Course outline
Reporting the world: international news in a global era
JMSC 6048- Spring 2008
Instructor: Thomas Abraham
115 Eliot Hall
Email: Thomas@hku.hk
phone: 2219 4017
Class room: Thursdays T-5 Meng Wah Fridays S 802 Meng Wah
Time: 18.30- 21.30.
Lecture days: Jan 31, Feb 1, 14, 15, March 13, 14, Apr 3, 10, 11,18,24,25
Course description
This course provides an opportunity for students to explore contemporary international issues, study how they are reported, and understand the importance of international news in a globalized world.
The classes will be a mixture of theory and practice. We will have background lectures on major global issues, but will also have an opportunity to report these issues on our class line foreign news wire website. We will also have guest lectures from foreign correspondents, diplomats and other experts.
With the US presidential elections scheduled for later this year, we will spend time following the race to secure the nomination of the Democratic and Republican parties and write about it for our class website.
Among the other issues we will follow are climate change and global environmental issues, global governance issues, the Middle East, Iran, China, and south East Asia.
Active classroom participation is essential, and learning will proceed through a process of reading, writing and discussion.
Course Aims:
- To study and understand the background to some of today’s major global issues and conflicts.
- To be able to critically evaluate the sources of international news.
- To provide an opportunity to students to exercise their skills in international reporting through written assignments.
Course work:
- Students will focus on one international area or problem during the course and write at least one short blog style entry story a week for our course website. (50 % of grade)
- Each student will write a 2,000- 2,500 word news analysis on a subject chosen with the instructors approval. (25 %).
- Students will have to turn in a book review.( 15 percent)
- We will do one “live” reporting exercises in the digital media lab. These exercises are designed to test your skills as a journalist, teach you to work under deadline, and give you a taste of how international reporters work. (10 % of grade)
Since this is a journalism course the disciplines of the newsroom will be a guide in evaluating assignments. Late assignments will be counted as missed deadlines and penalized accordingly. Arriving late for class consistently, or missing class without valid reason will lead to lower grades.
In written assignments, errors of fact and spelling will also attract penalties.
In evaluating assignments and presentations, I will be looking for the qualities that mark good foreign reporting: factually accurate information, careful analysis, intelligent use of background material, a willingness to question perceived wisdom, and an understanding of the complexities and nuances that colour any issue.
Required Reading:
Students will be required to keep abreast of international developments. This will involve reading the major international and local newspapers (the IHT, AWSJ, FT and SCMP), as well as a variety of alternative news sources, and specialized web sites. In addition, journal articles and book chapters will be assigned for each class.
Students are expected to be able to discuss current international events, and lead discussions in class.
Students will be required to find a variety of information sources for the subject they are following. It will be essential to find local sources for subjects. For example, those who are following the crisis in Iraq cannot confine their reading to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. They will have to read the English language press in the Middle East (there are a variety of regional papers available on line) as well as the European press for an understanding of different perspectives.
The journals Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs are important sources of readings for this course.
Course Plan:
1. January 31
Introduction to the course and its aims. Discussion of student work required, and assessment. Introductory lecture on structure of global politics, the major issues facing the world today.
Readings:
1) James F Hoge. Jr. “A global power shift in the making” Foreign Affairs, New York Jul/August 2004. http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20040701facomment83401/james-f-hoge-jr/a-global-power-shift-in-the-making.html?mode=print
2) US National Intelligence Council. Mapping the Global Future. Chapter on rising powers. http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_globaltrend2020.html
3) Parag Khanna, “Waving Goodbye to Hegemony”, New York Times Magazine January 27,2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/magazine/27world-t.html?scp=1&sq=Parag+Khanna&st=nyt
- February 1:
Globalization’s Unreported Wars: Besides the traditional subjects of international reporting, globalization has brought a whole range of issues and subjects that need to be reported internationally.
Readings:
1. Moises Naim, “The Five Wars of Globalization,” Foreign Policy January/February 2003
2. Water: The Looming Source of World Conflict (http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/water/2001/0320cflt.htm
4. Speech by UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon to the World Economic Forum, Davos January 28 2008. http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocus/sgspeeches/statments_full.asp?statID=177
5. Sandra L Postel, Aaron T Wolf, “Dehydrating Conflict,”
Foreign Policy September 18, 2001. http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/water/2001/1001fpol.htm
6. Anthony Brown, Drugs Become the World’s Boom Trade. The Guardian, July 4 1999
3. February 14
The Sources of International News: Who gets to tell the story? Looking at global news flows, and how international news is created. We also look at alternative news sources to the main global news agencies.
Readings:
To be announced
4. February 15
A Clash of Civilizations or The Clash of Ignorance? What is the war on terror about?
Since the attacks of September 11, the idea of a historic clash between the western and Islam has become an increasingly popular explanation for many of the conflicts around the world. This class examines this thesis and looks at how Islam is reported in the media.
Readings:
1) “The Clash of Civilizations?” Samuel P Huntington, Foreign Affairs Summer 1993; 72,3 ( available electronically from the library)
2) “The Clash of Ignorance” by Edward W. Said. The Nation, October 22, 2001.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20011022/said
3) “Is This a Clash of Civilizations”? M Shahid Alam
http://www.mediamonitors.net/mshahidalam2.html
4) Francis Fukuyama: The West has Won (The Guardian) Oct. 11 2001. http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,567333,00.html
5. March 13:
Iran and the World: guest lecture by and Iranian diplomat (date and speaker to be confirmed)
Our guest lecturer, an Iranian diplomat, will talk about how Iran sees developments in the region, the nuclear issue, and Iran’s role in the region.
Readings: To Be Announced.
6. March 14:
Covering the US elections: Greg Torode, Chief Foreign Correspondent, South China Morning Post will speak about his experiences covering the 2000 US Presidential election, as well as other stories he has covered.
7. April 3
Lab exercise at the Digital Media Lab.
8. April 10 :
The problem of refugees. Guest Lecture by Douglas DiSalvo, Protection Officer, United Nations High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR) Hong Kong
The class will look at one of the world’s under reported stories- refugees fleeing from persecution and turmoil in their home countries.
Readings: Please go to the UNHCR website: www.unhcr.ch, and read the basic facts section to familiarize yourselves with the issue ahead of the lecture.
9. April 11:
Africa: its problems and its potential: Lecture by an African diplomat in Hong Kong ( date and speaker to be confirmed)
10. April 18 :
The US and the world: Guest lecture by representative from US Consulate on US foreign policy. Speaker and date to be confirmed
Readings: To be announced
11. April 24 :
China and the World: Guest Lecture by Frank Ching, journalist and SCMP Columnist ( To be confirmed)
Readings: To be announced.
12. April 25 :
From the Crimea to Iraq – the journalism of war.
Lecture on the role war correspondents have played not only in the reporting of war, but on its conduct as well. How as the war in Afghanistan been reported? Differences in perspective between the US media and the rest. CNN, the rise of Al Jazeera. The risks of covering war. The Daniel Pearl case.
Readings:
1)Timothy J Kenny, In the Bleeding Fields, Media Studies Journal, Summer 2001.
2)Matt Wells, Embedded Reporters “sanitized” Iraq War, The Guardian November 6 2003.
3)John Donovan, For the Unilaterals, No Neutral Ground. Columbia Journalism Review, May June 2003
4)Jessica Lynch, Media Mythmaking in the Iraq War. (www. Journalism.org)
