JN 513
Political Reporting
Module Outline
Spring Term, 2014-15
Convenor: Prof. Geoffrey Craig
Centre for Journalism
University of Kent
Weekly Topics
Week
1
Lectures
Introduction to Module
2
The Journalistic and Political Fields
3
Political Source Relations
4
Governmental Communication and Political Spin
5
The Lobby and Parliamentary Reportage
6
Guest Speaker
7
Social Media and Political Reportage
8
Reporting Protests and Alternative Politics
9
Political Interviews and Press Conferences
10
Political Commentary
11
Election Reportage and Opinion Polls
12
Review of Module/Examination Preparation
2
Introduction
Convenor: Prof. Geoffrey Craig
g.a.craig@kent.ac.uk
Gillingham building: G1-10
Phone: 01634 888987
Seminar
Tuesday 2.00-4.00pm (Room G2-03)
Module description
This module examines the reporting practices of political journalists, the
institutional contexts of political journalism, and the interactions between
journalists and sources across different forms of political reportage. It assesses
the power of governmental communication, and the changing nature of
contemporary political journalism. Forms of political reportage that will be
investigated include: parliamentary reporting, political commentary, interviews
and press conferences, and the role of social media in political reportage.
Aims and Objectives
Aims
After completing the module successfully, students will:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Have a systematic understanding of key features of the structural
relationship between the fields of politics and journalism
Possess a detailed knowledge about source influence models and be
able to critically evaluate debates about the merits of particular models
Have a comprehensive knowledge of the recent historical evolution of
governmental communication processes and parliamentary reporting
practices
Have a systematic understanding of how social media and the 24-hour
news cycle are transforming political journalism and be able to critically
assess the merits and shortcomings of such technological and economic
changes in the production of quality journalism.
Have detailed knowledge about language use and the exercise of power
relations in interrogative encounters between journalists and
politicians
Possess a comprehensive knowledge of journalistic framings of
leadership and public opinion in political reporting
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7.
Have a systematic understanding of the complex interplay between
news and opinion in political reporting and evaluate such changes in the
contexts of the contributions of journalism to the democratic health of a
society.
Objectives
1. To read broadly across issues relating to journalism and political
reporting
2. To apply knowledge of journalism and political reporting in
analyses of current political journalism
3. To develop effective research, study, and oral and written
communication skills through seminar discussion and exercises,
essay writing and an examination
Texts
There is no textbook for this module. The required readings will be provided for
you. All of the required and recommended reading, where available, will be
placed in the library.
In addition to these readings, you should access relevant journals in the library
and also use the databases available online through the University library.
Some useful journals include:
Journalism Studies
Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism
British Journalism Review
Journalism Practice
International Journal of Press/Politics
Media, Culture & Society
British Politics
Some useful databases include:
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
Web of Knowledge
Nexis UK
Scopus
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Assessment
Assignment
Case study
Essay
Examination
In-class participation
Length
1,500
words
3,000
words
2 hours
Value Due Date
20%
Tuesday 7 April
40%
Friday 27 February
30%
10%
To be announced
Weekly
Case Study (20%) Due Tuesday 7 April
Students are required to undertake a textual analysis of a selected example of a
type of political journalism that has been covered in the module, such as a news
story, column article or a broadcast interview. Your case study topic should be
an individual text and your analysis must nominate your object(s) of scrutiny
such as: the portrayal of politics, journalist and source relations, focus on
leadership, etc. Your analysis should offer a close reading of the text, discussing
language use and visual representations. Your analysis should also draw on the
theoretical concepts and readings that are covered over the term.
You should provide a hard copy (or link to) of your journalism text. Students
must also consult with the convenor a week prior to the deadline about their
selected text.
Essays must be typed and double-spaced and correctly referenced. Essays must
be submitted by 4 pm on the due date. All essays should demonstrate knowledge
of the relevant module readings. Students are also encouraged to demonstrate
evidence of extra and in-depth research.
The Centre for Journalism has adopted the Harvard style and this is the style you
should use in referencing your assignments. Further details can be found at:
http://www.kent.ac.uk/ai/styleguides.html
Please also consult the essay-writing guide at the end of this module outline.
Students should consult the Assessment Criteria List before the submission of
each assignment. This will be used as the basis for the marking of your
assignment.
Essay (40%) Due Friday 27 February
You are required to write on one of the following two topics:
1. Relations between politicians and journalists can either occur as mutually
beneficial exchanges of information or as vociferous contests. Evaluate the
respective merits of the exchange and competitive source relation models.
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2. Do spin doctors have too much power over political journalists? Discuss with
reference to the history of governmental information management in British
politics.
Essays must be typed and double-spaced and correctly referenced. Essays must
be submitted by 4 pm on the due date. All essays should demonstrate knowledge
of the relevant module readings. Students are also encouraged to demonstrate
evidence of extra and in-depth research.
The Centre for Journalism has adopted the Harvard style and this is the style you
should use in referencing your assignments. Further details can be found at:
http://www.kent.ac.uk/ai/styleguides.html
Please also consult the essay-writing guide at the end of this module outline.
Students should consult the Assessment Criteria List before the submission of
each assignment. This will be used as the basis for the marking of your
assignment.
Examination (30%) Date to be announced
In the two-hour examination you will be required to answer two essay questions
from a list of six questions.
Seminar Participation (10%)
A vital part of your learning in this module occurs through seminars. It is,
therefore, crucial that you attend and participate in all classes. If you can’t make
a class because you are sick please supply me with a doctor’s certificate. It is
important that everyone prepares for classes by completing the reading. This
leads to more interesting and informative classes. Remember that your
participation mark is for participation, NOT attendance.
Lecture Outlines
I will provide lecture outlines under the Module Notes menu on the Centre for
Journalism site. A copy of this Module Outline will also be available on the site.
Media Consumption
Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway) you must regularly spend time accessing
online news sites, reading newspapers, news magazines, watching television
news and current affairs, and listening to the radio news and current affairs. In
addition to your regular news media consumption for the course you might want
to access the following sites on the news media:
The Media Show on BBC Radio 4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dv9hq
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Newswatch on BBC Television:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qjrk2
The BBC Archives site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/
The Media section of the New Statesman:
http://www.newstatesman.com/media
The Media section of The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media
Other Details
Please come and have a chat if you are encountering any kind of difficulty that is
hindering your study. If you can’t complete an assignment on time because you
are sick, or because of circumstances beyond your control, then let me know
before the assignment is due.
You must complete all work in order to pass the module. Any student who
misses a substantial portion of the module will be deemed to have not
satisfactorily completed the course.
Dishonesty in Assessment
I regard most seriously any acts of dishonesty relating to assessment. Cheating
includes plagiarism, unauthorised collaboration, examination misconduct and
theft of other students’ work.
Plagiarism and collusion are defined as including any of the following five types
of behaviour, and apply to work in any medium (for example, written or audio
text, film production, computer programs):

Inappropriate/inadequate acknowledgement - material copied word-forword which is acknowledged as paraphrased but should have been in
quotation marks, or material paraphrased without appropriate
acknowledgement of its source.

Collusion - material copied from another student’s assignment with her or
his knowledge.

Verbatim copying - material copied word-for-word or exactly duplicated
without any acknowledgement of the source.
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
Ghost writing - assignment written by third party and represented by
student as her or his own work.

Purloining - material copied from another student’s assignment or work
without that person’s knowledge.
For more information please see:
http://www.kent.ac.uk/socsci/studying/general/plagiarism.html
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Assessment Criteria List
For your essay and seminar presentation report this term make sure you adopt
the following format. If you do not adopt the following format I may hand back
your assignment and ask you to resubmit it after making the necessary changes.
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Title page
Accurate page numbers
Double-line spacing
Is left justified
Font is 12 point
Assignment is securely fastened
Your assignments will be assessed on both the quality of the content and on the
structure and writing style of the assignment. I will use this as the basis for their
marking of your assignment.
Content
 Demonstrates depth of analysis exceeding superficial descriptions
 Defines key terms and provides accurate understandings of those terms
 Demonstrates good understanding of relevant module references and
demonstrates evidence of independent research
 Supports theoretical discussion through reference to relevant examples
 Answers the question and makes conclusions based on clearly identified
observations and interpretations of reference and other source material
Structure and Style
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Progresses logically, with a coherent structure
Essay written to correct word length
Clearly defined introduction and conclusion
Conclusion summarises main points/arguments
Style is clear and consistent
Sentences are complete, fluent and well-written
Correct spelling, punctuation and grammar
Citations and bibliography relevant and correctly referenced
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Week 1
Introduction to Module
Required reading
1. Module Outline.
Recommended Internet Sites
There are a multitude of interesting sites about journalism that you
may wish to access during the term. To get you started, you should
look at the following:
https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk
http://www.poynter.org
http://www.cjr.org/index.php
http://www.niemanlab.org
http://www.pressgallery.org.uk
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Week 2
The Journalistic and Political Fields
Required reading
1. Davis, A & Seymour, E 2010, ‘Generating forms of media capital
inside and outside a field: the strange case of David Cameron in the
UK political field’, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 739759.
Recommended reading
1. Benson, R & Neveu, E 2005, (eds.) Bourdieu and the Journalistic
Field. Polity, Malden.
2. Boussofara-Omar, N 2006, ‘Learning the “linguistic habitus” of a
politician: A presidential authoritative voice in the making’, Journal
of Language and Politics, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 325-358.
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Week 3
Political Source Relations
Required reading
1. Stromback, J & Nord, L. W 2006, ‘Do Politicians Lead the Tango? A
Study of the Relationship between Swedish Journalists and their
Political Sources in the Context of Election Campaigns’, European
Journal of Communication, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 147-164.
Recommended reading
1. Broersma, M, den Herer, B & Schohaus, B 2013, ‘A Question of
Power: The changing dynamics between journalists and sources’,
Journalism Practice, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 388-395.
2. Davis, A 2003, ‘Public Relations and News Sources’, in: S. Cottle
(ed.) News, Public Relations and Power, Sage, London.
3. Wolfsfeld, G 2003, ‘The Political Contest Model’, in: S. Cottle (ed.)
News, Public Relations and Power, Sage, London.
4. Ross, K 2010, ‘Danse Macabre: Politicians, Journalists, and the
Complicated Rumba of Relationships’, The International Journal of
Press/Politics, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 272-294.
5. Brants, K, de Vreese, C, Moller, J, and van Praag, P 2010,
The Real Spiral of Cynicism? Symbiosis and mistrust between
politicians and journalists’’, International Journal of Press/Politics,
vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 25-40.
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Week 4
Governmental Communication and Political
Spin
Required reading
1. Gaber, I 2000, ‘Government by spin: an analysis of the process’,
Media, Culture & Society, vol. 22, pp. 507-518.
Recommended reading
1. Sanders, K 2009, ‘Communicating Government’, in: Communicating
Politics in the Twenty-First Century, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke,
Hampshire, pp. 73-91.
2. Moloney, K 2001, ‘The rise and fall of spin: Changes of fashion in
the presentation of UK politics’, Journal of Public Affairs, vol. 1, no. 2,
pp. 124-135.
3. Oborne, P 1999, Alastair Campbell: New Labour and the Rise of the
Media Class, Aurum Press, London.
4. Ward, I 2003, ‘An Australian PR state?’, Australian Journal of
Communication, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 25-42.
__________________________________________________________
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Week 5
The Lobby and Parliamentary Reportage
Required reading
1. Gaber, I 2009, The slow death of the Westminster Lobby: Collateral
damage from the MPs’ expenses scandal’, British Politics, vol. 4, no. 4,
pp. 478-497.
Recommended reading
1. Davis, A 2007, ‘Mediated Politics: the mediation of parliamentary
politics’, in: The Mediation of Power: A Critical Introduction,
Routledge, Oxford.
2. Hencke, D 2009, ‘Why a Commons Club fouled up’, British
Journalism Review, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 51-55.
3. Franklin B 1997, ‘From the gallery to the gutter: Changing
newspaper reporting of parliament’, in: Newszak & News Media,
Arnold, London.
4. Negrine, R 1996, ‘Reporting Parliament, Reporting Politics’, in: The
Communication of Politics, Sage, London.
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Week 6
Guest Speaker
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Week 7
Social Media and Political Reportage
Required reading
1. Chadwick, A 2011, ‘The Political Information Cycle in a Hybrid
News System: The British Prime Minister and the “Bullygate” Affair’,
International Journal of Press/Politics, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 3-29.
Recommended reading
1. Davis, A 2007, ‘New and alternative media: the Internet and the
parliamentary public sphere’, in: The Mediation of Power: A Critical
Introduction, Routledge, London.
2. Fenton, N (ed.) 2010, New Media, Old News: Journalism and
Democracy in the Digital Age, Sage, London.
3. Chadwick, A 2013, The Hybrid Media System: Politics and power,
Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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Week 8
Reporting Protests and Alternative Politics
Required reading
1. Cottle, S 2006, ‘Reporting Demonstrations and Protest: Public
Sphere(s), Public Screens’, in: Mediatized conflict: developments in
media and conflict studies Open University Press, Berkshire, pp. 3345.
Recommended reading
1. Sanders, K 2009, ‘Communication in Opposition, Protest and
Violence’, in: Communicating Politics in the Twenty-First Century,
Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire, pp. 92-107.
2. Cottle, S & Lester, L (eds.) 2011, Transnational Protests and the
Media, Lang, New York.
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Week 9
Political Interviews and Press Conferences
Required reading
1. Craig, G 2013, ‘How does a Prime Minister Speak? Kevin Rudd’s
discourse, habitus and negotiation of the journalistic and political
fields’, Journal of Language and Politics, vol.12, no. 4, pp. 485-507.
Recommended reading
1. Craig, G 2008 ‘Kevin Rudd and the Framing of Politics and Political
Leadership in News Media Interviews’, Communication, Politics and
Culture, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 84-99.
2. Clayman, S & Heritage, J 2002, ‘The news interview in context:
institutional background and historical development’, The News
Interview: Journalists and Public Figures on the Air, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge. pp. 26-56.
3. Seymour-Ure, C 2003 ‘Prime Ministers and Press Conferences’,
Prime Ministers and the Media: Issues of Power and Control, Blackwell,
Malden, MA, pp. 169-202.
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Week 10
Political Commentary
Required reading
1. Hobsbawm, J & Lloyd, J 2008, The power of the commentariat,
Editorial Intelligence and Reuters Foundation.
Recommended reading
1. Kroon Lundell, A, & Ekströ m, M 2013, ‘Interpreting the News:
Swedish correspondents as expert sources, 1982-2012’, Journalism
Practice, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 517-532.
2. Sanders, K 2009, ‘Political News and Comment’, in:
Communicating Politics in the Twenty-First Century, Palgrave
Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire, pp. 201-221.
3. Salgado, S & Stromback, J 2012, ‘Interpretive Journalism: A review
of concepts, operationalizations and key findings’, Journalism, vol.
13, no. 2, pp. 144-161.
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Week 11
Election Reportage and Opinion Polls
Required reading
1. Stromback, J 2009, ‘Vox Populi or Vox Media? Opinion Polls and
the Swedish Media’, Javnost: The Public, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 55-70.
Recommended reading
1. Brettschneider, F 2008, ‘The News Media’s Use of Opinion Polls’,
in: W. Donsback & M. W Traugott (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Public
Opinion Research, Sage, Los Angeles, pp. 479-486.
2. Tuman, J. S 2008, Political Communication in American Campaigns,
Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
3. Sanders, K 2009, ‘Political Campaigns’, in: Communicating Politics
in the Twenty-First Century, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke,
Hampshire.
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Week 12
Review of Module/Exam Preparation
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Essay Writing Guide
PLANNING
•
Plan your essay. Sit down and break your argument into the five or six
points you’ll be discussing. Once you’ve got a broad plan, order your
notes in relation to each specific topic.
INTRODUCTION
• The introduction to your essay should be one paragraph in length.
• Outline your argument and your method:
• Make reference to the topic and indicate your own stance or approach
to it
• Summarise the main points you will expand upon and illustrate in the
body of your essay
• Do not include examples and illustrations at this point.
PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE
•
•
•
•
A paragraph should begin with a topic sentence - stating the main idea of
the paragraph. However, do not write: “In this paragraph I am going to
talk about . . .” Rather, begin along the lines of: “In the last few years the
media has become increasingly obsessed with celebrity.”
Sentences are then added to explain, qualify, illustrate and develop the
main point. “Only last week, for example, David Beckham’s love life made
headline news.”
Most paragraphs are between 3-10 sentences: one sentence is not a
paragraph.
A typical structure for a paragraph would be:
– topic sentence
– further explanation and qualification
– illustration/examples
– discussion and analysis of examples.
LINKING PARAGRAPHS
•
•
Each paragraph should follow logically from the one before.
Each paragraph introduces a new idea (with a new topic sentence) but is
clearly related to the ones before and after.
QUOTATIONS
•
Do not let quotations do your arguing for you. A quotation is to support
your own points. Do not use the quotation to simply repeat a point you
have just made. Do not simply paraphrase quotations.
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•
•
•
•
•
You should not follow quotations directly one after the other with no
discussion.
Short quotations, less than three lines or 50 words, are put in quotation
marks.
Longer quotations should be indented. Do not use quotation marks and
place the page reference after the full stop.
Be careful when incorporating quotations into your own sentence. If the
quotation is placed within the sentence it is tidier to place the reference at
the end.
When citing a text, place in brackets the surname of the author(s)
followed by the date then a comma and the page number e.g. (Jones 1999,
p. 23). The surname refers the reader to the bibliography at the end of
the essay.
CONCLUSION
•
•
In the last paragraph of your essay you should briefly summarise your
argument.
Do not bring in any new material and try not to make grand claims and
broad generalisations. Sometimes a conclusion will indicate further
research that could be undertaken following this research.
REFERENCES
•
•
•
•
The Centre for Journalism has adopted the Harvard style and this is the
style you should use in referencing your assignments. Further details can
be found at:
http://www.kent.ac.uk/ai/styleguides.html
There is no specified number of references that are required but you have
been asked to draw on the relevant unit readings and also demonstrate
evidence of independent research. The most important criterion is not a
lengthy references list but a well-argued essay.
OTHER WRITING TIPS
1. In academic essays do not contract verbs – e.g. use “do not” rather than
“don’t.”
2. Do not split infinitives, e.g. ‘to run’ with an adverb. The infinitive should stay
together ‘to run quickly’ rather than apart ‘to quickly run.’
3. Try not to end sentences with prepositions, this can sound clumsy, e.g. ‘The
tutorial is where I got it from.’ ‘The media badly handled it.’
4. An apostrophe is used to signal the possessive e.g. ‘Geoff’s tutorial.’
5. Do not abbreviate proper names and places, e.g. The United States rather
than the US. etc.
6. Always italicise the titles of newspapers, books and magazines, e.g. The New
York Times, Media and Politics, The Listener.
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7. Try to be analytical rather than descriptive. Conventional academic writing
employs third person address but I do not mind if you use first person
address.
8. Refrain from writing in general terms. Write about specific ideas and
examples from the text(s). A reader will look for close analysis/reading of
the article, book or news story.
9. Rhythm – language is rhythmic; you will know if a sentence is not quite right
by the way it sounds. It is a good idea to read your essay back to yourself.
10. Re-drafting. Go back over your essay and reconsider the paragraph and
sentence structures. Is it possible to restructure a sentence to clarify the
meaning of the sentence? Can the sentence be written more concisely? Is the
spelling and punctuation correct?
11. Write to the required length. Plus or minus 10% of word length is OK.
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