Global Crisis Reporting (JOUR90027)

Global Crisis Reporting examines studies and approaches to global communications and the reporting of crises, including disasters and humanitarian relief. The course examines the extent to which, how and why forms of coverage have changed in recent years, and considers how these changes have impacted on the way in which "crises" are constructed, mediated and communicated. It considers the possible impacts of such changes on national and international public opinion and political leaders, as well as on those immediately involved. Amongst the themes addressed are: the rise of digital technologies of news production and distribution and their impact on the nature of crisis reporting, arguments for and against a "journalism of attachment", the communication strategies of humanitarian organisations and the degree to which coverage of human suffering raises questions about the moral responsibility of news-makers. The subject also examines issues regarding the political impacts of contemporary crisis reporting, the nature and direction of communication flows, the rise of emergent practices of crisis communications and media activism and the degree to which transformations in the field may, or may not, serve to positively address the relations underpinning global crises.