Stop the presses . . . Wollongong has a new newsroom!

Apr 30, 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 will be officially opened by UOW Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gerard Sutton, tomorrow (Tuesday 1 May).

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.

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 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.

MEDIA PLEASE NOTE

Official opening date and time: 5.15pm, Tuesday 1 May. [Alternative time: Media unable to attend the official opening can contact the Head of the School of Journalism and Creative Writing, Associate Professor Stephen Tanner, who will be available Tuesday at 11am for interviews and photo/filming opportunities. Professor Tanner is unavailable today (Monday) as he is teaching all day.

Where: Room 160, Faculty of Creative Arts (Bldg 25), University of Wollongong

For further information: Contact Associate Professor Stephen Tanner on (02) 4221 4940 or mobile 0419 899870.

For more information, contact:

media@uow.edu.au
University of Wollongong
Ph: (02) 4221 5942; fax (02) 4221 3128