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News Now 52641
Assignment 1
Task: Reporting on an Indigenous News Conference
Weight: 25%
Length: 400-word news story and 300-word critical reflection
Due: 5pm, Friday 31 March (Week 6)
Students research and report on a news conference with invited guests from the Australian
Indigenous community. Students will be required to ask questions to elicit information and
individually write a 400-word news story based on one of the issues discussed by the guest
speakers. The news story must follow standard news writing conventions that will be discussed in
class. In addition to the news story, students must write a 300-word theoretically-informed, critical
reflection about the role of diversity in contemporary journalism practice.
Instructions
1. You will be notified of the issue/s to be discussed at the Indigenous News Conference in Week 4.
After researching the issue/s, devise one question you would like asked at the conference and post
the question to your Teams tute channel by 5pm, Friday 17 March (Week 4). The teaching
team will select the best student questions and your subject coordinators will ask them on your
behalf.
2. The Indigenous News Conference will be pre-recorded and uploaded to Canvas a week
before the due date, ie. by 5pm, Friday 24 March (Week 5).
3. You will have one week to watch the Indigenous News Conference and select one issue
discussed at the conference to report in your 400-word news story and 300-word critical reflection.
4. Complete the A1 Assignment coversheet, attach the coversheet to your news story, critical
reflection statement, source contacts list and bibliography and upload your files as one document
in Word or PDF format to the Assignments folder in Canvas by the due date, 5pm, Friday 31
March (Week 6). You will find the A1 assignment coversheet in Canvas> News Now 52641>
Assignments>A1.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Is there anything I should be doing right now to prepare for this assignment?
Yes, start reading, watching and listening to Indigenous reportage from NITV, ABC Indigenous,
Indigenous X, the Guardian and read the Media Diversity handbook and other resources we have
prepared for you on Canvas. Think about the big issues currently impacting Indigenous
communities, in NSW in particular, and the key stakeholders who have an interest or ‘stake’ in any
decision or activity related to those issues.
Q. When will I be notified of the issue/s to be discussed at the pre-recorded news conference?
You will be notified in Week 4 of the issue/s to be discussed at the news conference and asked to
research that issue and post in your Teams tute channel one question you would like asked at the
conference by 5pm, Friday 17 March (Week 4).
Q. How will I be assessed in this assignment?
Tutors will grade submissions according to the five assessment criteria listed in the A1 task
description in the News Now Subject Outline and in the A1 marking rubric in Canvas. Tutors will
be looking to see there is ‘depth of research and storytelling’, ‘clarity of expression and adherence
to news writing conventions’, ‘depth of critical reflection’, ‘integration and relevance of theory’ and
that your assessment demonstrates ‘knowledge of Indigenous issues and reflection on cultural
sensitivities in reportage’.
Q. What is a theoretically-informed critical reflection?
Critical reflection is thinking about what we are thinking and being open to change (Kronstad 2016,
127). It is a process that ‘identifies and challenges the assumptions that underlie people’s beliefs,
attitudes and actions’ (Kronstad 2016, 127). More than just reflecting, critical reflection involves an
individual examining and reframing their own assumptions, views and behaviours. An individual
who critically reflects will also take into account the social and cultural context of the event,
incident or experience as well as relevant historical events (Schon 1983, 1987). Critical reflections
are important because understanding your own motivations is a way of understanding other people
(Finlay 2002, 218). Some researchers argue that ‘the most significant learning experiences in
adulthood involve critical self reflection’ (Mezirow in Kronstad 2016, 127). Your critical reflection
will need to be theoretically-informed which is to say that you will need to include relevant
academic references to support your ideas and arguments.
Q. How many references do I need to include in my 300-word critical reflection?
You will need to cite two pieces of academic research to inform the insights you make in your
critical reflection. You can draw on publications cited in lectures, on Canvas, in the Subject Outline
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and/or as a result of your own independent research of the topic. How well this is executed will be
assessed in the A1 criterion ‘integration and relevance of theory’.
Q. What are news writing conventions?
The conventions of news writing are customary professional practices, habitual actions or accepted
‘ways of doing’ that result in the production of news texts. Some of the news writing conventions
you have learnt this semester include the use of the 5Ws and H in newsgathering, the use of the
inverted pyramid to structure information in a news text, the use of headlines and leads to
summarise key parts of the story, capture action and generate interest among audiences, as well as
the use of an active voice (not passive), formal and concise language and verbs to denote action.
How well you observe news writing conventions will be assessed in the A1 criterion ‘clarity of
expression and adherence to news writing conventions’.
Q. How many sources will I need to quote/reference in my 400-word news story?
You will need to include two sources in your news story, one of which must be a human source.
The other source can be a different human source or a ‘data source’ such as a recently published
industry report, government white paper, recent statistics from a credible source, a recently
published academic journal article etc. This will test your understanding of source selection and
‘attribution’ which are topics we cover in the lectures and contribute to your scoring in the A1
criterion ‘clarity of expression and adherence to news writing conventions’.
Q. Can I go over or under the word limit?
Journalism is about precision and working to deadlines. In industry, words and seconds cost money.
If an editor asks you to write a 400-word news story, your copy must be as close to 400 words as
possible. The same principle applies in your assesments for this subject. Part of the assessment is
demonstrating your ability to select, order and condense relevant information within certain
parameters.
Q. Will I need to attach to my A1 the contact details of my human sources and a bibliography
for the academic works cited?
Yes, please include the contact details of any additional human sources you have quoted in your
news story (ie. other than those speakers presenting at the pre-recorded news conference) and a list
of the online data sources and academic references you have cited using the APA style of
referencing. You can find more information about the APA style of referencing on the UTS Library
website –
https://www.lib.uts.edu.au/referencing/apa
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References
Finlay, L. (2002). Negotiating the Swamp: The Opportunity and Challenge of Reflexivity in
Research Practice. Qualitative Research 2(2), 209–230. doi:10.1177/146879410200200205.
Kronstad, M. (2016). Investigating Journalism Students' Conceptions and Development of Critical
Reflection through Teacher-Mediated Activities, Journalism Practice, 10(1), 123-139,
doi: 10.1080/17512786.2015.1006910
Schön, D.A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action, Basic Books.
Schön, D.A. (1987). Educating the Reflective Practitioner. Jossey-Bass.