Learning Disaster Journalism in a Media Anthropology Classroom

Abstract

Disaster journalism has not been institutionally or curricularly established within Slovenian higher education. This article examines how disaster journalism can be taught in a media anthropology classroom through a case study of an experimental pedagogical intervention carried out in 2024–2025 in a master’s-level Media Anthropology course at a Slovenian public university. Implemented in a non-journalism communication and media programme, the intervention introduced disaster journalism as a temporary analytical framework through two seminar-based assignments: the reading of peer-reviewed scholarship and qualitative case studies of media coverage of floods, bushfires, technological disasters, war, pandemic, and school shootings. The article is based on a qualitative interpretive synthesis of student seminar papers, class presentations, and reflective discussions rather than on a formal assessment of learning outcomes. The findings show that students engaged scholarly literature mainly through preferential readings, while the greatest conceptual challenges emerged in relation to Bourdieu’s journalistic field theory and the translation of disaster journalism terminology into Slovenian. In their empirical analyses, however, students applied the framework more critically and identified recurring patterns such as humanitarian normalisation, routinisation of crisis coverage, politicisation, and ethical tensions in victim representation. The article argues that disaster journalism can serve as a productive interdisciplinary framework for developing media literacy, ethical sensitivity, structural reflexivity, and critical engagement among students who are not journalism trainees. Overall, the intervention suggests that experimental pedagogy may provide a viable pathway for institutionalising disaster journalism in academic environments where it currently lacks curricular status.

Keywords

• Disaster Journalism
• Disaster Communication
• Media Education
• Media Anthropology
• Experimental Pedagogy

Supporting Institution

European Union Erasmus+ Higher Education Cooperation Project Programme

Project Number

Disaster Journalism: Preventing the News from Turning into a Disaster (Project No. 2023-2-TR01-KA220-HED-000176222)

Medya Antropolojisi Dersinde Afet Gazeteciliğini Öğrenmek

Abstract

Afet haberciliği, Slovenya yükseköğretiminde kurumsal veya müfredatsal olarak yerleşmiş değildir. Bu makale, afet gazeteciliğinin bir medya antropolojisi sınıfında nasıl öğretilebileceğini, Slovenya’daki bir devlet üniversitesinde yüksek lisans düzeyindeki bir Medya Antropolojisi dersinde 2024–2025 yıllarında yürütülen deneysel bir pedagojik müdahalenin vaka incelemesi aracılığıyla incelemektedir. Gazetecilik dışı bir iletişim ve medya programında uygulanan bu müdahale, afet haberciliğini iki seminere dayalı ödev aracılığıyla geçici bir analitik çerçeve olarak derse dâhil etmiştir: hakemli akademik literatürün okunması ve sel, orman yangınları, teknolojik afetler, savaş, pandemi ve okul saldırılarının medya kapsamına ilişkin nitel vaka incelemeleri. Makale, öğrenme çıktılarının biçimsel bir değerlendirmesinden ziyade, öğrenci seminer ödevlerinin, sınıf sunumlarının ve yansıtıcı tartışmaların nitel yorumlayıcı bir sentezine dayanmaktadır. Bulgular, öğrencilerin akademik literatürle esas olarak tercih edilen okumalar yoluyla etkileşime girdiklerini, en büyük kavramsal güçlüklerin ise Bourdieu’nün gazetecilik alanı kuramı ve afet haberciliği terminolojisinin Slovenceye çevrilmesiyle ilişkili olarak ortaya çıktığını göstermektedir. Bununla birlikte, öğrenciler ampirik analizlerinde bu çerçeveyi daha eleştirel biçimde uygulamış ve insani normalleşme, kriz haberlerinin rutinleşmesi, siyasallaşma ve mağdur temsiline ilişkin etik gerilimler gibi yinelenen örüntüler belirlemişlerdir. Makale, afet haberciliğinin, gazetecilik eğitimi almayan öğrenciler arasında medya okuryazarlığını, etik duyarlılığı, yapısal düşünümselliği ve eleştirel katılımı geliştirmek için üretken bir disiplinlerarası çerçeve işlevi görebileceğini savunmaktadır. Genel olarak bu müdahale, deneysel pedagojinin, afet haberciliğinin henüz müfredatsal bir statüye sahip olmadığı akademik ortamlarda onun kurumsallaştırılması için uygulanabilir bir yol sunabileceğini göstermektedir.

Keywords

• Afet Haberciliği
• Afet İletişimi
• Medya Eğitimi
• Medya Antropolojisi
• Deneysel Pedagoji

Supporting Institution

Avrupa Birliği Erasmus+ Yükseköğretimde İşbirliği Proje Programı

Project Number

Disaster Journalism: Preventing the News from Turning into a Disaster (Project No. 2023-2-TR01-KA220-HED-000176222)

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