Thursday, March 14, 2024

Fulbright Update:
At university, discussions now focus on Ukrainian refugees
I continue lecturing this semester at the State University of Moldova (USM), in the journalism department (they call departments faculties here). Our current focus is on how media report about Ukrainian refugees. 

Peace Journalism lesson, Moldova State Univ.

Last fall, I taught an introduction to peace journalism lesson, including definitions, characteristics, and so on. I had the students read stories and discuss whether they were written in the peace journalism style. This spring, I’m teaching an advanced seminar on peace journalism and migrants wherein I discuss traditionally negative, stereotyping coverage of refugees, and how peace journalism can improve that coverage. Among other things, I cite a report about Online Discourse about Refugees in Moldova that reveals a Russian online disinformation campaign against Ukrainian refugees. Hate speech and “prejudicial comments” were found in 47 percent of the social media comments collected. The students aren’t surprised by this data.

Our most interesting discussion this semester has been about Roma refugees who have come to Moldova from Ukraine. (Almost a million Ukrainian refugees have passed through Moldova, while about 120,000 have stayed, according to UNHCR. There is no statistic I could find about how many of those who remained are Roma). It’s interesting to hear the prevalent stereotypes about refugees, and about how Roma refugee issues have been virtually ignored by the press here.

My classes, 90 minutes long, have been good for the most part. Just like any university I’ve taught at, there are a group of highly engaged students in each class who are extremely attentive and eagerly participate in exercises and discussions. Just like any university, cell phones are a scourge, distracting students and professors alike. In journalism classrooms worldwide, data show that the majority of students are young women. In my classes in Moldova, that trend is even more pronounced. I’d estimate that 80% of my students are young women, though in one recent class, 19/20 were female.

My classes are all in the main university building, and all on one floor. A few of the classrooms have a projector that can plug into a laptop, but most are spartan, with nothing more than an ancient chalkboard—little changed from the first time I taught at USM in 2001. Because there’s no a/v in most classrooms, I just teach without it, which is a fundamental change from my teaching back in the U.S. I’ve reverted to handouts, and I’ve printed off pictures I want to show the class.  One of the biggest changes from 2001 is that the classrooms are heated. Way back, I remember my teeth chattering during my lectures. The other big change is that in 2001, USM’s main block and hallways were clogged with students. Now, there is no crowding. USM’s enrollment must be down substantially from 20+ years ago, with many of its potential students studying instead in Romania, Western Europe, or the U.S.

The department has structured my Fulbright as a “lector invitat,” a guest lecturer, in peace journalism. What this means is that I do not have my own classes per se. I can see why they structured it this way, since there are no peace journalism courses in the curriculum. They could’ve given me a mass media or intro to journalism course and I could have included a peace journalism unit, though we were in agreement that this wasn’t the best use of my expertise.

This "lector invitat" arrangement has its advantages. I am able to still concentrate on peace journalism, and not have to worry about any other subject about which I am much less interested. I get to teach each students in the department twice—once in the fall, and once in the spring. As someone who’s taught at the university level for 27 years, the biggest advantage is avoiding the most onerous aspects of the job, grading and course administration. No papers for me! And no gradebook, grades, and, concomitantly, no annoying interactions with student grade-grubbers.

The disadvantage is that I don’t really get to know the students, since they just see me for an hour and a half in the fall, and another hour and a half in the spring. Oh, we’ve had a few before or after class chats, but nothing really substantial. I miss these interactions.

I’ll continue my work at USM through the spring semester, which will end in early June.


Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Webinars spread word about peace journalism basics; PJ & war
Even though I’m a Fulbright Scholar here in Moldova, my activities as director of the Center for Global Peace Journalism continue, including producing the Peace Journalist magazine (new issue in April!) and giving webinars to various groups around the world. 

Dr. Uchenna Ekwo, at GMU event

I presented at two such webinars last week. The first was a presentation for students at Hong Kong Baptist University. I introduced the concept of peace journalism, then discussed some questions that journalists and media consumers should be asking about war coverage. These include questions about balance (Does the coverage present all survivors as worthy? Do the stories and images accurately portray suffering on all sides? Does coverage generalize, stereotype, scapegoat, and demonize “them”? Is the coverage biased? Is it “good guys vs. bad guys”? Are voices heard from only one side?); whether the coverage is contextual; and whether peace plans/proposals are reflexibely dismissed by the media as unworkable, unrealistic, and/or undesirable.

I was challenged by one participant who believed that peace journalism is not objective. I appreciated his observations, though I disagreed. I mentioned the words of Dr. Johan Galtung, PJ’s “father.” He told me that no one accuses a war reporter of being biased in favor of war. Why can’t a peace reporter get the same consideration? I also said that objectivity is a chimera at any rate, and that journalists make hundreds of subjective choices (whom to interview, angle, lead, word choice, etc.) with each story. Why not add one more choice that considers the consequences of one’s reporting?

At the second webinar, I was one of three panelists on a peace journalism event sponsored by Rotary District 7620 and George Mason University-GMU (Fairfax, VA). I started with an introduction of the basics of peace journalism. Then Turkish journalist and educator Ayce Ozerdem gave a great presentation on the connections between PJ and media literacy, and how PJ can provide a framework for evaluating media content. I’ve often though that PJ and media literacy are two sides of the same coin—one dealing with creating and disseminating information, the other with receiving and interpreting this information. The final speaker was Dr. Uchenna Ekwo, author and president of the Center for Media and Peace Initiatives in New York. His insightful comments touched on the importance of journalism in peacebuilding, the challenges of peace reporting in post conflict situations, and the conflicting interests that challenge reporters.

It’s always great to connect with students and colleagues across time zones—in this case, the 13 time zones from Virginia to Hong Kong.

 

 

 


Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Fulbright Update:
Teacher, kids have fun in elementary school session

Don’t tell, but I cheated on my fifth graders at Orizont Lyceum last week with kids from a different fifth grade class. (I've been a regular guest speaker at Orizont this academic year).

This time, I visited Vasile Alecsandri Lyceum in Chisinau at the request of my colleague Nadine Gogu from the Independent Journalism Center.

I was told beforehand that the kids would only know a little English, so I came prepared with slides in Romanian, and expected to speak mostly Romanian myself. My colleague and I were pleasantly surprised by the amount and level of English spoken by the kids. In fact, when I started our discussion speaking in Romanian, they quickly protested, instead craving a lesson delivered in English.

I have no idea what I'm doing here.

We talked about hate speech. The discussion was interesting and sophisticated. All the students hands shot up when I asked if they had seen hate speech on Instagram, on Snapchat, on Telegram (a Russian site), and on several others. I tasked the students with deciding if items on a list I provided constituted hate speech (e.g., “Moldova shouldn’t  join the EU,” or, “Boys are smarter at math and science than girls.”)

My colleague Nadine finished off the discussion by asking what the students knew about online trolls. She then distributed excellent, colorful media literacy books made for kids, along with t-shirts to the most active participants.

The kids were bright, respectful, and smart.

As I mentioned to a friend, these guest speaker gigs in elementary school classrooms are a lot like being a grandpa. You swoop in, have some fun with the kids for an hour or two, then take off, leaving the heavy lifting to the parents, or in this case, to the teacher.

At any rate, I appreciate every opportunity to connect with kids.

 

 

Thursday, February 22, 2024

Webinar series focuses on making PJ attractive to audiences
Interested in learning more about peace journalism and its impact? You have a great opportunity to do this thanks to George Washington University's Media and Peacebuilding Project, which is launching a webinar series beginning next Wednesday.

The webinars will run every week for the next six weeks, will "bring together researchers and practitioners from around the world to better understand how to make peace journalism more attractive to audiences," according to GWU.

Session 1 on Feb. 28 will center on discussions about PJ research, will feature, among others, PJ pioneer Dr. Jake Lynch. I will be presenting during session 2 ("Findings from Peace Journalism Practice") on March 6. Jamil Simon, founder of  War Stories Peace Stories, and Vanessa Bassil, founding director of the Media Association for Peace in Lebanon, will join me on the panel.

Later sessions will focus on solutions journalism, constructive journalism, and PJ in the global South.

Admission to all Zoom sessions is free. You can learn more about the webinar series here. You can register for session 1 using this link

Spread the word. Hope to see you there!


Monday, February 19, 2024

Father of peace journalism passes away, leaves powerful legacy
The peace journalism and peace studies fields lost an intellectual and moral giant last weekend with the passing of Dr. Johan Galtung at 93 years of age.

Dr. Galtung is widely credited with being the father of both academic peace studies, including the concepts of positive and negative peace, and peace journalism, which he and others launched in the 1960’s.

Dr. Johan Galtung

I was privileged to collaborate with him on several occasions. I interviewed Dr. Galtung for my textbook “Peace Journalism Principles and Practices” in 2015. We spent an afternoon eating pizza, sipping tea, and talking about peace, peace journalism, and the state of media. It's among the most fascinating three hours I've ever spent. Dr. Galtung was polite, gracious, and humble. Even well into his 80's at the time, Dr. Galtung’s intellectual light burned bright. In fact, there were times during our visit that I noticed Dr. Galtung slowing down to explain things to me, not in a condescending way, but as a colleague and friend. His observations were insightful and profound, and integral to the success of my book.

Subsequently, I corresponded occasionally with Dr. Galtung up until the last few years. I would sometimes send him questions from my students, and he would answer. (Q: “If journalists believe in peace journalism, shouldn’t they advocate more directly for peace?” A: “If they advocate, they cease to become journalists. Journalists who believe in peace can best advocate by giving a voice to peacemakers, and by practicing peace journalism.”) On Twitter, he would re-tweet my posts, and often promote my peace journalism work in the process, urging his legions of followers to read The Peace Journalist magazine, or check out my blog. Of course, I was thrilled by his kind words.

According to my interview with Dr. Galtung for “Peace Journalism Principles and Practices,” he created peace journalism in Oslo “in the early 1960’s.” Dr. Galtung said he coined the term because he believed “journalists have to learn to write about peace and core structural issues, and to focus on common people.” He said he was encouraged to develop the concept, in part, due to a 1960’s study that showed that foreign news was largely negative; often included an actor (bad guy); featured elite people; and centered on elite countries.”

Dr. Galtung’s original concept was further developed in a bucolic setting at the Taplow Court estate in southern England in August, 1997. This estate, home of the UK cultural center of Soka Gakkai International, a Japanese Buddhist organization, hosted a meeting with Dr. Galtung, Jake Lynch, and other journalists. At the meeting, participants discussed developing “a pattern for many an attempt to bring journalism and Peace and Conflict Studies to bear upon one another.” This meeting in turn led to a project by Lynch called “Reporting the World,” which ran from 2001-2005 and launched a discussion among London journalists about conflict reporting and journalists’ role in mitigating, alleviating, and transforming conflicts. Peace journalism was off and running.

Dr. Galtung was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, and made the short list of 32 individuals who were considered for the prize (he didn’t win). His nomination, from Prof. Richard Falk of Princeton University and the Univ. of California-Santa Barbara, stated, “Johan Galtung has been the sort of dedicated warrior for peace that it seems to me the Nobel Prize was created to honor. By so doing, (this will) raise public consciousness of what must happen if we are to overcome the war system and enjoy the material, political, and spiritual benefits of living in a world of peace premised on the nonviolent resolution of disputes among sovereign states and respect for the authority of international law.

"For decades Johan Galtung has been an inspirational presence in the field of peace studies broadly conceived. His exceptional vitality and mobility has brought this message of understanding and insight into peace with justice to the four corners of the planet in a remarkable fashion that is truly unique in its educational and activist impact. It is no exaggeration to write that he invented and established the field of peace studies as a respected subject of study in institutions of higher learning throughout the world. As a consequence of his charismatic speaking ability and seminal writing Johan Galtung has reached the hearts and minds of thousands of people throughout the world, conveying the belief above all that peace is possible through the dedicated efforts of ordinary people.”

Dr. Galtung founded Transcend International, which hosts hundreds of his articles, and pieces from others, on peace journalism and other peace-related topics. A complete biography listing his many accomplishments and awards can be found on the Transcend website as well.  Also see an interesting article in The Guardian that includes his thoughts on the negativity of news. 

Thanks to Dr. Galtung, we now understand that peace is much more than just the absence of war, and that media have a role to play in mitigating conflict.

Even after his passing, Dr. Galtung's work will continue to provide a much-need beacon to light our path through these dark, troubled times.