War and peace journalism

The course in "War and Peace Journalism" is a joint programme between Oslo University College (Journalism programme), Oslo University, Institute for Media and Communication (IMK), and Master of Global Journalism programme at University of Örebro.

Potential participants

The course is aimed at participants from the Journalism Programme at Oslo University College and the students at the Master of Global Journalism programme.

Qualifications and course applications

20 of the places at the course are earmarked for students from the Master of Global Journalism programme and 10 places are earmarked for the Journalism programme Oslo University College. If there are too many applicants there might be a limitation on the number of participants. The course will take place at Oslo University College and follow up seminar at the University in Örebro.

Aims

The aim of the course War and Peace Journalism is to stimulate critical journalism on issues like wars, international conflicts, mediations and peace efforts in conflicts and globalization. The students will be offered knowledge, journalistic skills and attitudes to make them capable of:

• analysing journalistic performances in conflicts
• analysing mechanisms which promote peaceful and violent solutions to conflicts
• seeking out the mechanisms that can potentially influence journalism in wars and conflicts such as propaganda, stereotypes, enemy images and media strategies
• analysing media texts in order to reveal ethnocentrism and stereotypes towards other cultures and religions and to develop alternative coverage in form of a more peace oriented and multicultural journalism

The main focus of the course will be on the journalistic presentations of wars and conflicts. ‘Conflict’ in this respect is both meant to be manifest conflicts such as war, acts of terror and violence and structural conflicts like the economical and cultural differences between the rich north and the poor south.

Content

There will be a critical presentation of existing conflict-orientated war coverage in mainstream media and presentation of examples of alternative peace oriented and multicultural journalism from conflict zones. The course will have a focus on journalistic presentation on conflicts after September 11, the war against terror, the Middle East conflict and the war in Iraq. The themes of lectures, course literature and workshops will be on propaganda and media strategies, globalization of war- and conflict-journalism, the discourse of orientalism and counter strategies to meet these. Through workshops with textual analyses and journalistic techniques the participants will be able to highlight their journalistic consciousness and skills to be better journalists within the issues of war and peace.

Organising and working methods

There will a combination of lectures, seminars and workshops. There will also be a follow up two days seminar in Örebro. The participants on the Global Journalism in Örebro programme and the students on the Master programme in journalism in Oslo will have additional seminar activities.

Exam/evaluation

The participants will be required to write a term paper of 20 pages on a chosen topic within the main themes of the course.