Professor Karen Fowler-Watt
- Professor of Journalism and Global Narratives
- Weymouth House W335, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, BH12 5BB
Biography
Publications Professional activities Grants
Overview
Dr Karen Fowler-Watt is Professor of Journalism and Global Narratives. Formerly Head of the School of Journalism, English and Communication (2007-2018), she is research theme lead for journalism education in the Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP). As a BBC journalist, she worked in Radio 4 News and Current Affairs as an output editor on The World at One and PM and The World this Weekend, Karen made documentaries for File on 4 and she was a field producer in the Middle East, covering the Gulf Crisis and War in 1990/1 and producing news output from Moscow, Europe, Northern Ireland and the United States, with a stint as Washington bureau producer.
Karen has a BA and an MA in History from the University of Cambridge. After graduating from Cambridge, she was awarded a Harkness Fellowship to study political theory in the School of Government and Politics at Harvard University, where she also taught UG students history and literature and worked for Reuters and Newsweek... Her doctorate entitled, The Storytellers tell Their Stories: The Journalist as Educator was awarded by the University of Southampton.
Karen has recently been commissioned by Routledge to edit The Companion to Journalism Education; she is editor of Challenges and New Directions in Journalism Education (Routledge, 2023) and co-editor (with Julian McDougall) of The Palgrave Handbook of Media Misinformation (2022) and (with Stephen Jukes) of New Journalisms: Rethinking Practice, Theory and Pedagogy (Routledge, 2020).
Karen retains close links with industry, organising the annual BBC Young Reporter event and a number of conferences at BU on reporting conflict, news values and hosting the NCTJ Journalism Skills Conference . She speaks on panels nationally and internationally debating journalism ethics, trauma and journalism education. - in Leipzig at ECPMF, Beirut at MD Lab and at the biennial Media Education Summit, hosted by CEMP. Karen is a Fellow of the Salzburg Academy for Media and Global Change, where she delivers workshops and talks each summer and she works with Dutch non-profit Global Voices on a journalism pedagogy project. She is a trustee and board member of the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.
Recent grants have supported research in Colombia, working with former child soldiers, a safeguarding project for ITV and media literacy projects for DCMS and on trust and fake news. Her research interests focus on building resilience in journalists and journalism through reimagining journalism education, reporting conflict, autobiographical journalism, trauma, ethics, storytelling and marginalised voices.
moreResearch
Re-imagining journalism and journalism education: Fowler-Watt, K., and Jukes, S., (2020) New Journalisms: Rethinking Practice, Theory and Pedagogy. London: Routledge. Upcoming publication: Palgrave Handbook of Media Misinformation (co-edited with McDougall, J). Publications and conference papers on marginalised voices, trauma, autobiographical journalism and reporting conflict. Collaborative projects with Charles, M., on story listening and immersive approaches to storytelling, working with former child soldiers in Colombia.
Favourites
- Charles, M. and Fowler-Watt, K., 2022. The Tree of Love: Life Writing and ‘Seasons of Self’ by Former Child Soldiers in Colombia. Life Writing, 19 (3), 373-393.
- Jukes, S., Fowler-Watt, K. and Rees, G., 2022. Reporting the Covid-19 Pandemic: Trauma on Our Own Doorstep. Digital Journalism, 10 (6), 997-1014.
- Fowler-Watt, K., Majin, G., Sunderland, M., Phillips, M., Brine, D., Bissell, A. and Murphy, J., 2020. Reflections on the Shifting Shape of Journalism Education in the Covid-19 pandemic. Digital Culture and Education.
- Fowler-Watt, K., 2020. Global voices in journalism education. In: Jebril, N., Jukes, S., Takas, M. and Iordanidou', S., eds. Journalism, Society and Politics in the Digital Media Era. Intellect Books.
- Fowler-Watt, K. and Charles, M., 2020. Seasons of Hope: intergenerational ‘storylistening’ among demobilised guerrilla in Colombia. Auto/Biography.
- Fowler-Watt, K., 2020. The Auto/Biographical Journalist and Stories of Lived Experience. Life Writing, 17 (1), 59-74.
- Fowler-Watt, K. and McDougall, J., 2019. Media literacy versus fake news: fact checking and verification in the era of fake news and post-truth. Journalism Education, 8 (1), 60-69.
- Fowler-Watt, K., 2019. New journalisms, new pedagogies. In: World Journalism Education Congress 9-11 July 2019 Paris.
- Fowler-Watt, K., 2019. New journalisms, new pedagogies. In: Fowler-Watt, K. and Jukes, S., eds. New Journalisms: Rethinking Practice, Theory and Pedagogy. Routledge.
- Fowler-Watt, K. and Jukes, S., 2019. New journalisms, new challenges. In: Fowler- Watt, K. and Jukes, S., eds. New Journalisms: Rethinking Practice, Theory and Pedagogy. Routledge.
- McDougall, J. and Fowler-Watt, K., 2019. Media Literacy versus Fake News: Critical Thinking, Resilience and Civic Engagement. In: World Journalism Education Congress 9-11 July 2019 Paris.
- Fowler-Watt, K., 2018. Women War Correspondents: From the Frontline with Empathy. BSA Auto/Biography Yearbook.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person's work contributes towards the following SDGs:
Quality education
"Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all"
Peace, justice and strong institutions
"Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels"
Partnership for the Goals
"Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development"
