Overview

This unit provides students with an understanding of the main areas of law and professional norms that limit freedom of speech. Students will apply laws and professional norms to real life examples and to judge when and how to publish contentious material. This unit also provides students with an understanding of the nature of ethics, the underpinnings of journalists’ codes of ethics and what it means to behave ethically. Students will explain the development and future of these legal and professional norms.

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-March-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
16-March-2025
Census date
31-March-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
24-April-2025
Results released date
08-July-2025

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Communicate how laws and professional norms about Fairness, Accuracy and Balance, Defamation, Privacy, Contempt of Court and Court Reporting, Copyright, Censorship and Vilification, Freedom of Information and Advertising limit the publication of information, analysis and opinion in Australia
  • Evaluate when and how to publish contentious material including when to get legal or ethical advice before publishing
  • Develop reasoned and ethically defensible decisions in response to a range of ethical dilemmas that commonly arise in the course of practicing journalism
  • Understand how laws and professional norms have developed and may develop in the future

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Online
Lecture		1.00 12 weeks 12
On-campus
Class		2.00 12 weeks 24
Specified Activities
Various		3.00 12 weeks 36
Unspecified Activities
Various		6.50 12 weeks 78
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Online Journal Individual  20%  1,2,3,4 
Tutorial Presentation  Group  20%  1,2,3,4 
Online Tests Individual  60%  1,2,3,4 

Content

  • Laws, professional norms, codes of ethics
  • Media freedoms and contested truths
  • Impartiality, fairness, balance and conflicts of interest
  • Advertising
  • Defamation
  • Contempt of court and court reporting
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Censorship, including national security and anti-terrorism, vilification, classification of content
  • Secrets: confidentiality, journalists’ sources, freedom of information
  • Reporting trauma and sensitive material ethically

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.