Spring Course in Environmental and Science Journalism

• Posted by Bernhard Debatin on 02/26/2009
• tags: HTC

Yes, it’s true. I will be teaching a new course on Environmental and Science Journalism in Spring.

It’s Jour 492 (call No: 04369, undergraduate) / Jour 792 (call No: 04450, graduate), on Friday, 9:10 AM - 1:00 PM / Scripps Hall 116

It also includes some workshops and field trips that will extend into the afternoon.

Here’s a description:

LOCALIZING Environmental and Science Journalism is a course that focuses on local issues, particularly the effects of coal mining, and on the sciences at OU. This means that students have an opportunity to learn in a tangible way and to develop a sense of place and interrelationships. At the same time, this will be a good training ground for non-fiction narrative journalistic writing.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENCE journalism is increasingly important in our techno-scientific world. It requires a high level of technical and scientific understanding and the ability to translate complex issues into everyday language without oversimplifying.

JOURNALISM means informing and educating the public. Environmental and science journalism is about the interrelation of science, ecology, and risks. It requires unveiling the hidden costs and consequences of techno-scientific action. This implies giving up the ideological fiction of indifferent objectivity that tells “both sides” of the story regardless of the validity of their truth claims.

A NEW, balanced, knowledgeable, and nuanced approach to reporting is needed: a blend of basic ethical principles -- such as informed citizenship, sustainability, and social justice -- with a weight-of-evidence approach and a critical, highly educated perspective on techno-scientific, social and environmental processes and their risks and unintended consequences.

COURSE members will participate in field trips to get first-hand knowledge of acid mine drainage, abandoned mines, and other environmental issues and locales. In addition, we will conduct workshops with OU faculty, activists, and local citizens, who will serve as both expert sources and potential interviewees.

More information and course website:

https://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~debatin/ESJ/

or talk to me (Scripps Hall 118, 740-593-9808)

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