you have to do is paid attention in tutorial (it's the only class that you have to attend anyway).

The Research file will help you with your research skill. You just need to choose whatever topic you want to cover on (of course, it has to be newsworthy). This file will outline every contact that you can interview to write up a news story for the second assignment.
The second assignment (News Story) is where you can put your research and writing skill into practice. You're only required to have at least two interviews preferably face-to-face.

No exam!! Woohoo!

5/5

Yes, along with powerpoint slides

So You Want to be a Journalist? Unplugged Grundy, Bruce et al 2012, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne
Just a recommended text, no need to buy it. You can read it as an eBook on the library website if you want to.

I guess you really have to be familiar with the software that the tutor introduced you to. Audacity for audio and Soundslides Plus for slideshow are the two you’re expected to use in this assignment. Of course, you can use other software that you’re comfortable with as long as you the tutor can open the file that you exported.

I didn’t do any reading for this unit because we don’t discuss about them in tutorial (or because we weren’t required to do them at all). If you want to you should keep up with the current news because the tutor often start off with what's been happened in the news.

The instructions for the assignments were very clear. This unit really pushed me out of my comfort zone. I’m quite a shy guy but in order to write up a news story for the second assignment I had to interview two people. So you can imagine I was really nervous to interview someone and not the other way around (ridiculous, I know).

I chose to cover the Heartland Refugee Art Prize for the second assignment and did a radio news about The Light in Winter for the third one. The Light In Winter was really a desperate choice because I ran out of time to change my story.

One of the highlight in this unit was the fact that I put so much effort into redrafting a 500-words news story (I have never been that dedicated!). I gave my story out to 7 different people to proofread and spend so many hours to edit it. Looking back I think it’s crazy to do so because I ended up neglecting a bigger assignment for another unit which I got a low mark as a result. However, the effort was definitely worth it, but I’ll be careful next time, of course. I love the practical component of the unit as well. For the first time I have the chance to interview real people and write about them.

Overall, it's a really good unit if you want a taste for journalism.

Paul Bethell

1 x 2hr tutorial

2013, trimester 1

pending