Students of the Master's degree programmes on Political Communication and in Global Governance and World Culture can use this course as part of their "Joint Studies".

Students of the Master's degree Programme in European and Russian Studies majoring in Journalism and Mass Communication can use this course as part of their "Other ERS studies"

1/ COURSE OBJECTIVE:

The objective of the course is to gain a critical understanding of the role national and international media (newspapers, radio, television, online, blogs, citizens' journalism) play in promoting discord and tension, as well as peace and reconciliation, in a range of societies in conflict or just emerging from war.

2/ COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The course looks critically at how different types of media work towards peace and reconciliation, or the opposite, in four settings: Afghanistan, Rwanda, Cambodia and Nepal. The lecturer, as a journalist or as UN official, has direct experience of all four countries. The sessions will attempt to track recent conflict and post-conflict cases in the chosen examples through the eyes of both national and foreign media and critically examine how and why their outputs and actions contribute to ongoing peace or actually promote and worsen the conflict.

The sessions will begin with a broad discussion on what is meant by `nation building´ and where journalism fits into such a concept. Many local journalists I worked with in South Africa saw `sunshine journalism´as political affirmation of the new post-apartheid dispensation. But this was often at the expense of ethics. Ethically-sound journalism means rigorous reporting and editing, putting politicians on the spot, exposing injustice, demanding accountability from elected representatives, and the like. But does such an approach always lead to national reconciliation?