Intercultural Journalism – Theory and Practice, Teaching Project Prof. Thomas A Bauer, Winter Term 2009/10

Perspective
European news media reporting on Africa is still full of stereotypes: Misery, poverty, hunger. People begging for charity dominate the discourse on Africa thus reducing motives of cooperation between Europe and Africa to development aid. The generalization of this attitude towards Africa prevents European institutions from building ccoperations on an equal, two-sided basis. Cooperations that expect African partners to fully participate, not to simply and passively receiving aid. A bias on real cooperation with respect to the competences of partners on both continents is needed.

Studio Africa likes to point out that there are programmes and projects in African countries that are self-contained and sustainable, but are not part of the European mainstream discourse on the continent. Within this project, the Department of Communication and the Austrian daily Die Presse in cooperation with universities in three African countries, will search for ways to change the quality of reporting on Africa in Europe by connecting media education and practice in a transnational cooperation and discourse.

Goal

• Learn to know and learn to show Africa from it’s positive, active, productive side. By focusing on topics of culture, everyday life and society and reporting on it incorporating a strong local view, we want to countervail sterotypes communicated through mainstream media. We don’t want mask the problems, but we want to relieve it of the emotional clichés.
• Give students in Austria the opportunity to reflect and practice transcultural journalism and to discuss and cooperate with students from Africa
• Give students in Africa the opportunity to exchange views and ideas with European students and to report on something they find important to an Austrian public

Programme

• Analysis: How does Europe see Africa? Media analysis and critical reflection, perspectives on reponsibility in intercultural journalism. Discussion on European views on Africa compared to an African perpective between Austrian and African students (online).
• Research: What is Africa about? Discussion between Austrian and African students on the ‚other’ Africa, the daily life and the topics most important for people in African countries themselves.
• Report: Each one Austrian and  one African student work together on an Article on a certain topic chosen together.

Schedule

• July, August 2009: Development of a basis of cooperation between Departments of Journalsims in African universities and the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna
• September 2009: Call for students to participate in the programme in Vienna and the African partner universities. Discussion and determination of a detailed schedule for the partnership
• October 2009 to January 2010: Programme at the University fo Vienna, weekly editorial meetings, partly recorded and streamed to the internet thus enabling African student to participate online (voice over IP, skype?)
  • October: Forming of ‚teams’: one African, one Austrian student
  • November: Discussion and determination of the issue the teams want to report on
  • December & January: journalistic research and writing of articles in English
• February 2010: Publishing of the articles in Die Presse