COMS332-25S2 (C) Semester Two 2025

News Production

30 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 14 July 2025
End Date: Sunday, 9 November 2025
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 27 July 2025
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 28 September 2025

Description

This course builds on the foundational skills and knowledge required for communicating news and information to various publics. You will learn how to develop your reporting and multimedia skills to produce engaging digital content. You will also gain knowledge of your ethical responsibilities and learn to critically reflect on your own and others' media practice. The course combines analytical skills with practical experience, including fieldwork and work placement opportunities, to help consolidate the links between theory and practice and develop independence in professional work. Please note, the course’s strongly practical focus requires active in-class engagement. It is not a distance course. Note: This course is restricted to students enrolled in the Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) or Graduate Diploma in Journalism.

Learning Outcomes

  • The successful completion of this course enables you to further develop the critical insight, advanced writing and multimedia production skills and flexibility needed to excel in a rapidly changing media world. By the end of this course, you are expected to demonstrate higher-level proficiency in gathering, writing and editing publishable news and stories using a range of tools and techniques, including audio-visual, web and social media skills, and to critically reflect on their practice.
    You will be expected to demonstrate:
  • effective organisational and time management skills, including an ability to meet deadlines
  • an advanced critical knowledge of news and current affairs
  • a better understanding of the role of journalism in society in general and in contemporary
           New Zealand in particular
  • enhanced research and investigative skills, including the retrieval and critical analysis of
           information from a range of sources using a range of tools
  • an ability to produce journalism independently using a range of media tools, for a range of
           platforms, particularly online, and to recognized industry standards
  • an ability to conduct interviews to recognized industry standard
  • an ability to communicate with and work effectively and collaboratively with others
  • a high standard of ethical behaviour
  • an advanced ability to reflect critically on your own and others' media practice
  • an enhanced ability to apply analytical and critical reasoning to multimedia media production
    • University Graduate Attributes

      This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:

      Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award

      Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.

      Employable, innovative and enterprising

      Students will develop key skills and attributes sought by employers that can be used in a range of applications.

      Biculturally competent and confident

      Students will be aware of and understand the nature of biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand, and its relevance to their area of study and/or their degree.

      Engaged with the community

      Students will have observed and understood a culture within a community by reflecting on their own performance and experiences within that community.

      Globally aware

      Students will comprehend the influence of global conditions on their discipline and will be competent in engaging with global and multi-cultural contexts.

Prerequisites

Limited Entry. (i) COMS331 (ii) Permission from the Head of Department.

Timetable 2025

Students must attend one activity from each section.

Lecture A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Monday 11:00 - 13:00 Elsie Locke 401
14 Jul - 24 Aug
8 Sep - 19 Oct
Lecture B
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Tuesday 11:00 - 13:00 Elsie Locke 401
14 Jul - 24 Aug
8 Sep - 19 Oct
Placement A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Tuesday 09:00 - 17:00 Elsie Locke 401
27 Oct - 9 Nov
Workshop A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Wednesday 09:00 - 15:00 Elsie Locke 401
14 Jul - 24 Aug
8 Sep - 19 Oct

Course Coordinator

Conan Young

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Participation 5% Attendance & participation in lectures, live exercises, and workshops.
5 x news stories 45% A minimum of 5 stories, written to an approved standard and with multimedia requirements.
Feature & critique 15% This assignment comprises three parts: o Feature proposal o 1000-word feature + multimedia o Feature critique
Broadcast 20% 3 x video stories
Portfolio and Publication 10% Marks awarded for the overall standard of your final portfolio, as well as the number of stories you've had published.
Story Pitches 5% Minimum 10 story pitches for an assigned newsroom.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $2,058.00

International fee $8,470.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

Limited Entry Course

Maximum enrolment is 25

For further information see Language, Social and Political Sciences .

All COMS332 Occurrences

  • COMS332-25S2 (C) Semester Two 2025