ABSTRACT
Journalism means bearing witness. This increasingly requires a “global outlook” in dealing with issues transcending specific communities and greater empathy across national and tribal affiliations. These challenges are explored here as encountered in teaching the Holocaust to a multi-national group of students. We seek to humanise global issues, understand how media are implicated in genocidal dynamics, and encourage taking personal responsibility for change. We document the pedagogical issues encountered in using the Holocaust as a case study, survey previous participants in a media literacy academy to explore the educational impact, and argue for a historically rooted but globally reflective approach to understanding the mediation of human rights. We hope the lessons learned can be applied to preparing future professionals and media literate global citizens for other difficult stories that require cultural and historical sensitivity.
