The local in the global: Challenges of teaching global journalism

Abstract

This article addresses some of the challenges encountered while developing and working to ensure the relevance of curricula, and subsequently teaching global journalism to students at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. The article outlines responses to course content from students taking the global journalism course at the University of Johannesburg from 2009–2012. The article also outlines responses to the course contents from a select group of newspaper editors. The author argues that what we define as global journalism, and even more so how we teach it, should be framed from within a local and national context of media systems and journalism, in order to be relevant for aspiring journalists and should emphasise a comparative perspective on global media and journalism.

Keywords:

• de-Westernising media studies
• global journalism
• media studies
• postcolonial societies
• South Africa
• southernisation of media studies
• UNESCO