Investigating Notions of Climate Change in Nordic Journalism Education

This study investigates how notions of climate change appear in Nordic journalism education curricula. It also explores the extent of and rationale behind the inclusion or exclusion of the subjects of climate change, the environment or sustainability in the course syllabi of journalism programmes across Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Utilising a mixed methods approach, the research combines a quantitative analysis of course syllabi from 22 Nordic journalism schools (n = 751) with qualitative analysis of 26 syllabi, as well as interviews with seven programme heads and one teacher. Findings reveal that 26 out of 751 syllabi mention these concepts, with few courses focusing primarily on them. Climate change, the environment or sustainability are integrated into the courses to varying degrees. One of the key issues raised is whether climate change, the environment and sustainability constitute a “normal” beat or whether these issues are sufficiently different, or pressing, to warrant more specifically defined types of knowledge that cut across established areas. Different perceptions might hinder the integration of climate change into journalism education. This is mirrored, it is argued, in journalistic considerations about where to place stories on climate change. Given this, we suggest that journalism education ought to include discussions of what knowledge it takes to write about climate change.