DPHU1001 Journalistic Voices and Values
The Complete Study & Assessment Guide · T3 2026DPHU1001 Overview
- Term 3, 2026
- UNSW College pathway
- Diploma level
- Moodle course
- Podcast-based assessment
DPHU1001 Journalistic Voices and Values is a Term 3, 2026 course delivered by UNSW College on UNSW Sydney's Moodle. It studies media law and journalism ethics by asking students to produce journalism about journalism: round-table podcasts in which a team analyses and critically assesses how professional outlets covered a topical issue.
- Assessed by Learning Blog plus two round-table podcasts
- Core skill Judging coverage against a named principle
- Pass condition Genuine attempt at every task, 50% overall
- Production Pitch, intro, cover, edit and transcripts
How DPHU1001 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment 1: Learning Blog (Individual) | 20% | Weeks 3, 8 and 11; Learning Blog 1 is a one-hour timed task on Moodle |
| Assessment 2: (Round Table) Podcast 1 | 35% | Week 6; group recording with an individual pitch, cover and intro |
| Assessment 3: (Round Table) Podcast 2 | 45% | Week 12; group recordings and transcripts with an individual cover and intro |
| Hurdle: Assessment Completion · hurdle | 0% | Ongoing; every assessment must be submitted as required |
Weights are from the Term 3, 2026 course page on Moodle and match the UNSW Handbook record for DPHU1001, which names the tasks Learning Blog/engagement portfolio (Individual) and Professional Production Tasks 1 and 2 (Round Table) Podcasts 1 and 2. To pass you need an overall mark of at least 50%, an attempt at every assessment and a genuine attempt at each; failing any of these gives an Unsatisfactory Fail even with 50% or more. You must attend at least 80% of classes. Late work loses 5% of the task mark per day and is not accepted after five days without approved special consideration.
Current DPHU1001 dates
| Date | Item | Control |
|---|---|---|
| 14 to 18 Sep 2026 | Assessment 1: Learning Blog 1 (Week 3) | Opens Monday 9:00 AM, closes Friday 6:00 PM; 1 hour; one attempt |
| 21 to 25 Sep 2026 | Podcast 1 individual pitch, the third step (Week 4) | Opens Monday 9:00 AM, closes Friday 6:00 PM; 1 hour 30 minutes |
| 23 Oct 2026 | Portfolio Task 4: pitch for Podcast 2 | Due field shows Friday 6:00 PM; the task title says 5pm, so confirm on Moodle |
Dates are as published in the Term 3, 2026 DPHU1001 Moodle course page. Confirm exact deadlines and submission settings in the live LMS.
What DPHU1001 covers
Journalistic Voices and Values starts with the round-table podcast as a form of media analysis, then builds the lenses it needs: defamation, ethical decision making, truthfulness, balance, privacy, representativeness, valid opinion and gender. A production chapter covers the pitch, intro, cover, edit and transcripts for both podcasts.
Round-Table Podcasts and Media Analysis
Course outcomes, the round-table format, public interest against public curiosity, questioning a model episodeThis chapter introduces the kind of journalism DPHU1001 asks you to make: journalism about journalism. A round-table podcast brings a small team together to discuss and critically assess how professional outlets covered a topical issue, trend or event.
- Round-table podcast: a recorded team discussion that analyses how outlets covered one topical issue
- Media analysis journalism: reporting whose subject is other journalism, as in Media Watch
- Of interest to the public: material people want to consume, whatever its civic value
- In the public interest: material that helps people understand or act on matters affecting them
- Written intro: the short text that sells an episode to a casual reader
- Verdict: the finding a listener should be able to repeat after the episode ends
Defamation Law for Journalists
Elements of a claim, the main defences, reporting allegations, the Geoffrey Rush caseDefamation law protects reputation, and for journalists it is the legal risk that sits behind almost every critical story.
- Defamatory meaning: an imputation that would lower a person's reputation in the eyes of ordinary readers
- Identification: the material points to the person by name, image or description
- Justification: the defence that the imputations carried are substantially true
- Honest opinion: protection for genuine opinion on a public interest matter based on proper material
- Attribution: stating who makes a claim, so the outlet reports it rather than adopts it
- Republication: repeating another outlet's defamatory claim, which is a fresh publication
Ethical Decision Making in Journalism
MEAA Code of Ethics, deontology and consequentialism, a repeatable dilemma method, workshop scenariosThe Week 4 workshop sends you to the MEAA Code of Ethics and asks which principles matter most, how journalists tell public interest from public curiosity, and how they weigh the public interest against privacy and the right not to be offended.
- MEAA Code of Ethics: the professional standard for Australian journalists, built on four values
- Guidance clause: a standard may be overridden only for substantial public interest or to prevent substantial harm
- Deontology: judging an action by the duty it fulfils or breaks
- Consequentialism: judging an action by the outcomes it produces for everyone affected
- Conflict of interest: a personal tie that could shape, or seem to shape, a story
- Third option: an alternative such as delay, anonymising or reassignment that reduces harm
Pitching and Producing a Round-Table Podcast
Group steps, the written pitch, the 100-word intro, editing and transcripts, the coverThis chapter follows a podcast from idea to submission.
- Pitch: an individual case for a topic, with a working title and three or four items
- Item: a news report, feature, opinion piece, documentary or panel from a professional outlet
- Written intro: up to 100 words that preview the coverage and the issues it raises
- Edit: the 5 to 7 minute episode cut from a much longer group recording
- Transcript: a speaker-labelled, timecoded text of the original and the edited audio
- Cover: individual artwork showing the podcast name, the hosts and the media-analysis angle
Truthfulness and Accuracy
Verification, rumour reported as fact, commercial pressure, corrections and misinformationThe Week 6 workshop asks why truthfulness is fundamental to journalism, how commercial interests can damage it, how journalists make sure what they report is accurate, what happens when false or misleading information is published, and whether withholding the truth is ever justified.
- Truthfulness: reporting what is known, as strongly as the evidence supports and no more
- Verification: checking a claim against records or independent sources before publishing
- Unnamed source: a source whose identity the audience is not told, which limits accountability
- Misinformation: false information spread without the intention to deceive
- Correction: a published repair of an error, stated clearly and promptly
- Commercial pressure: incentives to choose dramatic framing that attracts attention
Balance and Impartiality
Balance, impartiality, objectivity, false balance, the coronation coverage taskBalance, impartiality and objectivity are often treated as one idea, and the Week 8 workshop shows why that causes trouble. It asks why balance matters, what makes it hard, whether impartiality is always ethical, and what false balance refers to.
- Balance: giving the relevant sides of a contested issue a fair hearing
- Impartiality: keeping a reporter's own allegiances out of selection and framing
- Objectivity: a method of verification and attribution, not an absence of views
- False balance: equal treatment of positions with unequal evidence
- Opinion format: commentary programs and columns, judged on accuracy and fairness
- Weight of evidence: where informed opinion actually lies on a question
Privacy and the Public Interest
Right to know against privacy, the nexus rule, the Joyce and Campbell cases, leaked recordsWeek 9 asks how journalists should weigh the public's right to know against a person's right to privacy, how to tell public interest from what is merely interesting, what guidelines should govern publishing private information, and how social media complicates the balance.
- Right to privacy: a person's claim to keep personal matters from public exposure
- Right to know: the public's claim to information about matters that affect it
- Nexus: the specific link between a private fact and a public role or resource
- Intrusion: the depth of harm that publishing a private matter causes
- Public figure: a person whose role or prominence invites scrutiny of related conduct
- Private grief: the distress of people affected by tragedy, protected under the MEAA code
Representativeness and Diversity in the News
Who is seen and heard, deficit framing, two tragedies compared, deaths in custody coverageRepresentativeness asks whether news coverage reflects the society it reports on. The Week 10 workshop links it to diversity and inclusion and asks you to recognise and evaluate whether coverage gives fair representation.
- Representativeness: whether coverage reflects the range of people affected by and informed about an issue
- Stereotype: a fixed, simplified image applied to every member of a group
- Deficit framing: presenting a group only as a problem, threat or burden
- Humanising: naming and individualising the people affected by events
- Diversity in newsrooms: the range of backgrounds among the people who produce news
- Belonging: the sense among audiences that the news speaks to and about them
What Makes an Opinion Valid
Facts, reasoning and scrutiny tests, invalid argument signs, Portfolio Task 5, Eatock v BoltThe Week 11 workshop asks what makes an opinion valid or invalid and stresses why it matters for your assessment: your opinions about the coverage you analyse must rest on valid arguments. The lens works in two directions.
- Valid opinion: a view grounded in accurate facts, sound reasoning and openness to scrutiny
- Ad hominem: attacking the person instead of the argument
- Cherry-picking: selecting only the evidence that supports a view
- False dilemma: presenting two options when more exist
- Scrutiny: naming sources and facing counter-evidence so others can test a claim
- Hate speech law: legal limits on speech that vilifies people because of characteristics such as race
Gender in the Media
Headline framing in the Rush coverage, stereotypes, new media and the TERF war episodeThe final workshop examines the power journalists have to shape attitudes to gender roles and stereotypes, and how news stories influence perceptions.
- Gender framing: how coverage positions people according to gender roles and expectations
- Headline selection: the choice of which quotation or fact leads a story
- #MeToo: the movement in which people publicly reported sexual harassment and abuse
- Complainant: the person who made an allegation, whose portrayal shapes audience views
- New media: online and social platforms that shape attitudes alongside traditional outlets
- Neutrality: reporting without taking sides, tested when identity is treated as a debate
The course learning outcomes combine knowledge of current media law and ethics debates, the application of theories of journalistic practice through journalistic pieces, and the ability to situate journalism in its social, institutional and ethical settings. The lectures move through a sequence of lenses. Defamation shows the legal limits on what can be said about people.
Ethical decision making introduces the MEAA Code of Ethics and the contrast between duty-based and outcome-based reasoning. Truthfulness, balance, privacy and representativeness each supply a standard against which coverage can be judged, and the later weeks ask what makes an opinion valid and how news shapes attitudes to gender.
Workshops apply each lens to real coverage, from a coronation broadcast to reporting of Aboriginal deaths in custody. Alongside the lenses runs a production sequence: forming groups, writing a pitch, drafting a 100-word intro, designing a cover, recording a long discussion and editing it to 5 to 7 minutes with a transcript.
This guide follows both strands, with worked examples and practice items in every chapter, so that each episode you make names its evidence, applies a principle and reaches a verdict.
Worked example · free
Building one podcast segment from evidence to verdict
- +1Set out the items: outlet, date and headline for each, read in the order they were published.
- +1Describe each item's angle: job losses, reader habits or the owner's finances.
- +1Choose a lens: representativeness, by asking whether regional readers themselves are heard.
- +1Apply it with evidence: count and characterise the voices quoted in each report.
- +1Deliver a verdict and better practice: which outlet served the affected community best, and what the others missed.
Key terms
- Journalistic ethics
- The principles that guide how journalists gather, verify and publish information.
- Media law
- The legal rules that govern publication, including defamation, privacy and vilification.
- MEAA
- The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, the union whose Code of Ethics sets standards for Australian journalists.
- Round-table format
- A discussion format in which several hosts share and test views on a single topic.
- Learning Blog
- The individual assessment task, worth 20%, completed in Weeks 3, 8 and 11.
- Completion hurdle
- The 0% requirement that every assessment be submitted as a genuine attempt.
- Genuine attempt
- A completed response that addresses all required sections of an assessment task.
- Special consideration
- A formal request for an adjustment when illness or misadventure affects an assessment.
- Factiva
- A news archive database that students use to find coverage from many outlets.
- Unsatisfactory Fail
- The result given when pass conditions beyond the overall mark are not met.
DPHU1001 FAQ
How is the course assessed?
There are three weighted tasks: a Learning Blog worth 20% across Weeks 3, 8 and 11, Podcast 1 worth 35% in Week 6 and Podcast 2 worth 45% in Week 12. A separate 0% completion hurdle requires every assessment to be submitted as required.
What do I need to pass?
An overall mark of at least 50%, an attempt at every assessment, and a genuine attempt at each, meaning a completed response to all required sections. Missing any of these results in an Unsatisfactory Fail even if your total is 50% or more. You must also attend at least 80% of classes.
Are the podcasts group or individual work?
Both. The recordings and transcripts are produced by a group, while each student writes an individual pitch for Podcast 1 and produces their own cover and written intro for each episode.
What is the penalty for late submission?
Late work loses 5% of the task's total mark for each day, starting from the first minute late, and is not accepted more than five days after the deadline unless special consideration has been approved.
How do I apply for special consideration?
If illness or misadventure affects an assessment, apply within three working days of the due date using the form available from Student Services, with supporting evidence such as a medical certificate from a registered practitioner.
Can I use generative AI for my submissions?
The course states that if the outputs of generative AI such as ChatGPT form part of your submission, it will be regarded as serious academic misconduct and subject to the standard penalties.
Can I ask for a remark?
The course page states that assessments are marked by multiple teachers and that remarking is not permitted. A review of the calculation of final marks can be requested after the Statement of Final Results is issued; it is not a remark.
Questions students ask in each DPHU1001 chapter
- How is a round-table podcast different from a news podcast?
- A news podcast reports what happened. A round-table podcast in this course reports on the reporting: the panel sets out how several outlets covered an issue, tests that coverage against a principle such as balance or accuracy, and reaches a judgement about it. Chapter 01 · Round-Table Podcasts and Media Analysis
- What must a person prove to win a defamation case in Australia?
- They must show the material was published to someone else, that it identified them, and that it carried a defamatory meaning. Under the reforms that began in 2021 they must also show serious harm to reputation in most jurisdictions. The publisher can then rely on a defence. Chapter 02 · Defamation Law for Journalists
- What are the core values of the MEAA Code of Ethics?
- Honesty, fairness, independence and respect for the rights of others. The code turns them into standards on accuracy, attribution, conflicts of interest, privacy and grief, fair means of obtaining material and correcting errors. Chapter 03 · Ethical Decision Making in Journalism
- What has to be in the Podcast 1 pitch?
- A working title, a description of the issue, trend or event, three or four items from professional journalistic outlets with links in a separate blog post, and an explanation of what makes their coverage interesting in terms of the course lenses, such as accuracy, balance or privacy. Chapter 04 · Pitching and Producing a Round-Table Podcast
- Why is truthfulness treated as a fundamental principle of journalism?
- Audiences rely on journalism to know what is happening, and they cannot check most claims themselves. If reporting is untrue or misleading, people make decisions on false information and lose trust in the outlets they depend on. Chapter 05 · Truthfulness and Accuracy
- What is false balance in journalism?
- False balance occurs when coverage gives equal weight to positions that do not have equal support, for example setting a lone sceptic against settled scientific evidence as though the question were open. It misleads the audience about where the evidence lies. Chapter 06 · Balance and Impartiality
- How do journalists decide whether a private matter is in the public interest?
- They ask whether the private fact bears on a public role, such as how duties are performed, how public money or staff are used, or whether a person's conduct contradicts positions they campaign on. Then they weigh how intrusive publication would be. Chapter 07 · Privacy and the Public Interest
- Why does representativeness in the news matter?
- Coverage shapes how audiences understand each other. When some groups are absent or appear only as problems, audiences receive a distorted picture of society and those groups are less likely to trust or feel part of the news, as the research discussed in the workshop suggests. Chapter 08 · Representativeness and Diversity in the News
- What makes an opinion valid in journalism?
- A valid opinion rests on facts that are stated accurately, connects those facts to its conclusion with sound reasoning, and is open to scrutiny, with sources named and counter-evidence acknowledged. You can find an opinion valid and still disagree with it. Chapter 09 · What Makes an Opinion Valid
- How can news coverage influence attitudes to gender?
- Through who is quoted as an expert, how people are described, which details lead a story and which roles people appear in. Repeated patterns, such as describing women by appearance or family first, teach audiences what is normal. Chapter 10 · Gender in the Media
How to prepare for the assessments
Run two tracks through the term. On the content track, take one lens each week and test it on live coverage: read two outlets on one story and write three sentences that name the evidence, the principle and your verdict. On the production track, finish the group steps early, keep a shared log of items with dates and links, and draft intros and covers well before the due week.
Before each podcast, rehearse the segment structure aloud and cut any judgement that is not backed by a specific item. Use the drill page of each chapter as Learning Blog practice, writing answers under time pressure because Learning Blog 1 runs as a one-hour timed task.
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