Unit Synopsis
In a pluralist society, criminal justice policy is heavily influenced by public perception of crime and in particular fear of crime. In this unit you will explore the media’s role in constructing an image of crime and critique the ways in which forms of power control this process. You will discuss different representations of crime from the early print news media through to the growth of social media and the rise of ‘fake news’. This unit discusses the forms of media regulation that seek to govern the way truth is presented particularly within news media. You will apply this knowledge by developing an organisational media response to a complex issue.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 40% |
| 2. Practical Assessment | 30% |
| 3. Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books | 30% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 85.71% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 12.5% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE
Students enjoyed the UC's teaching style and praised it for being engaging and interesting.
Maintain this inclusive style of teaching for 2025.
An inclusive teaching style was maintained for 2025.
Source: SUTE, Moodle
Some students did not submit the final assessment so came close to a pass mark but fell short.
The UC will reexamine the need for a two part submission on the workbook assessment for 2025. Given the end of term assessment pressure, perhaps students see little value in a final assessment worth 15%, even though for many, it would have enabled them to pass the unit.
The UC decided to maintain the two part submission for 2025, but this will be reconsidered for 2026.
Source: SUTE Student correspondence
Students enjoyed the varied content of the unit, and appreciated links to real life, contemporary examples.
The UC will continue to maintain a varied and contemporary curriculum and draw on current issues when teaching the unit for 2025.
The UC maintained the varied and contemporary curriculum in 2025.
Source: SUTE
Some of the assessment deadlines were clustered closely together, which added pressure to students workload.
Alter the assessment submission deadlines to ensure that they are more evenly spaced during the term.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Students suggested restructuring the workbook assessment, so it is submitted in one part rather than two parts.
Investigate the feasibility of collapsing the workbook part one and part two assessments into a single assessment submission.
In Progress
Source: SUTE, student communication
Students found the Unit content interesting and engaging.
Maintain current and contemporary Unit content in order to remain interesting and engaging for students.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Critique the different forms of power that shape media institutions and networks
- Develop strategies for managing organisational media presence in traditional and social media
- Discuss the regulatory structures that govern media institutions
- Explain the role of media in the construction of social attitudes to crime and the justice system
- Explain the ways in which social media has changed the way that we understand crime.
No external accreditation is relevant to this award.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | ||
| 3 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books | • | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • | • |
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | • | • |
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • | • |
| 9 - Social Innovation | • | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| 2 - Practical Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| 3 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||