Decolonizing Journalism Education to Create Civic and Responsible Journalists in the West

Abstract

This paper sets out a case to decolonize journalism curricula to produce civic-minded journalists who are better prepared to report on multicultural societies. Through the examination of reading lists and module descriptions on UK accredited journalism degrees it is revealed, that the subject is dominated by journalism experiences grounded in western nations and that non-white perspectives are largely neglected. There is a discussion of what decolonizing the curriculum entails and a critique of journalism practice in the UK. Finally, there are recommendations to make journalism curricula inclusive based on findings from a project to narrow the attainment gap at De Montfort University. While there have been calls to make journalism education more international in its outlook, the terminology decolonizing is specifically used to denote the undoing of colonial legacies in creating ethnically and racially divided societies. There is a call to educate trainee journalists about racism and structural racism, and the ways it advantages some groups and disadvantages others. This would enable journalists to challenge longstanding biases and omissions that restrict the audience’s understanding of politics, histories and societies.

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