MJ5200 Klimajournalistikk, teori og praksis Emneplan

Perceptions and experiences of Global Climate change differ across the world: The climate signals of extreme weather events, the responsibility of past and present emissions, the capacity to adapt and the sense of urgency in transforming societies: it all depend on who and where you are. These differences help explain why the media often cannot find neither the time nor the place for global climate change. The differences also add up to an acute journalistic problem: how to "think globally" while zooming in on a particular climate change story? This course will help answer that question, by trying out "Arctic Lenses" on Global Climate Change. Beyond the iconic Polar Bear, the Arctic is a place where many of the global dimensions of climate change can be starkly seen and felt. To paraphrase Frank Sinatra's song about New York: If the media and if journalism can "make it" in the Arctic, they can make it "anywhere".

Entry Requirements for Individual Courses

Either a bachelor's degree or equivalent with specialization in journalism, photojournalism or media studies of minimum 80 ECTS. Or a bachelor's degree or equivalent and a minimum of two years journalistic experience. The minimum academic requirement for admission is the grade C, in accordance with Regulations Relating to Admission to Master's Degree Programmes at HiOA.

The student should have the following learning outcomes upon successful completion of the course:

Knowledge

• has advanced interdisciplinary knowledge of the different perceptions and experiences of global climate change, with a particular focus on the Arctic, and from the Arctic (Arctic Lenses)
• has thorough knowledge of both the difficulties and the possibilities of climate change communication in the media and in journalism

Skills

The student

• is able to critically analyze different perceptions and experiences of global climate change in the media
• is able to relate these differences to the global and universal dimensions of climate change for the past, present and future of humanity and life on earth
• can explain and communicate global dimensions of climate change with a focus on the Arctic and/or from the Arctic
• can convey climate change journalistically as a dimension to a host of different climate change stories
• can find new and innovative ways to approach global climate change

General competence

The student

• is able to understand the basics of global climate change, with the help of knowledge from both the natural, social and human sciences.
• is well qualified to approach climate change as a justice issue, for example between the North and South, the developed and the developing world
• is well qualified to discuss ethical questions in both science and journalism
• has acquired journalistic skills of combining observations of different experiences of climate change with broader, theoretical perspectives

The course will be based on two week-long gatherings at Oslo and Akershus University College of applied Sciences, including lectures, exercises and group work. One of the weeks, or part of one week, may also entail field work/excursions.

Assessment

For the main assessment, the students may choose one of two term papers.

Either

• A reportage which both has a global and a particular dimension of climate change, followed by a reflection paper that discusses and analyzes the textual material theoretically helped by the syllabus, 15 - 20 pages, 1,5 line space, Times New Roman size 12.

Or

• An analytic, theory-based paper investigating a limited media output where global climate change is covered in a particular way, 13-16 pages, 1,5 line space, Times New Roman size 12.

The term papers may be written in Norwegian or English.

The papers are evaluated according to a scale ranging from A to F, with A-E as pass grades and F as fail grade. The term papers will be assessed by an evaluation committee consisting of both an internal and an external examiner. Students who have failed a regular examination may submit a revised version of the exam one time. Students with legitimate absence are entitled to submit the term paper to the new examination.

Syllabus

Books

Knecht, Sebastian and Keil, Kathrin (2017 ed) Governing Arctic Change - Global Perspectives Palgrave Macmillan (310 pages)

Kunelius, Risto; Eide, Elisabeth; Tegelberg, Matthew; Yagodin, Dmitry (2017) Media and Global Climate Knowledge - Journalism and the IPCC , Palgrave Macmillan (310 pages)

Online report

AMAP 2017 Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost - Summary for Policymakers:http://www.amap.no/documents/doc/Snow-Water-Ice-and-Permafrost.-Summary-for-Policy-makers/1532(20 pages)

Compendium (available in Fronter)

Schäfer, Mike S. (2015) "Climate Change and the Media" International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, pp.853-859 (7 pages)

Finger, Matthias (2016) "The Arctic, Laboratory of the Anthropocene" pp. 121-137 I: Future Security of the Global Arctic - State Policy, Economic Security and Climate Palgrave Macmillan (16 pages)

Ytterstad, Andreas (2015) "Framing Global Warming: Is That Really the Question? A Realist, Gramscian Critique of the Framing Paradigm in Media and Communication Research" pp. 1-19 in Environmental Communication Vol 9, issue I (19 pages)

Ytterstad, Andreas (2014) «Good Sense on Global Warming», pp. 141-163 in International Socialism 144, autumn 2014 (22 pages)

Brüggermann, Michael and Engesser, Sven (2017) "Beyond false balance: How interpretive journalism shapes media coverage of climate change." Global Environmental Change , Vol 42 pp. 58-67 (10 pages)

Yulsman and Boycoff (2013) "Political Economy, media and climate change: sinews of modern life" pp. 359-371 In: Wires Climate change (12 pages)

Alpert, Jordan M, Craig, Richard T, Gibson, Timothy A and Harper, Allison C (2016) "Covering global warming in dubious times: Environmental reporters in the new media ecosystem" In: Journalism pp. 417-434 (17 pages)

Total 103 pages in Compendium

Total 743 pages

In addition some articles will be shared during the course and the students may also select some relevant literature on their own.

(Literature list last updated: May 2017)