To isolate advocacy and objectivity in journalism as an object of study is fraught with difficulties. It may be slightly easier to get a grip on norms and values if we consider what they are about. This article explores journalistic professional values and ethics as they come to the fore in student discussions around global warming in Nicaragua, Nepal and Bangladesh. We find that their scientific knowledge and local experience must both be taken into account to explain their concern over global warming. We also find the students leaning towards advocacy positions, although they are also attracted by the research credentials of objectivity. Reflecting on the findings as journalism teachers, we propose a ‘realist-constructivist’ pedagogical approach, arguing that if scientific understandings are to prompt the kind of social change necessary to avert worst case scenarios of global warming, they must somehow be connected to the concerns of everyday life.
BhaskarR. (1998). The possibility of naturalism : A philosophical critique of the contemporary human sciences. New York: Routledge.
2.
BhaskarR. (2008). A realist theory of science. London: Routledge.
3.
BurrV. (1995). An introduction to social constructionism. New York: Routledge.
4.
CollierA. (2003). In defence of objectivity and other essays: On realism, existentialism and politics. New York: Routledge.
5.
DavidL.GordonC. (2007). The down-to-earth guide to global warming. New York: Orchard Books.
6.
DeuzeM. (2005). What is journalism? Professional identity and ideology of journalists reconsidered. Journalism Studies, 6(4), 442–464.
7.
EideE.YtterstadA. (2011). The tainted hero: Frames of domestication in Norwegian Press representation of the Bali Climate Summit. The International Journal of Press/Politics16(1), 50–74.
8.
EideM. (2011). Hva er journalistikk. Oslo, Universitetsforl.
9.
FossumE. (1991). Er nå det så sikkert?: journalistikk og kildekritikk. Oslo: Cappelen.
10.
GuhaR. (2000). Environmentalism: a global history. New York: Longman.
11.
HallinD. C.ManciniP. (2004). Comparing media systems: Three models of media and politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
12.
HanitzschT. (2007). Deconstructing journalism culture: Towards a universal theory. Communication Theory17(4): 367–385.
13.
HanitzschT. (2009). Comparative journalism studies. In Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Hanitzsch., T. The handbook of journalism studies. New York. Routledge: 413–428.
14.
HanitzschT.HanuschF.. (2010). Mapping journalism cultures across nations. A comparative study of 18 countries. Journalism studies12(3): 273–293.
15.
HarcupT. (2009). Journalism: Principles and practice (second edn.). London: SAGE.
16.
HardingS. G. (2011). The postcolonial science and technology studies reader. Durham: Duke University Press.
17.
HasanZ. (2010). A study on public understanding, attitude and level of awareness on climate change in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
18.
HensonR. (2011). The rough guide to climate change. London: Rough Guides.
KnowltonS. R.FreemanK. L. (2005). Fair & balanced: A history of journalistic objectivity. Northport, Ala.: Vision Press.
21.
KrøvelR. (2011). Journalistic narratives of success and failure at the Bali Climate Change Conference in 2007. Intercultural Communication Studies, 20(2): 89–105.
22.
KrøvelR. (2012). Setting the agenda on environmental news in Norway: NGOs and newspapers. Journalism Studies, 13(No. 2. Special issue on Environmental Journalism).
23.
KunczikM. (1988). Concepts of journalism North and South. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
24.
LakoffG. (2010). Why it matters how we frame the environment. Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture, 4(1), 70–81.
25.
LeesJ. (2001). Reflexive action research: Developing knowledge through practice. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research: Linking research with practice, 1(2), 132–138.
26.
LooE. (2009). Best practices of journalism in Asia. Singapore: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.
27.
LynchJ. (2007). Peace journalism and its discontents. Conflict & communication online, 6(2), 1–13.
28.
MogilH. M. (2007). Extreme weather: Understanding the science of hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, heat waves, snow storms, global warming and other atmospheric disturbances. New York, Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers: Distributed by Workman Pub. Co.
29.
NightingaleA. (2006). The nature of gender: Work, gender and environment. Environment and Planning: Society and Space, (24): 165–185.
30.
OrgeretK. S.(2010).South Africa: A balancing act in a country of (at least) two nations. In EideE. (Ed.) Global climate local journalisms. Bochum/Freiburg: Project Verlag.
31.
OrgeretK. S. (2011). Citizen journalism—365 days of activism in the streets of Cape Town. In Howley, K. Media interventions. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
32.
OrgeretK. S.EssenC.
(2012, forthcoming). Popular versus quality newspapers and global warming. A question of social responsibility?In EideE.KuneliusR.(Eds).Mediating global climate. Göteborg: Nordicom.
33.
ParkM. J.CurranJ. (2000). De-Westernizing media studiesRoutledge.
34.
RhamanM. (2010). Bangladesh: A methaphor for the world. In Eide, E., Kunelius, R., & Kumpu, V. Global climatelocal journalisms: a transnational study of how media make sense of climate summits. Bochum: Projektverlag.
35.
SayerR. A. (2010). Method in social science : a realist approach.London: New York: Routledge.
36.
SayerR. A. (2011). Why things matter to people: Social science, values and ethical life. New York:Cambridge University Press.
37.
SchudsonM.AndersonC. (2009). Objectivity, professionalism, and truth seeking in journalism. In Wahl-JorgensenK.HanitzschT (Eds). The handbook of journalism studies (pp. 88–101). New York: Routledge.
38.
SmithJ. (2005). Dangerous news: Media decision making about climate change risk. Risk Analysis, 25(6), 1471–1482.
39.
ThomasP. D. (2009). The Gramscian moment: Philosophy, hegemony and Marxism. Leiden: Boston: Brill.
40.
Wahl-JorgensenK.HanitzschT. (2009a). The handbook of journalism studies. New York: Routledge.
41.
Wahl-JorgensenK.HanitzschT. (2009b). Introduction: On why and how we should do journalism studies. In Wahl-JorgensenK.HanitzschT (Eds). The Handbook of journalism studies (pp. 3–17). New York: Routledge.
42.
WaisbordS. (2009). Advocacy Journalism in a global context. In Wahl-Jorgensen, K., & Hanitzsch, T. The handbook of journalism studies (pp 371–385). New York: Routledge.
43.
WassermanH.BeerA. S. d. (2009). Towards de-westernizing journalism studies. In Wahl-JorgensenK.HanitzschT. (Eds). The handbook of journalism studies (pp 428–438). New York: Routledge.
44.
WeaverD. H. (1998). Journalists around the world: Commonalities and differences, In WeaverD. H. (Ed.). The global journalist: News people around the world (pp 455–480). NJ: Hampton Cresskill.
45.
XiaogeX. (2009). Development Journalism. In Wahl-JorgensenK.HanitzschT (Eds). The handbook of journalism studies (pp. 357–370). New York: Routledge.
46.
YtterstadA. (2008). God forstand i klimakampen? En analyse av det kritiske potensialet hos norske bloggere. Norsk medietidsskrift, 15 (4), 308–322.
47.
YtterstadA. (2011). Klimakrisen utfordrer objektivitetsidealet I norsk journalistikk . Norsk medietidsskrift. 18(4), 323–344.
48.
YtterstadA.KrøvelR. (2010). The impact of normative pressure on scientists, journalists, and journalism students. International Polar Year Oslo Science Conference. Lillestrøm: Unpublished.
49.
YtterstadA.RussellA.(2012 forthcoming). The battle for the meaning of common sense in the media coverage of the Copenhagen protests. In KuneliusR.EideE.Media meets climate: The global challenge for journalism. Göteborg: NORDICOM.
50.
ZelizerB. (2008).Explorations in communication and history. London: Routledge.
