Stop the presses . . . Wollongong opens a new newsroom

May 02, 2007

A re-created newsroom has been developed at the University of Wollongong to provide hands-on skills for the University’s budding new journalism students.

The Journalism Newsroom, was officially opened by UOW Vice-Chancellor Professor Gerard Sutton yesterday evening (May 1), with a guarantee that UOW would soon be running the number one journalism program in the country.

It is the culmination of about two years’ work by staff of the School of Journalism and Creative Writing. In February this year, the University enrolled its first intake of 40 students into its Bachelor of Journalism degree.

Creative Arts Dean, Professor Andrew Schultz, told guests attending the opening that he was very excited by the whole way the journalism program has developed.

Each year the undergraduate students will spend at least one full day a week working in the newsroom. Depending on their year, they will be writing stories, sub-editing or involved in layout and design. By the end of 2009, UOW’s first Bachelor of Journalism graduates will be out competing for jobs.

UOW has been teaching journalism since 1990 when it opened a Graduate School of Journalism. This was followed up in the 1990s with a Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies. Students studying this degree were able to study a small number of journalism subjects.

However, with the introduction of the Bachelor of Journalism degree, the suite of subjects has been broadened and refocused to give the students more hands-on skills.

The new program will allow the student journalists to specialise in niche areas such as finance, political or literary journalism.

The newsroom has been developed from a tired collection of three rooms – an old photographic darkroom, a storage and part-time photography studio and a tutorial room.

The new area has been divided into five parts with the main floor containing computers for student journalists, an old-style sub-editors’ hub (complete with a perch for a news editor or chief sub to survey the domain), a glassed-off editorial section where the student editor and chief of staff will be located, an editorial conference table and a reading corner. Phase two of the development will see the establishment of a recording booth and possibly a small studio.

Associate Lecturer from the School of Journalism and Creative Writing, Marcus O’Donnell, showed guests how plans were well under way to introduce a students’ online news site which was expected to be launched later in the year.

He said it was also hoped that a hard copy magazine would be produced to showcase the students’ work and help them in their future job hunting.