Aida Alami

3 credits

Reporting (on) Migration: How does media coverage shape migrant experience, representation, and policy development? What are the ethics of reporting on displaced populations? What critical frameworks shape our understanding of how populations in host countries understand the influx of migrants? What roles are played by media and social media in influencing policies and acceptance or rejection of migrant populations? This course on migration reporting takes as central case studies the so-called refugee crisis of Syrians in 2015 and compares it with the Ukrainian migration crisis of 2022, examining how media discourse may have impacted the way populations fleeing wars were viewed and responded to. Students will learn techniques of feature writing and discuss journalism ethics. The class includes a seminar in Greece, with the class International Peace-building and Education with Prof. Dana Burde, to meet with displaced populations and work in partnership with Refocus Media Labs, an organization that specializes in training refugees in migration reporting. Students will produce a written story while in Greece in addition to several other writing assignments in Abu Dhabi.

This course includes a regional academic seminar to Greece. This course will be offered in January-Term 2025.

Students will look at the media in Morocco today and understand the current situation by studying the developments that took place over the last decade. What are the ethics of reporting on a revolution and its aftermath? What critical frameworks shape our understanding of the roles played by media and social media in the unfolding of such events? This course in foreign reporting takes as a central case study the state of the media in Morocco and the broader region following the Arab Spring. During the two first weeks of the course, the students will learn techniques of feature writing and journalism ethics. During the third week, they will remotely research and write about a topic of their choosing on Morocco. The content of the readings is heavily based on human rights and politics in Morocco. Students will read and discuss long-form readings on the Middle East and more specifically on Morocco as well as daily news reading on Morocco. A longtime foreign correspondent with the National Public Radio will skype with the class to talk about their experience internationally and in Morocco.