‘Undercover’ article in the Australian claimed students were being influenced by anti-News Corp beliefs of lecturers

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Media lecturers have described an article in the Australian newspaper accusing them of indoctrinating students as unethical and untrue.

The reporter, media editor Sharri Markson, attended media lectures at Sydney universities “undercover” by dressing as a student, and claimed students were being influenced by the anti-News Corp beliefs of their lecturers.

The story said students were taught to be hostile to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and its Australian arm, News Ltd, publisher of the Australian.

Dr James Goodman of the University of Technology and Dr Penny O’Donnell from the University of Sydney were accused in the article of “indoctrinating students rather than educating them”.

“But the indoctrination appeared to be strongest at the University of Sydney, where the entire first major lecture focused on News Corp’s power and its impact on journalism, irrespective of the fact that it is one of the largest employers of journalists in Australia,” Markson wrote.

Goodman said students were taught about the media sphere in general, which included News Corp and other media organisations.

“It’s difficult to understand what [Markson] might want us to say to students,” Goodman said. “Do we ignore the fact that News Corp is an important player and uses its power in various ways?

“Are we supposed to just tell students it’s a big employer? That’s not very useful, and I don’t think it’s brainwashing to alert students to the use and misuse of power in the communications industry.

“We say a lot of things about a lot of organisations in our lectures.”

The Conversation reported last year that News Corp Australia titles accounted for 59% of daily newspaper sales, with sales of more than 17m a week, “making it Australia’s most influential newspaper publisher by a considerable margin”.

Goodman questioned the ethics of going undercover to get the story about his lectures, given the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance journalists’ code of ethics states information should be obtained using “fair, reasonable and honest means” and that journalists should identify themselves before obtaining an interview for publication.

“Pretending to be a student and accessing material is in her [Markson’s] and News Corp’s own self-interest, not the public interest,” Goodman said. “And I think to call it an undercover investigative journalism piece … it’s hardly high-risk.”

He believes the purpose of going “undercover” was purely to find out what lecturers were saying about News Corp, and that was no justification for ethical breaches.

O’Donnell was not available for comment but a spokeswoman for the University of Sydney said she had nothing to add beyond what the Australian reported.

“We take our responsibility to educate students about the Australian media very seriously,” O’Donnell told the Australian. “We have no axe to grind against any media company but discuss them all without fear or favour.”

Many media and journalism students were offended by Markson’s claims they were being indoctrinated. They used social media to make comments such as: “Have put in a request for Markson to do my essays for me as an ‘undercover’ student. You know, because I’m brainwashed,”; and “I find The Oz’s report offensive and completely ridiculous. I’m not an idiot who can be ‘brainwashed’.”

Robert Kennard, who graduated from the University of Sydney’s media and communications course last year and went on to work for a News Corp-owned community newspaper, told Guardian Australia the course analysed media outlets fairly.

“[Lecturers were] even commending students who didn’t raise examples of News Corp for criticism, given it’s such an easy option.”

Jenna Price, a senior lecturer in journalism at UTS, said the only thing students were being indoctrinated with was “speaking truth to power”.

“I make a big deal of telling students not to join political parties and to be independent, thoughtful and fearless,” she said. “I also think Markson is conflating journalism degrees with communications degrees, and I’d argue most students studying communications don’t go into journalism and come from diverse disciplines.

“But no large company should be immune to criticism and analysis of their business practice.”

Students frequently discussed job cuts at Fairfax Media and the impact that was having on journalism quality as well, she said.

Michael Gawenda, former editor-in-chief of the Age and former director of the Centre for Advanced Journalism at Melbourne University, said journalism students must have an understanding of the structure of media organisations, what they owned and their influence.

“Students should also learn about the impact of new media players on old media, and the way people consume their journalism,” he said. “You can’t have journalism courses and not discuss those issues.”

The Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia released a statement to say they “strongly support” the rights of journalism educators to academic independence, and that courses should prepare students think critically about society in general, including media industries.

“The principles of both higher education and journalism involve questioning, scrutinising and criticising the activities of major social institutions, which again include media industries,” the statement said.