Pakistani-Indian colleagues meet, discuss reporting projects
Of the dozens of peace journalism projects I’ve taught in 32 countries, few match the success of the Cross Border Reporting workshops that I’ve been involved with since 2018.

Thus, I was thrilled to reconnect yesterday with my Indian and Pakistani journalist colleagues in a new zoom meeting series called, Cross Border Conversations.

From Himal SouthAsian news

The Cross Border Reporting project, sponsored by the East-West Center, has brought together Indian and Pakistani journalists, uniting them first for Zoom trainings, then in-person in Kathmandu, Nepal. In Nepal, the journalists learned reporting and multimedia production techniques alongside peace journalism. Then, we put them together into reporting teams (one Pakistani, one Indian) to report stories of mutual interest. Our most recent meeting in Kathmandu was in January, 2024. 

During our Cross Border Conversations meeting yesterday, Pakistani journalist Ali Jabir Malik discussed the cross border story that he produced with Indian journalist Diwash Gahatraj. Their unique story was about how climate change has led to more snakebites in South Asia. He discussed the challenges they faced, including skepticism about their thesis and convincing media outlets to allow a double byline featuring both authors’ names. He said the journalists received positive feedback about the piece, which has spurred further research on the subject by scientists and other journalists. 

An Indian woman whose husband was
killed by a snake, and her children.

Cross Border Conversations also included an interesting brainstorming session led by Pakistani journalist Lubna Jerar, who teased out future cross border story ideas. These ideas include:

Air quality, smog, pollution, health effects
Smog and agricultural workers, particularly women
Smog and animals
Environment as driver for wider cooperation between governments
Fake news, and combating it
How smog impedes exercise, which leads to bad health outcomes
Religion and climate change
Cultural stories—clothing, jewelry, etc.
Culture shared practices
Refugees
Human-wildlife conflicts exacerbated by climate change (pangolins, leopards)

I concluded the session by leading a discussion about the U.S. presidential election, and its impact in South Asia. I shared a Foreign Policy magazine article whose title summed up its thesis: “In South Asia, expect continuity from Washington.” I  was asked about Trump and climate change. I replied that many climate change activists are concerned about climate change initiatives and regulations disappearing under the new administration.

Our Cross Border Conversations event will be held quarterly. I’m already looking forward to our discussion next February.

ABOUT THE EAST-WEST CENTER: The East-West Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, international educational institution whose mission is to promote better relations and understanding among peoples in the Indo-Pacific region. EWC does this through cooperative study, research, dialogue, and immersion experiences, including programs designed to train and connect journalists.