CRIM12009 - Crime, Media and Power

General Information

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 3 - 2024

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Online

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).

Assessment Overview

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

This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see assessment details from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.

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%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 88.89% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 16.98% 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: Student feedback
Feedback
Relevance of learning material to Criminology
Recommendation
Continue to embed content from 'Media Criminology' to capture the intersection of media students and criminological inquiry. Materials should continue to relate to real-world crime events to allow students to connect theory to actual crime events.
Action Taken
Media criminology content was clearly embedded and explicit links were made between this and real world event, e.g. the upcoming elections in QLD and the US and the links to penal populism in some narratives.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Consistency of workbook assessment with other CRIM units
Recommendation
Students remarked that the expectations for the workbook task within this course differed from other CRIM courses. In particular, the work limit of responses and the type of activities/questions that students were asked to complete. Consideration should be given to the nature of the workbook assessment in other courses, ensuring the workbook tasks align and do not confuse students regarding expectations. The multiple submission points for the task should also be retained as this appears to contribute to better grade outcomes as students can distribute the workload across the term.
Action Taken
Some students did not submit the final workbook assessment in 2024, so the UC will examine submission types and dates for 2025.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Students enjoyed the UC's teaching style and praised it for being engaging and interesting.
Recommendation
Maintain this inclusive style of teaching for 2025.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE, Moodle
Feedback
Some students did not submit the final assessment so came close to a pass mark but fell short.
Recommendation
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.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Student correspondence
Feedback
Students enjoyed the varied content of the unit, and appreciated links to real life, contemporary examples.
Recommendation
The UC will continue to maintain a varied and contemporary curriculum and draw on current issues when teaching the unit for 2025.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes
This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.