How to write a rationale for your teaching plan

1. Writing a strong rationale
COMM2079

2. What is a rationale?
2
An articulation or explanation of the reasons for doing something. In
Assessment 1, you have to write a rationale for selecting the 5 media
outlets that will be interested in your story (presented in the media
release)
An academic discussion
Demonstrating a critical level of
thought
Incorporating relevant media
theories
Citing where appropriate

3. Points to consider when writing a rationale
• What is the media release about?
• Why did you choose the 5 media outlets?
• What is the link between the story in the media release and the outlets?
• What are some of the media theories that directed your choice of media
outlets?
• How do the choices you have made demonstrate your understanding of the
concepts and theories that have been introduced?
• How do the choices you have made demonstrate critical reading of the
material for this course?

4. An example of media outlets
1. Gold Cost Bulletin Audience: women 18-50 across the Gold Coast community.
This outlet is a trusted source for local events and culture.
Attention: Catherine Webber, Editor
• Targeted towards an article in the surfing news, beaches or lifestyle
sections of both print and online.
2. Collective Magazine Audience: business owners, entrepreneurs and people
interested in inspirations stories and new ventures or events.
Attention: Tara Francis, Features Editor
• Lead times tailor towards a feature articles in a future monthly edition.
3. SEA FM Audience: target demographics that listen to contemporary music and
local news for coastal regions.
Attention: Andrew Very, Content Director
• Aimed towards study during news or surf reports.
4. Nine Gold Coast News Audience: popular TV news for locals including online sources
Attention: Rod Power, Gold Coast News Director
• A story during news bulleting and online.
5. Gold Coast Magazine Audience: fashion and culture conscious woman from Byron
Bay to Brisbane
Attention: Logan Smith, Editor
• Due to lead times, targeted for feature, also for future events listed in
upcoming editions.

5. An example of rationale for the identified media
outlets
The audience groups identified in the five media outlets
match that of Mazarine Aqua including key demographics,
lifestyle interests and proximity, which is key to successful
planning (Bivins 2014, p.35). The selection of outlets was
curated to provide coverage over a number of mediums,
timeframes and include current and potential public.
Reflection on Framing Theory provided guidance for selecting
outlets based on news-values and tailoring the
newsworthiness of the release to suit (Johnston & Sheehan
2014, p. 401). Agenda Setting Theory is relevant when
considering the transfer of a story’s importance from media to
the public based on what media consider news; the public
then form an interest (Chia & Synnott 2009, p. 16)
Therefore, it is important to select media outlets that find the
story newsworthy for a greater chance of coverage. Narrative
Theory suggests that organisational identities are created via
their stories and positive stories can be persuasive (Johnston
& Sheehan 2014, p. 402). Consequently, significance of this for
the chosen outlets is selecting media that have a higher
likelihood of conveying the positive nature of the narrative.
The author has based their
reasons on evidence. They
have demonstrated that they
understand the concepts that
were introduced in course.
Their choice of the outlets were
directed by their readings.
The author has also
demonstrated that they
understand the different
media theories that were
introduced in the course by
using them to justify their
selection of the outlets
The author has presented a
coherent and cohesive
academic and critical
discussion by using formal
language and citing where
necessary

6. An example of a weak rationale
These media outlets have been chosen as they are the top
three television news shows to air on South Australian
television and collectively reach a very large South
Australian audience. Being a current South Australian
issue, the story is very relevant and therefore topical to the
audience of these television shows who regularly cover
similar stories of road fatalities and accidents in which this
news release might act as a nice support story while
presenting its own news worthiness.
The newspaper outlets have been chosen such as The
Advertiser is a well-known newspaper that mainly covers
news current to the South Australian state and its major city,
Adelaide. While The Advertiser can be viewed online from any
location in the world, it’s main form of product manifests itself
in physical print form, sold from within the state of South
Australia. Therefore state wide news stories are regularly
given prominence over other small Australian news items as it
is most relevant to the majority of the audience who consume
it. In addition to The Advertiser, the other small newspapers
mentioned represent regional areas of South Australia which
as we can recognise from the text form a large portion of the
news presented.
While the writer has presented
a sound discussion, they have
not demonstrated that they
have made this observation
based on the concepts or
theories that have been
introduced in the course.
The writer has also not
demonstrated that their choice
of outlets were informed by
their readings of the course
material and research. While
this rationale is coherent and
cohesive, it is not academic as
the writer has not put forth a
credible discussion that is
based on evidence.