Enabling Journalism Educators to Support Comprehensive Governance Responses to HIV/AIDS and Other Development Challenges Through Journalism Education

This 77-page report shares findings of an assessment of how HIV and AIDS, as well as other development issues, are featured in journalism curricula at four academic institutions in South Africa. Commissioned by UNESCO and conducted by the African Democracy Institute's Governance and AIDS Programme (Idasa-GAP), the assessment explored how journalism teaching prepares students for covering development challenges. The assessment was implemented at UNESCO’s four potential centres of excellence in journalism education in South Africa – Rhodes University (RU), Stellenbosch University (SU), Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), and Walter Sisulu University (WSU).

The survey found that while all the participating institutions acknowledged the importance of HIV/AIDS and developmental issues, the approach to include these themes in teaching and learning consists of a mix of ad-hoc inclusion and structured and systematic design for inclusion. Development journalism is broadly covered as part of courses in political studies or on a theoretical level in postgraduate teaching and research. Development journalism is usually seen as part of a general commitment to broaden the scope of journalists beyond commercial mainstream journalism; HIV/AIDS is further addressed in the writing of news reports and other practice-based themes in production courses.

Similarly, while there was general agreement that research on the relationship between HIV/AIDS, development, and journalism is important, none of the respondents from the participating institutions were aware of ongoing research about the specific nexus between the three themes. Respondents were aware of research in the area of either HIV/AIDS and the media or the relationship between media and other development issues. At SU the Hope Project encourages research focus on development issues and in particular those with linkages to the millennium development goals (MDGs) as part of inter-disciplinary and cross-faculty research. At RU students also have the option of doing a paper on issues that cut across disciplines, for example, the history of HIV, gender and HIV, and other social conditions associated with HIV which "opens up interesting new ways of thinking about HIV".

One objective of this assessment was to establish how current curricula (with theory and practice), professional and public engagement, and strategic plans are linked to "the work of building democratic societies." Most respondents from all institutions agreed that journalism has a role in stimulating participatory citizenship. It is evident from this assessment that most respondents equate civic-minded journalism with journalism that is practiced in rural and/or poor and smaller communities. Similarly, community media is associated with journalism that is practiced outside the realm of mainstream, commercial, and urban settings.

All participating institutions are currently involved to a greater or lesser extent in journalism projects with features that include the promotion or encouragement of participatory citizenship. Respondents in the student focus groups said they would like, through teaching, to be more exposed to community activities like political meetings and municipal meetings. Students suggested more deliberate and structured efforts to expose students to community forums. They said short modules or courses on civic participation, how government works and the role of journalism in government and civil society would be useful.

The assessment report makes the following recommendations:

The link between development (including HIV and AIDS) and the role of journalists in democratic process should be incorporated in curricula in a structured and systematic way.
Community, community media, commercial media, and mainstream media, as well as links to civic-minded journalism, should be clearly defined.
Civic-minded approaches to journalism could benefit from more collaborative teaching practices and more interaction between students from different journalism institutions.
Journalism educators need specific methodologies and tools to teach civic-minded journalism which feature development themes.
Curricula should be deliberate in its efforts to explore ways in which development issues could be told in more compelling ways.
The industry should be involved in efforts to explore more civic-minded approaches to journalism.
Interaction with diverse communities should be included in the practice of civic-minded journalism teaching.
Diverse language options and language skills should be considered as part of civic-minded approaches to journalism teaching.
Journalism education should be more deliberate in its efforts to make students care about the world and its problems.