8

Study programmes

MANY journalism courses nm todividual study programmes alongside lectures, assignments ted workshop projects. Ideally, each student or trainee journalist selects a subject relating to the media and accumulates material on it for use in a long paper to be delivered towards the end of the course.

an example of this type of propmmme is the preration of a situationer based upon a news subject that is currently being covered in newspapers.

SITUATIONERS

A SITUATIONER is a background feature outlining a news situation in a given area or country which sums up progress made over a period and gives the position reached at the time of writing, It is a device frequently used by quality Sunday papers and news magazines which aim to give a briefing from time to time on world or contemporary news situations.

Preparing a situationer gives the student an opportunity of presenting a piece of news-based written work rooted in the close reading of newspapers over a period, as required by the group activities outlined in the previous chapter, and which also contains the dements of a news feature. Such a piece of work thus extends the student’s involvement in two directions and ideally should count as a percentage of marks for the course year.

The mechanics of such a project for those on journalism or media studies courses are as fellows. The student, having selected a news subject — say, drug abuse In sub-teenagers, suburban loneliness or mercenary warfare — monitors it for a nominated period in successive issues of a number of chosen newspapers and magazines, cutting and date-filing material, until an agreed cut-off date which needs to allow time for the file to be digested and the piece of work to be pegged out, written and handed in. As with all journalistic exercises, deadlines should be firmly adhered to. with marking penalties for lateness.

The resources of the newspapers and magazines chosen — at least four suitable publications and preferably five — should be augmented by additional background research carried out in reference books and any other sources or publications relevant to the subject chosen, With some subjects pre-period research might be necessary to set a context.

While the structure of the situationer should not be formula-ized too much, since the text is aimed with newspaper readers in mind rather than academic marking boards, it Is necessary to show where things stand at the beginning of the chosen period, the progress made during the period covered, and how tilings are at the time of writing, Within these general guidelines a convincing narrative and argument should be developed,

As with the group work described in the previous chapter the specimen study programmes that follow will be referred to as projects. As with, the assignments in previous chapters they are intended as models for similar projects

Prepare a 4000-word situationer on hard drug law enforcement in Britain, cutting and filing material for a six-month period from the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer and the New Scientist and checking on any figures or material published during the period by official bodies concerned, with the problem.

Include, for submission with the work, a summary page (see page 206) and list of contents giving the main headings and parts for the work and a list of sources and file of cuttings.

Notes: A file should be kept of editorial comment and feature articles in your chosen newspapers and periodicals as well as news stories. Where possible, obtain and use official statistics.

Prepare a 4000-word situationer on child abuse in Britain, cutting and filing material for a six-month period from the Daily Mail, Daily Miirror, Sunday Telegraph and Nursing World. As with Project 1, above, seek out and use material from official sources as well. If relevant, use interviews. Include a summary page giving the main headings and parts for the work and a list of sources.

Notes: It is useful for this project and for Project 1 to monitor any television or radio programmmes that are relevant, if necessary asking for transcripts.

Prepare a 4000-word situationer on the Ulster problem, cutting and filing material for a six-month period from the Belfast Telegraph, the Irish Independent, the Sunday Tunes and the New Statesman and Society, and taking in any other sources that are relevant.

Include, for submission with the work, a summary page giving the main headings and parts for the work and list of sources.

Notes: The attempt by Britain and Eire, successful or otherwise, to achieve a political solution would have to loom large in this situationer and some cuttings research on the Anglo-Irish initiative in the run-up to the period would have to be carried out.

Prepare a 4000-word situationer on ‘political correctness’ and attitudes to it, cutting and filing material for a six-month period from The Guardian, The Times, the Daily Telegraph and the New Statesman, Use any other references or broadcasting sources that you consider relevant.

Include, as aboYe, a summary page giving the main headings and parts for the work, a Est of sources and a file of cuttings.

Notes: Here is a situationer where a clear definition of terms would need to be discreetly introduced at an early stage to avoid any uncertainty among readers. It Is a subject that could allow for humour in the exposition. Fetteres sources should be well combed and the use of book references and quoted opinions could be useful.

Prepare a 4000-word situationer on crime and social problems in. high-rise urban estates, cutting and filing material for a six-month period from the Daily Mirror, The Guardian, the London Evening Standard and The Observer. Look out, in HMSO Stationery office and Government press offices, for any official publications that touch on this issue.

Include a summary page giving the main headings and parts for the work, a list of sources and a file of cuttings. Personal interviews could form an Important part of this project.

Notes: Official statistics as well as interviews are needed to bring this situationer alive. Use libraries.

Prepare a 4000-word siteationer on the state of the British, aircraft industry, cutting and filing material over a six-month period from the Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Daily Express and the Economist. Include a summary pige giving the main headings and parts of the work, a list of sources and a file of cuttings. Include statistics.

Notes: There will be many strands here but look for a topical news peg towgrds the end of the period to hang the text on. It is m perennial newspaper subject. Check the press offices of companies and organizations for handouts and official statistics.

MEDIA RESEARCH PAPERS

ASPECTS of the media, its practice and its relations with its readers/viewers and the community are an important part of training in journalism. With the power of the media as it is, and no shortage of vocal critics, it is not sufficient for a responsible journalist simply to be able to produce work in the practitioner world without regard to reasons or consequences.

The following specimen projects define areas in which research is needed, to broaden knowledge of the media environment and prepare journalists for professional life. They are intended to slot in. alongside training programmes to provide material for a long paper, either in place of or in addition to situationer projects, depending on. the course.

‘There can be no absolutes in news value.’ To what extent is this statement true for the newspaper editor? Can it be shown to be true in terms of specimen newspaper content? Discuss in 4000 words.

Notes: The kernel of the journalists’s job, ‘What is news?’ needs to be probed in very close detail to answer the question posed. Consider both the media sociologists’ view (Boorstin, Galtung and Ruge, McQuail, Seymour-Ure, and others) and the journalists’ view (Evans, Hodgson, Harris and Spark). See Bibliography on pages 197–206.

Is bias a serious fault in the British press? Discuss in 4000 words.

Notes: Two things need looking at very closely here: the nature of bias as It affects newspapers, and any dangerous consequences of bias. Consider among other things where the line is between unconscious, avoidable bias and the imposed bias of an editorial policy. One could add a third consideration: to what extent bias in newspapers can be deemed a fault.

Distortion, or misrepresentation, in presenting or disseminating news is something a reporter is taught to avoid. When and how does distortion happen in the news pages of newspapers? How can it be avoided? Discuss in 4000 words.

Notes: One should be looking here for two sorts of distortion: deliberate and unintentional. Find examples. Make sure you define distortion in news terms and show how it differs from bits. Show how, in your opinion, it can happen and the precise steps that should be taken to avoid it.

Few reporters avoid being accused of intrusion in the course of their job. Using the guidelines issued by the National Union of journalists and the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice (both given in. the Appendix, on pages 207–11). discuss in 4000 words the practical problems and definitions of intrusion from, the reporter’s point of view,

Notes: You will need, among other things, to define the circumstances In which legitimate pursuit of the facts becomes intrusion; also to what extent individuals, especially public figures, can claim right of privacy in matters being investigated by the reporter that are of public concern.

Is it a newspaper’s fault If readers are confused about what, in its pages, is objective news mad what is comment and opinion? Discuss in400 words, giving examples.

Notes: Planning, presentation, typography all help to point a newspaper’s many functions, but is enough being done to preserve for the reader the sacredoess of the facts when there is more to the modern newspaper than news alone? An important part of this task will be to note how the language of opinion encroaches upon the language of fact in places where it should not

‘Attempts at news management by outside sources is a serious problem for editors, especially of national newspapers’, Discuss in 4000 words to what extent this contention Is true. How can news management be recognized and countered?

Notes: Information coming to newspapers, especially via specialist writers, can have strings attached. Correspondents can, if they are not careful, be used by people; press officers can insert their owe bias into their information; Government ministers can be floating political kites; hidden bribery can link in an innocent-sounding proposal. Press and PR people can conceal as well as present information, took for examples and spell out the dangers of news management

‘The press’s role as watchdog of democracy has been overtaken by its role as a consumer watchdog’. Discuss in 4000 words to what extent this is true.

Notes: Examine service columns and reader participation in a selection of newspapers and measure and map out the area it covers. Look also at coverage of national and local government activities.

How important is the freedom of the press? Discuss in 4000 words.

Notes: Examine the various aspects of a newspaper’s role in the community and the ways in which its attempts to tell the truth are hamstrung by legal and other restrictions. Try to imagine society with only Government-controlled newspapers. Contrast with restrictions in other countries. To what extent does the need for press freedom demand public support?

Britain is said to have an unfettered press. But has the law become a form of creeping censorship? Discuss in 4000 words.

Notes: See notes on Project 14. Examine the various aspects of the law of libel, contempt of court. Official Secrets Act, confidentiality and the restrictions on reporting. Use McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists (Butterworths, 1992) and Crone’s Law and the Media (Focal Press, 1995).

Try to anwer, in 4000 words, the question: why bother with newspapers?

Notes: Consider what life, in your view, would be like without newspapers and the various roles they perform and the convenience they offer, and whether these roles could be adequately fulfilled by the other media. Consider, for example, a world in which all news information and comment came via radio and television and what would be lacking.

SEMINARS

AN INTERMEDIATE stage between the formal debate with a motion (see Chapter 7) and the Individual research paper is the group seminar in which members contribute short study papers on aspects of a chosen media topic, which topic: is then thrown open for discussion by the whole group,

It is usual for the course tutor or instructor to nominate the topic and to allocate who does what, making sure that all members of the group get their turn at presenting a paper. It is a good Idea to base papers — say, three or four of them at a time — on controversial or comparative coverage of some current issue or on the views or book of some controversial media writer, the idea being to encourage group discussion and feedback.

While discussion can be open-ended and perhaps, in the end, inconclusive a seminar gives everyone the opportunity to express their views, and the beavering required to put a paper together can bring interesting and often little known facts and views before the group. It also reminds students and trainee journalists of the variety of purpose and content of different kinds of newspapers and periodicals.

The work need not be very time-consuming; about 800 words is usually enough for each when several papers are being read and time needs to be left for discussion, A close study is required of a topic, however, for a seminar to be worth setting up, and it is useful for students to have had some exposure to group projects in contents analysis of the kind outlined in Chapter 7.

Seminars offer a great field for ideas. The role of the press in society can be broken down into many individual topics covering social and political attitudes and the aims and readership markets of differing newspapers and periodicals. The effect of advertising on editorial content; comparisons between the different media — between TV and newspapers in their content and coverage, for example; class attitudes, concentration of ownership, cross-media ownership…the list is almost endless. There is also some merit in looking at the writings of critics of the press (see Bibliography, pages 197–205) and considering where, in the opinion of members of a seminar, criticism is justified or where it is wrong-headed.

Here, to start things off, are a few suggested seminar topics:

1 Consider what disadvantages television works under in its news coverage compared to the national dailies.

2 The Times was once described as a caste newspaper, Is it one today?

3 Has the Daily Express got a social axe to grind?

4 What does the advertising in The Guardian tell you about its readers?

5 ‘Television has more political influence than newspapers these days.’ Is this true?

6 Do the popular tabloids have more influence on their readers than do the qualities?

7 Analyse the current political stance of the Daily Mirror.

8 Contrast and discuss the attitudes to women found (in your view) in the Daily Mail with those in The Gumrdimn,

9 Select three local weeklies in your area and consider to what extent they are fulfilling a worthwhile role in the community in which they circulate.

10 How relevant is radio to today’s needs in Britain?

11 Have newspaper editors something to learn from the writings of media sociologists?

12 Has the academic discipline of media studies lost touch with the role of the press?

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Boyd, A: Broadcast Journudism, 2nd Edition (Focal Press 1993).

Crone, T: Law and the Media, 3rd Edition (Focal Press, 1995).

Hodgson, FW: Modem Newspaper Practice, 3rd Edition (Focal Press, 1993). McNae, LCJ: Essential Law for Journalists (Butterworths, 1992).

Sec also Bibliogaphy, pages 197–205.