INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM ON CAMPUS

Abstract

Despite many obstacles, investigative journalism continues to flourish in Australia. A significant part of the explanation for this appears to lie with universities which have journalism programs. Investigative journalism has a strong presence in these programs across Australia, a presence which is increasingly being felt at postgraduate level. As a result, an increasing number of journalism graduates have the skills and understanding necessary to embark on serious investigative work, and several institutions have embarked on projects with innovative approaches to collaborative investigative work. However, the wider context in which Australia's tertiary institutions operate is far from benign, and journalism programs—and thus the teaching of investigative journalism—are subject to many pressures. The paper finds that, although university journalism programs are increasingly taking responsibility for educating their students about investigative journalism, thereby picking up a key responsibility which would once have been borne entirely by the industry, there are also forces at work which limit their capacity to do this.

Keywords:

• Australian universities
• excellence in research
• investigative journalism
• journalistic competency

Notes

1. The designation of awards and courses in Australia varies from university to university. The components of a three-year journalism undergraduate degree normally consist of four subjects or units being studied per semester. The same applies to the normally two-year postgraduate degree.