Brainstorming ideas at workshop in Chisinau

Fulbright Update:
Journalists learn Responsibly Reporting Roma
One of the tenets of peace journalism is to give a voice to the marginalized in our communities. Here in Moldova, and throughout much of Europe, there is probably no group that is as marginalized as Roma.

With this in mind, I launched a two-seminar series on Responsibly Reporting Roma. The first event was held on May 17 in Chisinau, and the second a week later in Soroca, a city north of Chisinau with a large Roma population. Both seminars were sponsored by the Independent Press Association (API).

Elena Sirbu, at Roma workshop in Soroca

I was joined by journalist and Roma activist Elena Sirbu. She told the journalists in Chisinau about the diversity in the Roma community, including the fact that there are 40 sub-groups of Roma. She discussed the term gypsy (in Romanian, tigan), which was used long ago to describe a slave or “untouchable.” Today, this term is seen as an “insult,” according to one of the Roma panelists who presented at the seminar. In Chisinau, one journalist said that the term gypsy (tigan) is tradition, implying therefore that it’s okay to use. I replied that there are traditional terms in the US to describe African Americans, including the n-word, but that no one believes now that these terms are acceptable. In Soroca, the discussion about “tigan” was much more robust, with several journalists arguing that some older Roma even accept and use this word. Sirbu replied that it’s a little like the n-word in the U.S.—that it’s okay to use within a group of African Americans, but insulting when others use it. At the outset of the Soroca seminar, the journalists were freely using the word “tigan.” By the end of the seminar, they were not.

In Chisinau, the panelists and Sirbu all decried the stereotyping and stigmatization of Roma done by the media. Panelist Sergiu Bugai showed several examples where media fed into the stale narrative of Roma as criminals. I said that all journalism codes of ethics I know dictate that journalists not mention the race or ethnicity of subjects in their stories unless it’s relevant. So, the paper should read, “store robbed,” not, “Roma robs store.”

Panelist Sergiu Bugai at Chisinau workshop

In both Soroca and Chisinau, I presented some information about how peace journalism can provide a foundation for more responsibly reporting about Roma. This includes rejecting stereotyping, xenophobic language and images like the one Sirbu showed of Roma women in colorful dress. Roma voices must be central to any reporting about Roma communities. And peace journalists should offer counternarrative stories that debunk media created and perpetuated stereotypes, stigma, and myths about Roma. The journalists attending the seminars were asked to come up with counternarrative story ideas about Roma in Moldova. The excellent story ideas generated in Chisinau and Soroca were on religious diversity in Roma communities, discrimination in employment, schooling for Roma kids, Roma LGBTQ individuals, success stories, Roma women and mental health, NGO programs for Roma, and mixed families of Roma and other Moldovans.

I hope to see these stories online, in print, and on the air in the coming weeks.

Fulbright Update:
In Russia-loving Transnistria, journalists gather for media brunch
Though I’ve been to Moldova many times, and lived here since September, last Thursday was my first foray into Transnistria.

For the uninitiated, Transnistria is a break-away region of Moldova. In 1993, a group of Russian-backed separatists fought a brief was against the rest of Moldova and broke away from Moldova, forming what they call the Prednistrovian Republic. This enclave is not recognized as a country by any other nation, even their Russian backers (some would say, puppet-masters). An estimated 1500 Russian troops are stationed in Transnistria, Russian flags fly everywhere, and there are multiple of statues of Lenin glowering over stark Soviet-style squares.

Lenin: Right at home in Transnistria

This time, the cliché is true: I really was back in the USSR.

It was infuriating and disheartening to see the Russian flags in Transnistria, given Russia’s unjustified, brutal war against Ukraine and Ukrainians. These visible pro-Russian sentiments are evidence of the success of Russian propaganda that justifies Putin’s brutality, and the acute need for more media literate Transnistrians (and others Moldovans who consume Russian language media) who are able to more critically analyze media messages, their sources, and the motivations behind them. Putin and his anti-democratic henchmen are already hard at work spreading disinformation to stop Moldovans from approving EU membership during a referendum this fall. Media literacy is needed help blunt these attacks, which the Moldovans call a hybrid war.

Upon entering Transnistria, as an American, I was told to expect some scrutiny or even harassment at the “border.” This did not happen, and we were through the checkpoint, armed by Russian and Transnistrian soldiers, in 2 minutes. I’m guessing the fact I was with a UN delegation in a big white SUV with “UN” stenciled on the side may have had something to do with that.

The occasion for my visit to Bender was a UN Media Brunch, gathering reporters from Transnistria and the rest of Moldova to discuss responsibly reporting about refugees using a peace journalism framework. The UN Human Rights office arranged an expert array of panelists who presented statistics about the number and status of refugees and discussed how NGO’s here help refugees. Noteworthy were our discussions about Roma refugees, who face a double stigma of being refugees and being discriminated against as Roma. 

A Ukrainian refugee spoke to the group about the struggles she’s endured since coming to Moldova in 2022. She discussed how she has battled uncertainty and depression, fought to obtain health care, and struggled to find a job. “You can’t understand how much it hurts until you experience it,” she said. (I am withholding her name for her protection).

I closed the event by asking the journalists to scrutinize their own work using a number of questions that I presented. These are:

--Am I framing stories as “us vs. them?”
--Am I dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotyping “them?” (refugees)
--Am I spreading propaganda?
--Does my media outlet serve politicians or a political agenda, or the public?
--Do my stories build brides between refugees and their hosts, and between Transnistria and the rest of Moldova?
--Do I ever publish positive stories about “them?”

The session was interesting and useful, and indicative of the excellent bridge-building work being done by the UN Human Rights office here in Moldova. It’s an honor working with them.

(NOTE: The views expressed here are my own, and don’t represent the views of UN Human Rights, which of course must strictly maintain its neutrality. --SY)

Media Brunch, Bender

Harvard event posted
The webinar "How do media find room for peace" sponsored by Harvard University (see previous blog) was recorded, and has been posted online. You can find it at https://www.pon.harvard.edu/events/kelman-seminar-media-find-room-for-peace/ .

Fulbright Update:
Moldovan students learn to "Navigate the Media Storm"
Finding your way through a storm of bad information in the media is a daunting task anywhere, but especially so here in Moldova, which is trying to keep its head above water in the midst of a flood of Russian disinformation.

To help young Moldovans do this, I presented a seminar over two days for high school students that offered a guide on how to use the tools of media literacy, peace media, and peace journalism to “Navigate the Media Storm.”

At America House, students discuss disinformation

The event, organized by and held at America House, began with definitions of mis and disinformation, fake news, and deepfakes. I showed the students a hilarious deepfake of Donald Trump speaking Romanian, and talking about mamaliga, a beloved local dish similar to polenta. Then, the 20 participants and I discussed the corrosive impact of disinformation in Moldova, and its ability to further polarize the population while sewing confusion and discord.

I was joined by two of my favorite Moldovan colleagues, both of whom gave brief presentations. Petru Macovei, executive director of the Independent Press Association (Asociatia Presei Independente), talked about fact checking generally and about Moldova’s exemplary fact checking platform StopFals. He told the students about Russia’s “hybrid war” being fought online against Moldova, discussed types of bad information, and reminded the students about the importance of always asking questions about any information they come across.

We were also joined by Alexandru Ghetan, program manager for the Youth Media Center (Centrul Media pentru Tineri). He and the students discussed current examples of disinformation—for example, the viral falsehood that Moldova is going to send troops to Ukraine. The discussion also included the motivations behind fake news, which, in this election year in Moldova, boil down to, “they want our votes,” according to Ghetan.

I urged the students to practice peace media when they create or share content. Peace media, I explained, is when content creators, media consumers, and social media users make choices that can create an environment more conducive to peace. For the students, this means not creating or sharing content that includes stereotypes or hate speech, not sharing mis or disinformation, carefully choosing the words and images they use, and creating and sharing content that builds bridges and encourages peaceful dialogue.

The students seemed to enjoy the sessions, but not as much as I did. 

Alexandru Ghetan discusses fake news

Harvard peace, media event reaches hundreds worldwide
Although I’ve taught face-to-face and online in 43 countries, until yesterday, I’ve never communicated with so many around the globe simultaneously. Thanks to Harvard University’s unmatched reach, my colleagues and I visited with 202 participants from roughly 15 countries (Germany, India, Ghana, Haiti, Nigeria, etc.) about peace and the media.

MPV's Jamil Simon, on media narratives

Our webinar was tasked with answering the daunting question, “How Do Media Find Room for Peace in a World of Non-Stop Conflict?” Our panel, convened by the Program for Negotiation at Harvard Law School and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard, featured myself and my colleagues at the organization Making Peace Visible (MPV), Jamil Simon and Andrea Muraskin.

Simon, founder and director of MPV (formerly called War Stories Peace Stories) discussed negative media cycles that ignore peace and peacebuilding efforts, and their opposite, positive cycles that tell powerful, dramatic peacebuilding stories. He discussed MPV’s efforts to generate and sustain conversations between media and peacemakers, including MPV’s outstanding podcast (also called Making Peace Visible), its magazine Nuance, and its new educational programming, which I will be leading. Simon said he wants MPV to “motivate journalists to write more about peace, and more carefully about war.”

MPV's Andrea Muraskin, on humanizing the other

His colleague Andrea Muraskin then discussed  lessons about peace and media culled from the  Making Peace Visible podcast that she so adeptly produces. These lessons include humanizing “the other;” finding the drama in peace stories that spotlight “making the impossible possible;” resisting the “hero narrative” and instead focusing on collective work and programming that demonstrate that everyone can participate in peacebuilding;   building trust within communities; and utilizing the power of fiction, with the show Derry Girls as an example.

My presentation introduced peace journalism, and discussed the challenges and opportunities for PJ in a conflicted world. The challenges I presented included hate speech and dehumanizing language, disinformation, “us vs. them” narratives, sensationalism, bias and ”flag waving,”  and political and societal polarization. There are, however, opportunities for journalists even during wartime, I said, including the chance for journalists to spotlight human rights abuses and humanitarian crises, give a voice to the marginalized, tell stories through a trauma sensitive, survivor lens, and to build bridges across boundaries. To illustrate the last point, I discussed projects I’m involved with that team up journalists with their “enemies” from the other side—Indians and Pakistanis, and Moldovans and Transnistrians.

A lively Q&A capped off the session. My favorite question asked how a peace journalist would cover the campus protests in the U.S. Jamil Simon responded that a good start would be to use the “inside” reporting done by student journalists. I agreed, and added that PJ coverage of the protests must be contextual. How many of the protesters are actually violent? Does anti-Semitism drive the protesters, or has this aspect been exaggerated?

I’m grateful to Harvard for this opportunity, and to my MPV colleagues for their excellent presentations. I look forward to continuing the discussion.

UPDATE--The event was recorded, and is posted at https://www.pon.harvard.edu/events/kelman-seminar-media-find-room-for-peace/ .

(L to R)-Simon, Muraskin, Youngblood

Fulbright Update:
Connecting with English students at USM
The best interactions I’ve had with Moldova State University (USM) students during my year-long Fulbright Scholarship have actually come in the last several weeks when I’ve visited with students studying English.

First, I was instructor, judge, and awards program emcee for a video essay contest sponsored by the Faculty of Letters, which teaches foreign languages at USM. The contest theme was “Fake News in the age of Social Media.” Students were asked to create 2-3 minute videos introducing the problem and discussing possible solutions. This is a vitally important topic for Moldova, which is in the crosshairs of a tsunami of anti-Ukraine, anti-EU Russian propaganda and disinformation. 

We discussed how to produce the videos during a session in Professor Lia Butucel's English for law students class. My presentation discussing shooting, scripting, and editing was like a truncated Video Production 101. After the instructional session, we viewed their completed videos during an awards presentation April 18th at America House, which hosts English-language programs here in Chisinau. The videos were really quite clever and flowed well. There were a few hiccups, like mispronounced words, but overall the other two judges and myself were quite pleased with the final products.

Daniela Munca-Aftenev at the April 19 conference

Then, many of the same students attended a conference for English teachers and learners April 19th titled, ““New Trends in Teaching Market-Oriented Foreign Languages for Specific Purposes in Education.” The morning plenary session included my presentation on disinformation and media literacy, and an enlightening discussion about artificial intelligence and critical thinking by Daniela Munca-Aftenev, Deputy Head of Directorate-General for Education, Youth and Sport. An engaging presenter, Munca-Aftenev gave an overview of AI, and drew a link between critical thinking skills and the prompts that one types into AI generators. It was interesting to see how changing just a word or two affected the results, including  the AI-produced images that she discussed.

Then the afternoon of April 19, I gave a second presentation at America House for Prof. Butucel’s students, introducing peace journalism. One student asked an interesting question about my opinion about Tucker Carlson’s “interview” of Vladimir Putin. The quote marks around ”interview” should clue you in to my response. I believe interviewing Putin is fine, I said, if it is an actual interview. But Carlson’s fawning propaganda show, devoid of any tough questioning, was the opposite of a real interview by a real journalist. During my response, I used a mild obscenity to describe the part of Putin's anatomy I thought Carlson was kissing during this "interview." Oops.

America House session on peace journalism

At my peace journalism session, at the conference, at the video awards ceremony, and in my two visits to Prof. Butucel’s classroom, I was impressed with the USM students studying law and English who have managed to stay off their cellphones long enough to remain engaged and asked pointed, probing questions. I know they’ll make great lawyers.