Dissertation statement of Intent

For my final year, I will be exploring a range of journalism concepts and ideas in relation to my interests. This will be through completing the top-up year with a BA in Interactive Media. Throughout my CATS learning processes, I have come across many distinct possible explorations that I could choose to follow up further and explore in much wider detail and form. My first year explained the processes of which form opinions and unmovable theories that link with my practise, such as ideology, semiotics and propaganda. This deepened my understandings of these meanings, and made sense of associated words that I will come across and use within my vocation.

The process of being able to differentiate and identify these, and thus place them into an essay/presentation, was pivotal to my development in my first year. I feel that my first exploration of Marxism, and in particular, the theory of false consciousness, was something that appealed to me. I presented and explored this in detail within my first presentation, as this was my first experience of the subject, and of the theorist/theory involved. As one of my particular interests is sport, I wanted to explore weather this could be linked towards Marxism, and the theory I was looking at. Through analysing this one key theory in Marxism, and relating in to sport, I made links between the way that sport is viewed and the way the viewer interprets what they see, 

through scophophilia.

The experiences that I had within this first semester, enabled me to further develop these new theories and concepts that I had learned, into my second piece of work. I explored women’s oppression in sport, and how this has evolved, and matured into the sporting framework. This enabled me to deeper analyse aspects of scophophilia, and thus relate them to the way women are manipulated in sport through clothing, hair, appearance, and ultimately, how they are viewed amongst society. The aspects that I covered included works of feminism, Marxism, and the associated deepened link between the two. I wanted to make reference and make a statement that drew attention to this occurrence, and how society and the sporting viewers, transparently look past the ways that this happens. This occurs through visuals, commentary, and media representation, all of which forms a justifiable opinion of the sports people I looked at in particular.

My second year essay formed a different approach, as I was given a choice of questions of which I could interpret and explore in relation to my vocation. I would like to explore ethics, law, and politics within journalism, and this essay gave me an opportunity to do this. 

As there were several media related incidents in the news and public eye at the time, I had key evidence, and reasoning for conducting an essay on media ethics. 

I wanted to, as well as form a structured essay to inform and analyse, also explore and learn new ideas and existing ones, surrounding the view of ethics and procedures in the media, as this is the area of work I will be entering. The key changes and opinions that have helped shape and structure journalism, and how media is susceptible to corruption, and unethical encounters, was something that I wanted to draw attention to. 

I used practitioners as examples of these, to associate meaning with practise, and thus connect the lines of transparency of media ethics, and law. I feel the shape of this report, and how it formed, left me at a point of where I could continue to explore this further, as I had explored it to a point of ethical bordering law, but not how the law dictates the role of the journalists’.

My final assessment for my second year I’ll thus focus on law, and how this relates to journalism, and the role of the journalist, in particular relation to war. I chose this, as I wanted to keep the development of what I had learned form exploring ethics, and attach this to the form of law. I wanted to explore the ways that journalists are dictated by law, and how regulations and legislations shape the news. I had an idea to make reference to the ways that wars are justified, and if this has any implications on how journalists can carry out their work. 

This essay has formed a much wider scope of interest for me as a journalist, as it, combined with other essays, I feel has enabled me to learn and equip myself with knowledge that I could use for a dissertation in my final year.

For my dissertation I would like to expand on these areas that I have explored through all aspects of the course. I would like to, in particular, draw upon law and ethics, and apply these to sport, or possibly politics. I have rendered some possible questions and outcomes form my ideas.

1. How does the role of the journalist, become intertwined with justifications of law?

How does a journalist carry out work, without breaking some if not many laws? Is it possible to be a good, forefront journalist, without being drawn into legalities and legislative battles? What lines merge the two, and how is the line of law, separated from the line of duty.

2. Do the media represent a state of control and balance, through law and legislation, justified by political decisions?

Do we only see what we are allowed to see? Are we moulded into citizens of desire, rather than ones that are formed through our own experiences and practises, how does the role of media and journalism impact on this? Are we made to believe, to conform to national expectations of what is moral, ethical, and legal, and how the media shapes, controls, and is made an example of, in doing this.

3. Are journalists used as an example of unethical balance?

When balances in society are deemed to be wrong, are the media the pivotal and head of making examples of bad and unethical behaviour? 

4. Journalists as tools?

A journalist’s role/reason for being there should never be separated too far from the source or need to report.

5. How authentic is journalism, is there such thing as a true account of proceedings?

This would relate to how the media is representing its knowledge, and what ethoses and laws stop, or imply what they can/cannot account for. Is there such thing as the whole truth in journalism?