Week 4 (3/3): Finding reliable info

Research includes both computers and physical documents. Photo: Magh/flickr/C

BY MARK GATELY and NICK BENNETT

First let’s get into a journalistic mood 🤓

List Portal’s 8 Best Movies About Writers:

The Balibo Five is a true story of Australian journalists censored and silenced forever. You can read more about what happened here and here.

Channel 7 special report by Nick McCallum:

There is also a movie. made by Robert Connolly:

The issues exposed in the Balibo Five case continue to resonate in cases like this one.

Today – Research: What are appropriate sources of information?

Ultimately, you’ll develop your own strategies but your ideas and information may be sourced from:

• Tip-offs from contacts such as this one
• Your intuition and gut feel
• Press releases
• Government or company reports
• Events on the news cycle
• Other journalists, etc.
• Internet search
• Specialist websites such as Rugby League Project

You MUST triple-check facts before broadcasting or publishing.

Starting research

On this site:

• Great resources for journalism research
• Useful links: Media releases

Other useful websites:

• https://www.abs.gov.au/
• https://media.australia.gov.au/mediaRelease

Reputable news sites:

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/
• https://www.nytimes.com/
• https://www.theguardian.com/au
• https://www.smh.com.au/
• https://www.abc.net.au/

TASK

1. Spend time reading and researching the links above. Then, chose one story from this list of media releases and re-write it into a story that you could publish on your WordPress site. Length: 300-400 words
2. Choose a Creative Commons (CC) image – here’s how.
3. Submit to your Student Weekly Tasks folder in the Drive