Course overview

This video explains the structure of this course and the different topics we will cover each week.

In week 1, after introducing the course, we focus on the topic of media representations – or the question of how development issues are covered by journalists and by development organisations – and why these representations matter. This includes everything from humanitarian appeals and international news coverage, to novels, feature films and reality-television programmes set in foreign countries.

We will show that media coverage is strongly linked to public perceptions of development and that this has important consequences for public policy, charitable donations and support for NGOs, amongst other things.

In week 2, we show that the media can also be a means of facilitating conversations between people, or helping to promote inclusive communication within and between communities. This represents a participatory approach to using media for development, whose key principles include self-determination and dialogue. This week we will also introduce different examples of community media – or media run by and for local communities.

In week 3, we examine the role of social media and development. Social media has transformed how everyday citizens can engage with politics and governance. The Arab Spring in 2011 is probably the best-known example of how social media can enable political change. Equally, charities are using social media as a tool to raise awareness of human rights and influence environmental decisions as well as educating people, fundraising and collaborating for social change.

We will look at examples from Uganda to find more about how social media has helped increase public participation in everyday politics and speak to a charity called ‘Reach a Hand’ who have used social media in innovative ways to help educate young people on sexual health issues.

In the final week, we will look the nature of media organisations themselves and how they may be more or less able to promote development. Specifically, we will focus on the idea of public media – or media organisations which serve a public purpose. Here, the Public Media Alliance will explore the role of public service media organisations, their values and the growing challenges they face worldwide.