AFfacts: Emotions and Bodies in Journalism and Documentary Work
The Launch of a new research project on journalism, documentary filmmaking, and embodied knowledge
- Date
- 13 November 2026
- Time
- 15:00 -18:00
- Location
- BG 3
- Room
- VOX-POP
Journalism and documentary filmmaking are often associated with objectivity, evidence, and factual accuracy. Yet the production of facts is also shaped by the emotions, bodily experiences, and situated perspectives of the people involved. How do journalists and documentary filmmakers experience the stories they investigate and tell? What kinds of knowledge emerge through emotional and embodied encounters with the world? And how might acknowledging these experiences contribute to our understanding of fact-based media production?
Join us for the launch of AFfacts, a five-year research project based at the University of Amsterdam that investigates the role of emotions and bodies in fact-based media production. During the event, the research team will introduce the project and share their individual research interests, spanning journalism, documentary filmmaking, and the intersections of emotions, bodies, and knowledge production. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session, offering an opportunity to meet the researchers, discuss the project’s central questions, and explore its future directions. We will conclude with informal drinks and conversation.
Programme
15:00-15:30 Welcome
15:30-17:00 Meet the Team
17:00-18:00 Drinks and Conversation
Speakers
Dr. Johana Kotišová is an Assistant Professor in Documentary and Journalism at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on conflict reporting, investigative and cultural journalism, and media professionals’ emotional labour and well-being. As Principal Investigator of AFfacts, she coordinates and supervises the project, while her own fieldwork examines media professionals documenting the Russo-Ukrainian War.
Natálie Zehnalová is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam’s Media Studies department, with a background in cultural studies and semiotics. Her research explores language, violence, and epistemically responsible knowledge production. As part of AFfacts, she examines how embodied and existential experiences of war shape journalistic knowledge in Ukraine and Sakartvelo (Georgia), considering their distinct experiences of Russian imperial violence.
Maciej Grzenkowicz is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam’s Media Studies department. His research focuses on multimodal argumentation in media and social media, particularly fact-checking on TikTok. Previously a journalist at Polish outlets including Gazeta Wyborcza and Radio Nowy Świat, he now investigates the role of emotions in cultural journalists’ reasoning in Poland and Czechia as part of AFfacts.
Erwin van ’t Hof is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam’s Media Studies department, with a background in freelance journalism. His research explores journalistic work, media production, and journalists’ emotional well-being. As part of AFfacts, he investigates the epistemic value of emotions and embodied experiences in political reporting in Hungary and Slovakia.
Practical Information
Everyone is welcome to attend, but please do sign-up via the link mentioned above. The event will take place at VOX-POP (ground floor), Binnengasthuisstraat 9.
