Programme
Year 2 Specialism
- Module 1: History of War Reporting
- Location: Swansea Univeristy
- Professor: Kevin Williams
- Duration: 10 weeks
- Credits: 10 ECTS
Course Aims & Objectives
- Understanding of the dynamics of military-media-government relations at times of war
- Knowledge of the history of war reporting
- Understanding of the factors that shaped the historical development of the reporting of war
- Awareness of role of media and journalism in the social construction of war
- Understanding of the techniques of war reportage.
Methods of Assessment
Teaching is by workshops. The sessions are a maximum of 3 hours each and attendance is compulsory. Learning is a matter of individual research, class participation and discussion and reading, the bulk of which is done outside of class. It is vital that set reading and ‘reading around the subject matter’ is undertaken.
The workshops will comprise a short introduction by the tutor, a seminar discussion around the designated topic and an examination of a piece of journalistic practice.
Assessment: The module is assessed by three pieces of work.
- A review of no longer than 1200 words on a specified topic which accounts for 30% of the assessment.
- A review of no longer than 1000 words of specific articles or a particular aspect of the work of one war reporter which accounts for 30% of the assessment;
- An essay (40%) should be no longer than 3000 words.
Indicative Reading List
There are a vast number of texts of the history of war reporting and there is no set text for the module. However, the following books will have material on the many, if not all, parts of the course:
- The War Correspondent/Greg McLaughlin (Pluto Press, 2002)
- The First Casualty: the war correspondent as hero and myth-maker from the Crimea to Kosovo / Phillip Knightley/2000
- Shooting the Messenger/PaulMoorcraft and Philip Taylor/2008
- The Media at War: communication and conflict in the twentieth century / Susan L. Carruthers/2000)
- War and the Media: reportage and propaganda, 1900-2003 / edited by Mark Connelly & David Welch/2005.
- Reporting War: Journalism in Wartime/Stuart Allan and Barbie Zelizer (eds)/2004
