Honours in Journalism, Media and Communications

Journalism, Media and Communications honours is designed to introduce students to the advanced study of journalism, media and communications, and aims to provide graduates with both enhanced career opportunities and/or the possibility of qualifying for postgraduate research in the field. It can be undertaken on either a full-time or a part-time basis. This program will appeal to students wishing to study news, journalism and the media by applying various theoretical perspectives and research methodologies.

Honours can be very rewarding, but it is also challenging. It provides an excellent preparation for further postgraduate research or, for those wishing to enter the media industries, it demonstrates a level of intellectual rigour over and above that required for a standard three-year degree. Those students wishing to further enhance their practical skills may be interested in our Postgraduate Degree by Coursework program in Journalism, Media and Communications.

Jane Bestwick
Journalist ABC News

Jane Bestwick, JMC Honours Graduate:
“I completed my degree back in 2001. A double major in Journalism and Media Studies at the time seemed sufficient to get me in to the industry. And it was. I started work with WIN Television not long after I graduated. But after six years I returned to University to undertake Honours. Friends, family and colleagues were unsure why... I had a good job in journalism so what could doing Honours possibly add? Being in the industry the answer was obvious. Employers are looking for the “edge”, someone who stands out from other potential employees and that is what Honours does. It gives you something that others don’t have, and shows your commitment and passion for the industry. In real terms, completing Honours got me a promotion that came with additional responsibility, it also saw me recently secure employment with the ABC. I was busting to get out of University at the end of my three year degree and if someone had suggested another year then I am not sure I would have considered it. But everything in hindsight...had I known what I know now, a year is nothing for what is out there to gain.“

Past Projects

Honours affords students the opportunity to engage in in-depth study of a particular area of interest within the larger field of journalism, media and communications (subject to supervision). A wide range of projects have been undertaken by recent graduates. Click here to read about the past projects in JMC Honours.

Entry Requirements

To be eligible for enrolment, students must have achieved a GPA score of 6.0 and majored in Journalism, Media and Communications. We may also be able to arrange for a joint honours program with another discipline. All projects are subject to approval.

Course Structure

Our honours year involves both coursework and a long essay based on independent research. Students enrolling full-time will do two units in first semester, including the compulsory Media Research Methodology unit, and two units in second semester. The coursework component is worth 50% of the final grade. Students will work on the 12,500-word research essay (also worth 50%) across the two semesters under the supervision of a staff member in the Journalism, Media and Communications program.

Part-time students will complete their coursework and research essay components over four semesters rather than two.

Scholarships

Possible Honours Projects

A wide range of supervised projects are available for Honours research. These include (but are not limited to):

Fan Cultures (Dr Craig Norris)
Fans of media texts like Harry Potter, Japanese manga and anime, and TV shows like Dr Who, 24, Lost and Heroes are seen as today's innovators, viral marketers, and grassroots gatekeepers. The high quality, deeply informed content they produce can exceed the original commercial products they were based on. Key questions for Honours research would include: How are fans representative of today's changing media landscape? How do media industries accommodate (or not) the interests of their biggest fans? What is the value of fan labour? What tensions exists between media industries and fans?

User-Generated Content (Dr Craig Norris)
As media spaces such as Blogs, You-Tube, or Face Book become more participatory, the relationship between producers and consumers is being re-thought. Key questions for an Honours project include: How have these grassroots innovations impacted on local creative industries? Are these industries prepared for this user-generated creativity? How is user-generated content encouraged and restricted by commercial and government policy?

Understanding Youth Radio (Kate Nash)
Youth radio – whether it’s mainstream or community – is an important part of the Australian radio landscape. In this project you will focus on youth radio looking broadly at the ways in which youth radio creates and interacts with its audience. You may choose from a number of key issues, such as: How is news reporting adapted for a youth audience? How do radio stations create and maintain their audiences? How do they tackle important youth issues such as suicide?

Getting Inside the Television Documentary (Kate Nash)
In this project you will focus on documentaries produced for Australian television. You will have the chance to analyse a series of documentary texts on an issue that interests you, whether it’s the environment, youth issues, science and medicine, or anything else! The aim is to study the ways in which specific issues are treated, what techniques and styles are used and how television documentaries attempt to persuade their audience.

Talking About 'The Convict' In The Nineteenth Century
(UTAS Supervisor, Dr Nicola Goc; Port Arthur Supervisor, Julia Clark)
How was 'the convict' represented through the pages of contemporary newspapers? Using a 'slice' approach corresponding with major changes in the treatment of convicts – the development of Port Arthur and Point Puer, the delivery of the Bigge Report, the change from assignment to probation, the introduction of separate punishment, the end of transportation – investigate changing depictions of 'the convict'. How did these representations of ‘the convict’ contribute to those changes?

News From Behind Enemy Lines (Dr Nicola Goc and Dr Eva Meidl)
This project will suit a student with German language skills and will involve the translation of a small collection of World War One postcards from a German soldier to his family. The project will involve a comparative analysis between the way German and Australian soldiers’ personal narratives were used in the newspapers of the day as a form of propaganda.

Behaving Badly: Celebrity Mothers and the Media (Dr Nicola Goc)
This project will look at discourse on celebrity mothers across the spectrum of media, from traditional newspapers to gossip magazines and news media, to analyse the creation of a moral panic around the behaviour of female celebrities and their representation as bad mothers.

Out With the Gothic: Source Strategy and Media Outcomes
(UTAS Supervisor,Dr Libby Lester; Port Arthur Supervisor, Julia Clark)
Over the last five years, the management of Port Arthur has encouraged visiting journalists to look beyond the 'blood-soaked' gothic stereotype that surrounded the site in the 20th century. This project measures the success of that strategy by analysing recent media texts and interviewing journalists and their Port Arthur 'sources'. In this way, both the outcomes of the strategy and the behind-the-scenes dynamics that produced the stories can be examined.

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Honours in Journalism, Media and Communications

Past Projects

Entry Requirements

Course Structure

Scholarships

Possible Honours Projects

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