Promoting Social and Cultural Diversity Through the Media

This university level module seeks to help students of journalism develop skills that help them promote social and cultural diversity through the media. It provides a combination of individual reflection (each individual examining his or her value system), it strives to sharpen analytical skills when gathering information for stories and broadcasts, and it provides interviewing skills.

The course can be delivered as a stand-alone module or be integrated into a general journalism course. The teacher can adapt the exercises as necessary to meet the needs of each group of students and the general curriculum that they are following.

The aim is for students to be able to:

• critically interpret the responsibilities of journalists in a multi-cultural society;
• better understand their own cultural influences and respect those of others;
• demonstrate sensitivity to cultural differences and avoid failures of communication;
• critically evaluate and assess the range of sources and materials available to them;
• write, plan, research and produce a well-researched feature article and profile or broadcast package;
• Reflect critically on their own practice and the practice in the mass media in a detailed log.