Journos (ATOM Study Guide)

In a series of five half-hour programs we follow the lives of five Australian journalists working around the world as foreign correspondents. While there are some common features about their work, there are many differences in how they approach their work in places that are often dangerous and war-torn. These are the people we see on television news and current affairs programs, but here they are the subjects of the documentary, interviewed and filmed in the places where they work. They offer insights into their different approaches to reporting and reveal both the highs and lows of working far from home.

Paul Roy, the director and producer of the series has worked with foreign correspondents for many years as a cameraman, producer and fixer and had some insight into what really goes on getting stories to air. He believed that viewers would also like to see how stories are made, what effect they have and most importantly a bit more about the journalists as people, not just names or faces on television.

Journos would be an excellent series to show students from middle to senior secondary and at tertiary level across a range of subjects including English, Media Studies, in the careers area and the world of work, SOSE/HSIE, International Studies and Journalism. These stories are told in a very accessible way and many of them are quite inspirational. They demonstrate the increasing need for journalists today to be multi-skilled as researchers, camera operators, sound recordists, writers and presenters. Being a foreign correspondent today is not simply to be one part of a much bigger production unit.

The activities in this guide encourage students to develop an understanding of the lives and work of foreign correspondents, to discuss some of the broader issues about the work of journalism, to explore ways of constructing portraits of people at work and hopefully inspire them to consider becoming journalists.