JNL6085   Victimisation of the media: threats and challenges to the principle of publicity   (15 credits)

Description

Journalism is continuously under attack. Media and journalists are being victimised. This module is based on the premise that any journalist anywhere in the world has to engage with the principle of publicity, understand its continually contested nature and that the possibility to apply this principle defines the extent of the freedom of the media. Correspondingly, this module engages with the victimisation of the media in three ways: first, it is concerned with different theoretical understandings of the principle of publicity and shows why a free press and free media are valuable to civil society. Second, it shows the challenges to the principle of publicity in the European Union and across the globe. These challenges are of cultural, political, economic, legal, institutional and social nature and, at their most extreme, include censorship by bullet. Third, it engages with the safety of journalists and questions of impunity as well as attendant international policy initiatives.

Reading List