UniPollWatch: a Model for Cross-Campus Political Journalism Education

Abstract

The 2014 UniPollWatch project brought together the journalism schools of four Victorian universities to cover the 2014 state election. The project was a unique experiment in political journalism education and provided valuable lessons about experiential learning, cross-campus cooperation and industry engagement. It also created a potential model for large reporting projects, involving journalism programmes at many universities working together to cover topics for the public’s benefit, while enabling students to gain real-world skills. The campuses were each designated eight key, mostly marginal, electorates and were encouraged to provide electorate and candidate profiles, as well as other ne..