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/ .