Benchmarking journalism courses with a focus on graduate employability : case Studies from three Australian universities

Benchmarking is commonly perceived as a key part of quality assurance and enhancement, and universities have had limited success to date in benchmarking, nationally or internationally, in matters concerning teaching and learning. This is partly due to the paucity of comparable quantitative indicators. The challenges are even greater when benchmarking is at course (program) level. As part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council fellowship (Benchmarking partnerships for graduate employability), a process was designed to enable course leaders to engage in collaborative and confidential benchmarking at course level, with a particular focus on graduate employability (or, more specifically, the assurance of graduate capability development and achievement). Among the 24 benchmarking partners were three course leaders in undergraduate journalism. This paper describes their collective experiences and some of the outcomes of the benchmarking exercise. It also highlights some of the challenges of benchmarking in a discipline where graduates may follow a range of career paths, and where technology means professional practice is evolving at a very rapid pace. Given these underpinning uncertainties, discussions around employability and appropriate graduate capabilities are best had face to face with adequate time for establishing common understandings. This has also been a focused way of building capacity and scholarly networking.

Journalism ethics : arguments and cases

Journalism Ethics : Arguments and Cases provides a framework for students of journalism and media studies to examine the role that ethical dilemmas play in determining editorial content. Ethical practice is discussed in relation to newsroom operations, the economics of the news industry, and society's expectations of the news media

Journalism ethics : arguments and cases

Situating modern ethical dilemmas in a social and historical context, this text encourages students to think critically about the theory and practice of journalism ethics. It has been fully updated in every chapter with new examples and cases taken from 'yesterday's headlines'.