Mark Hanna

BA (Oxford)

tel: (+44)0114 2222510

mark Hanna I studied English Literature and Language at Oxford University before training as a reporter. I worked on newspapers for 18 years for various titles including The Western Daily Press, Sheffield Morning Telegraph and Sheffield Star, specialising in crime reporting and investigations, and also for The Observer as northern reporter. I won awards at national and regional level, including Provincial Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards.

I joined the Department as a lecturer in 1996, and was promoted to senior lecturer in 2008.

Since 2009 I have been co-author of McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists. Among UK journalists this is the best known legal and ethical handbook, and is kept in many newsrooms. It was first published in 1954. The 21st edition is being published in 2012. It is also a leading textbook for university journalism departments. Mike Dodd, legal editor of the Press Association national news organisation, is co-author.

Research interests

My research interests are media ethics, media law, investigative journalism, court reporting, journalism history and journalism education.

I would welcome applications to study for a research degree in these areas.

My research has included the biggest survey yet conducted of UK journalism students, at 10 universities. The data have been published in international academic journals. Students were asked their views on journalism’s roles in society and on media ethics, at the beginning of their degree courses, and again near the end. This helped assess how their ideas and perceptions changed during their education, how close their views were to experienced journalists, and how staff can best communicate with students about these topics.

Data from the Dept’s students about their career aims helped us plan what teaching should be provided.
In other research, I have written about the characteristics of the UK journalism workforce, controversies concerning media coverage of family courts in the UK, and concern about “chequebook journalism’ in media payments to witnesses in court cases.

Teaching

I teach JNL 206 Media Law to undergraduates and JNL 6009 Law for Journalists to postgraduates. These modules deal with UK law on freedom of expression, libel, privacy, copyright, contempt of court, restrictions on court coverage, anonymity for victims of sexual offences, and other legal issues.

Media law is a fascinating subject because of the range of human life and topical events covered. In lectures students often ask me to explain the way in which a recent crime has been covered by the media, because it is obvious that a legal restriction has affected what was published. Understanding laws affecting the media is an essential part of understanding journalism culture. I also refer to some of my own experiences of the law, as a reporter. These modules deliver the law syllabus of the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). It also meets the requirements of the Broadcast Journalism Training Council and the Periodicals Training Council (magazines) for law tuition. The textbook is McNae’s Essential Law for Journalists. My teaching draws on my research as its co-author, see above.

I provide model questions and exams to prepare students for exams, and we discuss these in seminars. These modules also prepare students for other modules in which they produce journalism, including those in which they attend cases at magistrates’ and Crown courts to produce news reports.

I also teach the JNL 6014 Ethics and Regulation module to postgraduates. This is primarily concerned with journalism ethics and regulation of the media in the UK, but some lectures have an international context. Students study, to a greater extent than in the law modules, the Press Complaints Commission system and Ofcom, the regulator of UK television and radio journalism. In lectures we discuss, for example, the moral responsibilities journalists have when news stories breach people’s privacy or concern children or the bereaved, and when journalists cover war and disasters. Students are assessed by essay on the lecture topic which most interests them. They are encouraged to use case studies in their analysis, and to read beyond the reading lists provided. Media ethics and how this subject is taught are among my research interests.

In some years I also lecture to undergraduates in JNL 109 Ethics and Journalism. That module is led by my colleague Tony Harcup – see his profile.

The University’s Research Ethics Committee has included JNL 6014 and JNL 109 in its 'best practice' guide for the consideration of ethics in the curriculum.

I teach the JNL 319 Introduction to Investigations module to third year undergraduates. This aims to introduce them to the techniques, methodology and historical tradition of investigative journalism in the UK. It was the first module of its kind in the UK at undergraduate level, and the first to include a requirement for students to use the Freedom of Information Act to gain information from public bodies, including Government departments. The module has been taught in various formats, including (safe!) investigative fieldwork and teamwork, and by exam in some years. Students gain knowledge, for example, of what can be discovered in public registries such as Companies House and the Land Registry. Students self-critique their own performance in some of the assessment. They can achieve excellent marks by recognising how they might have approached the task differently, as well by explaining what they have achieved. Investigative journalism and how it is taught are also among by my research interests. I have contributed a chapter to the book Investigative Journalism: context and practice, edited by Hugo De Burgh.

I have also supervised undergraduates and postgraduates in dissertation modules.

Other roles

I am personal tutor to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Personal tutors meet their students individually, ideally each semester, to check that they are enjoying their studies and to discuss career aims, and can respond quickly at all times to offer advice and support should any personal issue be affecting them.

I am chair of the Dept staff-student committees for undergraduates and postgraduates. In these forums staff and student representatives swap views on how each semester is progressing, and staff can respond to student feedback on teaching and other Dept matters.

Since June 2006 I have been chair of the media law examination board of the National Council for the Training of Journalists, having served on it since 2002. This board sets exams and reviews the NCTJ’s media law syllabus, taking into account the legal and ethical knowledge which UK media industry expects its journalism recruits to have.

I have played a major role in the leadership and administration of the Association for Journalism Education, which represents universities in the UK and Ireland which teach journalism I was one of the founder, individual members of the AJE when it was launched in 1997. I served on its executive committee as AJE treasurer in most years from 2001 to 2010. The AJE holds conferences and seminars to discuss best practice in teaching methods, and research into journalism.

I have been an external examiner for journalism degrees at four other UK universities.