The Iron Horse to Bucharest, or, Trenul!
I’ve always loved train travel, and thus jumped at the chance when I heard that I could take the train from Chisinau, Moldova, where I’m teaching on a Fulbright scholarship, to Bucharest, the capital of neighboring Romania. 

Before I tell you about my experiences, I am requiring you, dear reader, to watch this catchy, highly entertaining music video filmed aboard the same train I took:

As a semi-rational human, I knew the trip wouldn’t be like this video, but deep in the recesses of my calcified mind, I held out some hope that perhaps it might be somewhat lively and entertaining.

As I said, my mind is calcified.

Awaiting unsuspecting passengers in Chisinau

With nary an accordion in sight, we left Chisinau at 5:00pm, on time, and arrived an hour late the next morning in Bucharest at 7:30am. I bought a berth in a sleeper compartment, which features two couches/beds, and little else. As we left Chisinau, I was alone in the tiny cabin, content to watch the bucolic scenery roll past my window. At bed time, I laid down on my ‘Couch McBed.’ Young people: When someone my age is laid out on a slab this hard, we continuously, nervously scan the area for the presence of embalming fluids and equipment.

 Somehow, I managed to drift off.

What happened next is the subject of a message I sent my wife, which reads as follows:
"About 2:00am, there was a knock at my cabin door. I opened the door, and there was a woman there. I knew what she wanted. I let her in."

I left my wife hanging for a few minutes before I elaborated: The woman was 80+ years old. All she wanted was her bed, and for me to retrieve a blanket that was stored beyond her reach. I’m not so sure about the policy that puts strange men and women together in a tiny cabin. I know I was uncomfortable, and I’m sure grandma (great-grandma?) was, too.

My/our cabin, with two slabs/beds

On the return trip, I was on the lookout for a possible roommate, but none materialized. 

An unusual feature of the trip is that at the Moldova-Romania border, the wheels on the train have to be switched out, since one country’s gauge (width between tracks) is wider than the other country. The wheel changing produced an ungodly racket featuring the world’s loudest, sharpest metal-on-metal clanking.  On the way to Bucharest, this occurred at about 9:00pm. On the way back, it happened at 3:00am, and thus sleep was impossible for an hour or longer. Also at the border, there was a constant parade of passport control and customs officials checking your documents and luggage. No, I did not smuggle cigarettes. (Cigarettes are cheaper in Moldova, so they’re smuggled into Romania and sold for a profit. The cig question is also asked on bus trips from Romania into Moldova.)

Would I recommend the Chisinau to Bucharest train trip? Considering that I saved $200 compared to flying and the usual airport hassles, the answer is yes. If I do this again, I’ll probably buy both bunks in my cabin. This will negate the possibility of having a cabin mate, and give me room to store my accordion as well.

I did not see anyone playing accordion in this hallway.

 

 

 

Bucharest students welcome prof with attention, sharp questions
Too often, discussions in university classrooms are flat and colorless, and as a professor, it seems like you have to beg to get students to express anything more than a few tepid words. This was certainly not the case during my visit last week to the University of Bucharest (Romania). I loved it.

I was respectfully challenged by a number of students in the two classes I visited, one undergraduate and the other master’s. The most pointed questioning was from a young woman extolling the virtues of ‘citizen journalism,’ and its promise (never fulfilled, in my opinion) to decentralize the distribution of information, and provide unfettered access to information that corporate media perhaps doesn’t want us to see. She said there is little need in the 21st century for traditional media when we can get all we need from social media.

Introducing PJ to undergrads at U. of Bucharest

My retort was that ‘citizen journalism’ is akin to ‘citizen surgery’ or ‘citizen accounting.’ I asked, would you go to your police officer neighbor to get your appendix removed, or ask a construction worker to do the accounting for your business? Surgeons, accountants, and yes, journalists, are trained professionals who understand not only the mechanics but the ethics of their profession. Journalism practiced by journalists, not amateurs, follows ethical and professional codes and is edited, reviewed by other professionals for accuracy, bias, and so on. Content produced by amateurs is not vetted, not reliable, and, as study after study shows, oftentimes laced with mis and disinformation.

I was also asked if anyone will pay attention to peace journalism, given the omnipresent cacophony from online sources and a public insatiably hungry for sensationalism. I replied that studies from Dr. Jake Lynch and others prove that audiences prefer peace journalism storytelling that leaves them empowered rather than depressed.

We spent time in both classes scrolling through some disturbing news photos and discussed the use of such images and whether it is consistent with peace journalism. One student insisted that it is proper to use horrifying images of the Gaza war to awaken world opinion, while others thought these sorts of images crossed the line.

I gave the students some ideas about how a peace journalist might think about the use of images:

1. Always consider the impact of your reporting. Don’t gratuitously make things worse for the people whose stories you report, or for the general public, just for clicks.
2. Represent the event accurately. Are the images an exception, or do they genuinely represent the event?
3. Do not re-traumatize with horrifying images. Ask, what if this was your loved one?
4. Don’t intrude. The National Union of Journalists (UK) code of conduct says, a journalist “does nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest.”
5. Be careful, sensitive with children. Ask parents’ permission.
6. Reject formulaic, stereotypical images that feed into stereotypes, xenophobia, and exclusively negative narratives.

Overall, I was very impressed by the amount and quality of our discourse and the engagement of the students.

It was an honor to be invited to visit the journalism and communications department at the University of Bucharest. I hope to return to continue our vibrant discussions.

Classic-style law faculty building, Univ. of Bucharest

Fulbright Update
I’m in Bucharest, Romania this week teaching at the University of Bucharest. I’ll have a full report in this space next week, so stay tuned.

Webinars explore ‘How to Grow Peace Journalism’
I’ve been privileged to participate in and observe several excellent peace journalism webinars launched by the Media and Peacebuilding Project at the George Washington University.

Their a webinar series, titled “How to Grow Peace Journalism,” was held over 6 weeks from Feb. 28 to April 3.

I was honored to moderate the first webinar, “How to Grow Peace Journalism: Lessons from Peace Journalism Research. Jake Lynch, Professor at the University of Sydney, began with a tribute to the late Dr. Johan Galtung. Lynch posed several research questions for the audience, including does PJ exist; does it have an impact; do audiences know the differences, and is it beneficial. He pointed to research in the peace journalist magazine the shows how those who have been trained in PJ adapt a people-orientation in their reporting.

Then  Meagan Doll, Research Fellow at the University of Washington, further discuss research needed in peace journalism, include audience perceptions, journalistic practice, and PJ’s impact on conflicts themselves. Ayesha Jehangir, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney, rounded out the presentations by talking about “PJ’s blind spots.” These include reporting about but not challenging selfish interests of aggressors; avoiding a crisis of pity for survivors that diverts attention away from the source of the conflict, and avoiding what she called the “savior and victim” mindset. She also spoke about how peace journalism reflects an open, democratic, deliberative process that can challenge “hegemonic” media practices.

The second webinar, “How to Grow Peace Journalism: Lessons from Peace Journalism Practice,” featured  Vanessa Bassil, founded the Media Association for Peace (MAP), the first NGO to focus on peace journalism in Lebanon and the Middle East. She gave the history of MAP, and talked the many challenges it faces, including funding, institutional identity, sustainability, and impact.

The next speakers were from War Stories Peace Stories, which has since been renamed Making Peace Visible (MPV). MPV is a peace media NGO based in Boston. Founder and Director Jamil Simon discussed  about how peacebuilding and the media are currently stuck in a negative cycle that ignores or marginalizes peacebuilding. To that end, he founded the organization to connect media and peacebuilders in an effort to, well, make peace visible. This is done through MPV’s podcast, magazine, website, and events, like a 2018 symposium at the New York Times Center. MPV’s podcast producer Andrea Muraskin then presented information about their podcast Making Peace Visible, as well as strategies they’re using to expand the podcast’s reach.

Finally, I spoke about reporting that rejects polarizing, conflict-sustaining “us vs. them” models. Instead, I suggested that journalists should instead embrace bridge-building across boundaries. I gave several examples, including a cross border reporting project I’ve been involved with the last four years involving journalists from India and Pakistan.

The third webinar, “Lessons from Constructive Journalism,” began with a definition of constructive journalism given by Cathryn Gyldensted, an investigative journalist and author. (See graphic). She said there are several pillars of CJ that could include media that depolarize, examine context, solutions, and nuances/complexity, and promotes democratic conversations. Tanja Aitamurto from the University of Illinois-Chicago discussed the theoretical underpinnings of CJ, as well as the effects of CJ on audiences—positive effects on feelings, and negative effects on comprehension. Fascinating. Bette Dam, lecturer at Sciences Po University in Paris, also presented about western media narratives about the Taliban and its former leader Mullah Omar. 

I moderated session #5 on peace journalism in the global South. Outstanding speakers and peace journalism advocates Rose Obah (Cameroon); Gloria Laker (Uganda); Priya Sen (India); and Dr. Shabir Hussain (Pakistan) described the obstacles facing peace journalists, and how they are working to overcome these. Obah talked about the need for local voices in media and for participatory journalism, while Laker emphasized the importance of involving women and youth. Sen shared her experiences reporting across borders with Pakistani colleagues, while Dr. Hussain laid out several theoretical models, emphasizing that his research shows that PJ is not monolithic.

As a peace journalism proponent, it’s always great to see anything that brings together the PJ community. These sessions were informative and interesting, and I hope, valuable in spreading the word about peace journalism and its cousins.

For more information on the webinar series, see: https://mediapeaceproject.smpa.gwu.edu/events/ .

Connecting with PJ fellow travelers in Montreal
I recently finished a four-session peace journalism short course for what is one of the most unique and laudable media institutions in the world.

La Converse, based in Montreal, Canada, is an online newspaper with a unique mission to provide “transparent and fair news coverage (which) means first and foremost that everyone’s stories are heard. Serving the community, our reporting is focused on providing information, but also proposing solutions and ideas that bridge the gaps in the issues we deal with,” according to their website. Founder and editor-in-chief Lela Savic said, “Converse is what journalism should be: human.”

Towards this end, La Converse articulates 10 values for what they call dialogue journalism. The include understanding that their choices impact people's lives; engaging in reporting that responds to the needs, questions, and concerns of communities; a commitment to having consensual conversations, building human relationships, and sharing nuanced and untold stories; using a bottom-up approach that talks with people about what’s important to them; focusing on systems and not symptoms; building a team of journalists representative of society; and emphasizing impact over clicks by finding non-viral stories.

A perusal of their website demonstrates that they stick to these values. Featured stories include ones about the “burden of black excellence,” a Rafah (Gaza strip) journalist waiting for a Canadian visa, and a library that meets the needs of refugees. As to the promise about creating a diverse team, the staff is almost all women, and almost all women of color. Many are themselves migrants.

If it sounds like they’re already practicing peace journalism, you’re right. Nonetheless, I hope that I was able to provide some grist for ongoing staff discussions about the righteous and difficult journalism practiced at La Converse.

In my first session, I gave an introduction to peace journalism. Then in subsequent sessions, we delved into PJ applications—migration, trauma reporting, and war. During our many discussions, we agreed that, as stated, La Converse is already practicing peace journalism by giving a voice to the marginalized in their community (they have a series called “hood heroes,” for example); avoiding sensationalism in their word and image choice; and being careful to avoid perpetuating stereotypes.

We had a difficult discussion about the advisability of La Converse running a story about an abused refugee woman. On one hand, this woman has an important story to tell, one that could inspire others to seek help. On the other hand, publishing such a story could fuel the “abused refugee woman” stereotype. For now, La Converse has decided to hold the story.

In the final session, we discussed coverage of the Israel-Palestine war. La Converse exemplifies peace journalism in this area as well. For instance, they’ve written stories that give underrepresented Palestinians a voice in their community. Another La Converse tory brought together supporters from both sides to respectfully hash out their concerns. In our zoom session, we also discussed when images cross the line. When, and if, should a media outlet use pictures of bloody children, or of bodies in body bags lined up after an attack? There are no easy, or clear, answers.

I realize that “I learned as much as they did” is a cliché, but this time it’s really true. I deeply admire the work that La Converse does under the guidance of Editor Lela Savic, and will be using La Converse as an example during future peace journalism workshops and lectures.

The new Peace Journalist magazine is here!
The April 2024 edition features stories from Moldova, Zimbabwe, Greece, Nepal, and elsewhere. We also offer a tribute to the PJ pioneer Dr. Johan Galtung, who recently passed away.

You can read or download the magazine at:
https://www.scribd.com/document/718881055/Peace-Journalist-Mag-April-2024

The next Peace Journalist will be published in October, with a copy deadline of early September. For submissions and other inquiries, please email me at steven.youngblood@fulbrightmail.org.

For back issues of the magazine, as well as more information about the Center for Global Peace Journalism, see https://peacejourncenter.blogspot.com/ .

Enjoy the magazine!