Journalism is an embodied profession. Interacting with sources, collecting sensitive information, and negotiating access are integral to the everyday performance of news work. In reporting war and conflict, journalists are often first-hand witnesses to violence and, as a result, are frequently at risk of physical and psychological trauma. Yet, the occupational ideology of journalism values detachment, emotional distance, and objectivity. How do journalists navigate the human experience of news work and the professional ideal of objectivity? And how can the body be mobilised as a means of truth-telling in news work?

The presenters include our distinguished international speakers:

Prof Mark Deuze

Professor of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam’s (UvA) Faculty of Humanities. Before that he worked as a journalist and academic in the United States, Germany and South Africa. He is also the bass player and singer of Skinflower.

Prof Chantal Francoeur

Professor of Media Studies, University of Quebec, Montreal. She has worked as a radio reporter for 17 years and created stories for a wide range of programs, including the news, public affairs shows, science and technology forums and investigative special reports.

Prof Johana Kotišová

Johana Kotišová works as Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the University of Amsterdam and as a Guest Professor at the VUB Communication Studies Department. She has a background in social anthropology, media studies, and sociology.

And our UTS Journalism academics - Professor Saba Bebawi, Dr Belinda Middleweek and Christine Kearney

Join us for this hybrid workshop that brings together researchers from journalism and media studies to answer these questions, and consider the different meanings, practices, identities, and dimensions of bodies in journalism. This discussion is significant given the inattention to the body in journalism studies, the emotional labour of news work, and continuing threats to the physical safety of journalists worldwide.

For those joining us online on the day, please click on this Zoom link to join.

This workshop is supported by the JERAA Research Grant Scheme & UTS Journalism in School of Communication at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.