JN3015:08
Public Relations and Public Affairs
Townsville, Cairns
Prerequisites: EL1012 EL2112 JN2002
26 lectures, 40 tutorials. Full year.
Staff: Dr J Norgate (Cairns campus).
The subject will give students a further opportunity to specialise, in a field that is rich in developments in its own right, while drawing on generic studies in journalism. It will apply directly to professional practice in the modern economy, with opportunities to work in positions where the skills developed in course-work for the Bachelor of Journalism degree — writing, presentational skills, knowledge of media systems and mass communication — are in demand. It will both prepare students for pragmatic engagements in public relations work (e.g. with a municipality promoting its public health programs) and help them lay the groundwork for handling of more abstruse problems in the area of public affairs — to do with management of issues, lobbying situations, advice to senior executives on media matters.
Learning Objectives:
- to become equipped with skills of a high order in the public relations - public affairs field, building on journalistic skills in writing and presentation;
- to be able to work self-consciously in the interests of free and clear communication, on a base of journalistic habits of thought that are common throughout media and media-related professions;
- to acquire authoritative knowledge of mass communication issues relevant to activity in the public relations - public affairs field.