Every year, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) awards the Education Prize for the best VWO profile papers. This year, on June 11, two history papers were awarded, on embedded journalism in war zones and genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this part the authors of embedded journalism speaking.
Karlien de Boer and Martine Röell
Karlien and Martine are two friends from the Stedelijk Gymnasium Haarlem. Together they wrote the profile paper Journalism or 'whonalism'? An investigation into the extent to which we can regard embedded journalism in Kamp Holland in Uruzgan as a responsible form of war journalism .
Catching title ladies. How did you come to write your paper on this subject?
“We really wanted an original, but topical subject at the same time. We had also considered other topics, such as German propaganda in the Second World War, but when we came across the book by war journalist Yuri Boom about his experiences in Uruzgan, we were sold.”
And what is the answer to your own question:journalism or 'whonality'?
“On the basis of the Code for Journalism, we looked at the extent to which we embedded journalism in Kamp Holland in Uruzgan as a responsible form of war journalism. (At embedded journalism the journalist adapts to the group from which he seeks protection, for example the army.)”
“We have come to the conclusion that embedded journalism is not a responsible form of war journalism, but at the same time it has its value. It is important that there is a good balance between embedded journalism and its counterpart unembedded journalism is. Only in this way can the home front be optimally provided with information.”
You have interviewed several war journalists. What appealed to you most?
“We were the first to interview Natalie Righton. She works as unembedded journalist and has lived in Kabul for three years. She also occasionally works as embedded journalist, making her very well informed about both forms of journalism. We then spoke with Arnold Karksens. He is a fierce opponent of embedded journalism and therefore a very interesting and valuable resource for us.”
“We owe part of our title to him, as he embedded journalists called “whornalists.” We were very fascinated by Karskens' strong opinion, but also by the special experiences of Righton, who lives in dangerous Kabul as a female and western journalist. She is currently with her documentary Extreme life on Nederland 2 and this documentary is really cool.”
What aspects do you think science should explore further?
“What we found to be a very interesting aspect of our paper during our research was the topic framing :putting things in a framework that is positive for the other person. Convince someone by showing reality from a different perspective, weakened or incomplete.”
“To encourage engagement with the military in Uruzgan and support for the mission, the military had many journalists embedded travel to Uruzgan. This allowed them to manipulate the content of the reporting in their favor, because the content of the reporting from the conflict area not only determines what is in the news, but also how people might think about it.”
By taking war journalists to Uruzgan, they were able to get the journalists to write about how well they were doing there in Uruzgan. This is a very interesting aspect of journalism that we think deserves more attention. Many people don't know how much can be achieved with framing ."
How did writing this paper affect you as a person?
“Martine's choice to study cultural anthropology has been confirmed by the writing of this paper. Karlien found the international context very interesting, which is why she is going International relations and international organizations to study. We both found different aspects of the paper interesting and whoever found that piece interesting wrote about that aspect of embedded journalism .”
Do you have a winning tip for writing a profile paper for next year's students?
“Write about something that genuinely interests you. Otherwise it won't work. We've seen so many friends who found their subject matter boring and uninteresting and that's why they didn't go for it. We found embedded journalism very nice and topical, that's why we had fun writing about it!"
KNAW Education Award 2013 Journalism or Hoernalistiek. Tell the winners.
The KNAW Education Award is an annual prize for the best pre-university education profile papers in the Netherlands. The aim of the prize:to stimulate the quality of Dutch education. The jury of scientists assesses the pieces of work, among other things, on creativity and thorough research.
This year, 165 schools submitted 370 papers for the KNAW Education Prize. The three best pieces of each profile were chosen from all these entries. The winners will receive a scholarship of 1500 euros for their first year of study.