Tauhere UC Connect: The Ethics of War Reporting in an Unequal World

Journalism during wartime is difficult, dangerous, and ethically fraught, but it’s also essential if the public are to know what’s going on. It’s particularly important in holding to account those who use organised violence against others and in recognising people’s suffering.

In this free public lecture, University of Canterbury Media and Communication Professor Donald Matheson asks how global journalism could do a better job of telling the stories of war today, including the major wars being fought against Ukraine or Gaza but also a host of other conflicts, from West Papua to Yemen.

To address that question, he will use ethical frameworks, to help step back from competing ideologies about whose view is ‘right’ on any particular conflict.

“That involves asking what journalism about war does when it is at its best, given the huge pressures on it,” Professor Matheson says. “What can we expect of these professional tourists on war and suffering and what should the profession expect of itself?”

The public lecture, held at the University of Canterbury’s Ilam campus on 18 September, will use ideals of global justice and mutual understanding to come up with some suggestions.

“Good journalism,” he suggests, “involves valuing parts of the war correspondent tradition that put those who are suffering at the centre of the story. It involves working with those inside conflict zones to amplify their perspectives and understanding, so that people outside the zone can encounter those others as people.”

It also involves journalism joining coalitions of civil society, building solidarity with others and championing values, Professor Matheson says. He will also reflect on the implications of these ways of working for journalism’s historic claim be an independent observer to war.

About the speaker

Dr Donald Matheson is a Professor of Media and Communication at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He is the author of two books, Media Discourses (Open University Press, 2005) and Digital War Reporting (Polity Press, 2009, with Stuart Allan) and the editor of a number of other books on journalism and communication. He is a co-editor of Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics, past-president of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association. He writes on journalism practice, public communication in social media and communication ethics, often using qualitative or corpus-assisted discourse analysis. Current projects include communication practices around biosecurity and tracking racism against Muslim communities.

•  It’s free to register to attend in person, to watch via LinkedIn livestream or later on YouTube. Videos of UC Tauhere Connect public talks are available a week after the live event. Watch previous Tauhere Connect talks here.