Event to celebrate PJ Center's 10th Birthday
An international peace journalism symposium is being held on Wednesday, 2 March to celebrate the center's 10th birthday. The event, featuring experts from five continents, is being held via zoom. 

The symposium will mark the Center for Global Peace Journalism 10th anniversary by looking back on the Center’s accomplishments, and ahead to the future of peace journalism with leading experts from around the world. The complete program is below.

You can access the event at https://park.zoom.us/j/93231286343. No password is required.

The live 90 minute event will begin at 10am US Central Time (Kansas City/Chicago). This is 11am Eastern time (New York, Washington).

Everyone is invited! Please spread the word!

Center for Global Peace Journalism 10th Anniversary Symposium
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
10:00am-11:30am US Central time, on Zoom

 https://park.zoom.us/j/93231286343 No password required

(11:00am US Eastern time; 9:30pm India; 9:00pm Pakistan; 6:00pm Lebanon; 4:00pm Mali and Northern Ireland; 10:00am Zacatecas, Mexico; 3:00am Australia)

Program
10:00
Welcome—Shane Smeed, President, Park University

10:05
Celebrating the Center for Global Peace Journalism—Steven Youngblood, Founding Director, Center for Global Peace Journalism

10:10
Keynote address-Dr. Jake Lynch-University of Sydney
“25 Years of Peace Journalism”

10:20
Panel—Peace Journalism Around the World
Each panelist will present for 5 minutes, followed by a moderated discussion

Lebanon-Vanessa Bassil
India and Pakistan—Lubna Jerar, Pratyush Ranjan
Uganda—Gloria Laker
Cameroon--Rose Obah Akah
Mexico—Cristina Avila Zesatti
Northern Ireland—Una Murphy

11:10
Concluding address-Kathryn Johnston, VIEW digital, Northern Ireland
“Reaching the Future Through the Past”

11:20
Q and A

11:25
Closing remarks—Lynch/Youngblood

Connecting to the world with peace journalism
Editor's Note:
Global Ties Kansas City "develops sustainable international relationships and personalizes global diplomacy" by connecting Kansas Citians to visitors from around the world. Toward this end, they are launching an initiative called DiverseKC that will capture stories about how KC is connected to the world. They have asked me to write a blog about my experiences teaching peace journalism worldwide. That blog is below.  

About 12 years ago, while I was teaching on a Fulbright Scholarship in Azerbaijan, the U.S. Embassy called and asked if I knew anything about peace journalism. and if I would be interested in teaching a peace journalism seminar in neighboring Georgia. Of course, I gushed, “I am practically an expert on peace journalism.” When I got off the phone, I Googled peace journalism.

That phone call turned out to be one of the most serendipitous moments of my professional life.

In the years since, I have taught peace journalism in 27 countries face-to-face, and another 12 virtually.* We launched a Center forGlobal Peace Journalism at Park University in 2012, and have published 20 issues of The Peace Journalist, the world’s only magazine dedicated to peace journalism.

What is Peace Journalism?
Peace journalism (PJ) is when "editors and reporters make choices that improve the prospects for peace. These choices, including how to frame stories and carefully choosing which words are used, create an atmosphere conducive to peace and supportive of peace initiatives and peacemakers, without compromising the basic principles of good journalism. Peace journalism gives peacemakers a voice while making peace initiatives and non-violent solutions more visible and viable."

PJ is just better journalism—journalism that builds bridges instead of deepening divisions; reporting that gives a voice to the voiceless while rejecting inflammatory language; storytelling that offers counternarratives to traditional reporting that oversimplifies and stereotypes. At minimum, peace journalists don’t pour gasoline on the fire, and don’t make a bad situation worse.

PJ in Action
Peace journalism, while not in the majority, constitutes an increasing minority of reporting worldwide.

In Uganda, where I’ve done a number of PJ projects, peace journalists have launched the Refugees and Migration Media Network, which uses peace journalism reporting techniques to tell the story of the many refugees who call Uganda home.

In India and Pakistan, I’m working on an ongoing project sponsored by the East-West Center with journalists from India and Pakistan who have set aside their differences to work collaboratively on stories of mutual interest. They’ve launched a website, Journalists for Change, that is “dedicated to stories that inform, inspire, and engage our communities in both countries; focus on common issues that unite us rather than divide us; and offer solutions, not just describe problems.”

Peace Journalist magazine
PJ activities around the world are chronicled in the Peace Journalist Magazine, which published its 20th edition last fall. The most recent edition, for example, features stories on media narratives about refugees in Turkey; Giving voice to senior citizens in Spain; Empowering Yemeni youth to raise their voices; Rotary Peace Center PJ seminars for Zimbabwe journalists; and Media and women in Pakistan and India.

Conclusion
While I am gratified that PJ seems to be gaining traction, I acknowledge the uphill battle PJ faces in gaining broader acceptance. Both here in the U.S. and abroad, as media practice and public discourse deteriorates, the struggle for better reporting is one worth having.

 Peace Journalism projects by country
* Austria, Cameroon, Rep. of Georgia, Kuwait, Ireland, Colombia, South Sudan, Cyprus, Lebanon, Kashmir/India, United States, Sierra Leone, Azerbaijan, France, Jordan, Ethiopia, Germany, Kenya, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa, Costa Rica, Turkey, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, Cote D’Ivoire, and Uganda. (Virtual/Zoom: Moldova, Netherlands, Belize, Sudan, Yemen, India and Pakistan, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Kosovo, Sahel region)

Jan. 6 coverage highlights need for bridge-building PJ
The anniversary of the January 6th attack on the U.S. capitol is yet another sad reminder of the alternative media universes inhabited by Americans on either side of the political divide—and of the need for peace journalism that rejects polarization and seeks to build bridges instead.

A quick perusal of news websites on the left (New York Times, CNN) shows stories that highlight Pres. Biden’s comments today about Trump “holding a dagger at the throat of democracy.” On CNN, another headline discusses “7 people who believed the big lie.” On MSNBC, a headline screams about how the “Jan. 6 insurrection was a pitiful performance of white victimhood.” Another story talks about how it’s “time to look past the mob and punish the liars who pushed them to the capitol.”

On Foxnews.com, their banner interestingly features a large photo of Vice President Kamala Harris (not Biden) along with the headline about how she compared 1/6 to Pearl Harbor and 9/11 as “infamous dates that will be remembered.” Under the large banner, one featured story was headlined, “'My training kicked in': Why one GOP congressman ran toward the danger when Capitol riot erupted.” Breitbart.com goes even further. Their lead stories are titled, “Democrat day of hysteria” and “Kamala unhinged.” The “hysteria” story smeared Harris as someone “who participated in a Black Lives Matter protest outside the White House in May 2020 just hours after rioters attacked police around the building, injuring dozens, assaulting journalists, and forcing the evacuation of the president into a bunker.” On the far right, Infowars.com completely ignores the 1/6 anniversary, instead presenting stories about Ted Cruz “stabbing conservatives in the back” and about a CNN video where a medical ethicist “calls for denying health insurance to ‘unvaccinated jerks.’”

Given the well-documented media bubbles inhabited by partisans on both sides of the political divide, it’s no wonder that so many Americans have distorted views of Jan. 6.  A December AP-NORC poll found that 29 percent of Republicans rated the events of Jan. 6 either “not very violent” or “not violent at all,” despite hours of video evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile, an American Enterprise Institute Survey Center on American Life poll found that nearly 40 percent of Republicans agreed that “if elected leaders will not protect America, the people must do it themselves, even if it requires violent actions.” (New York Times). 

As peace journalists, it’s incumbent on us to continue debunking the big lie, even as we admit that a certain percentage of the population is unreachable. Certainly, the embrace of violence is particularly alarming. One definition of peace journalism (Lynch/McGoldrick) talks about how PJ gives society a chance to consider non-violent responses to conflict. We need to redouble our efforts in this regard, and educate our audiences about the folly of violence while offering up substantive discussions of possible solutions.

On Twitter yesterday, political scientist and FiveThirtyEight contributor Lee Drutman wrote, “Dear journalists/editors: If you are writing about January 6, please consider offering some hope to escape our current crisis. An ‘everything-is-f-ed’ conclusion is demobilizing and self-reinforcing. If we are to escape this moment, we need a vision of a brighter future.”

Agreed. It’s our responsibility as peace journalists to lead discussions about this “brighter future” and how society can begin to build bridges between our polarized masses.