N. Ireland, Kosovo journalists forge professional, personal bonds
August was a whirlwind that took my colleagues and I to Kosovo, then back home for a few weeks, then finally to Northern Ireland. We were collectively tapping into one another’s wisdom about the troubled pasts that both regions are still dealing with, and how, as journalists, we can most responsibly report on issues like anniversaries, memorials, victims, trauma, and justice. (See my previous blogs for details about the trips to Pristina/MitrovicaKosovo and Belfast/Derry Northern Ireland). 

At the Bloody Sunday memorial in Derry, Northern Ireland. 
(Photo by Allan Leonard/Shared Future News)

It was gratifying to see how the project grew from an idea I had a few years ago into the initiative that brought together 20 journalists, half from each region. I was especially moved by the way the journalists came together, both professionally and personally. Project co-director Allan Leonard (Shared Future News, Northern Ireland) even said in his closing remarks in Belfast that the journalists, trainers, and project staff had united to form a family. This is especially remarkable given that the journalists are from different countries, practice different religions, and have a wide age disparity. The journalists from Kosovo were mostly in their 20’s and 30’s, while their peers from Northern Ireland were mostly, well, much more seasoned.

Their newly formed connections will be put to use as the journalists produce stories during the next month in teams of two (one reporter from Kosovo, and one from Northern Ireland). They’ve selected thoughtful, riveting story topics including refugee songs and their power to integrate or segregate; challenges facing ethnic minorities and women in both Northern Ireland and Kosovo; how food brings people together; missing women; expectations of young generations (especially women) regarding reconciliation; women’s football in both places; the role of symbols/flags in reconciliation; naming of monuments; and integration of education. All stories will be explored using a gender-sensitive lens.

I enjoyed my job as one of the project’s trainers, as well as working with Allan Leonard and Xhemajl Rexha, director of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK). Leonard, Rexha, and their helpers at AJK, Shared Future News, and the National Union of Journalists in Northern Ireland developed invigorating itineraries for the participants, and overcame a million logistical challenges. They have my gratitude and admiration. Of course, I'm grateful as well to our funders, the British Embassy in Kosovo.

I’m proud of what we accomplished during our trips to Belfast/Derry and Pristina/Mitrovica. I’m looking forward to seeing the stories produced by the teams of journalists. My expectations are very high indeed for some outstanding reporting.

Beautiful, and historical, Derry, Northern Ireland

"Reporting the Past" journalists reconvene in N. Ireland
(BELFAST AND DERRY, NORTHERN IRELAND)—Sometimes, everything goes just right.

No, I’m not talking about my Belfast to Kansas City travel home, which included a cancelled flight, a second massively delayed flight, and a soul-crushingly long passport control line at O’Hare.

What went right—just right—was the second part of our project that has brought together journalists from Kosovo and Northern Ireland. Early in August, we visited Kosovo. Last week, we were in Northern Ireland, hearing about media and The Troubles, and discussing responsibly reporting a contested past, especially things like anniversaries, monuments, marches and other events, etc.

Richard Moore shares his incredible story

Everything went right (as it did in Kosovo) thanks to our local host Allan Leonard and his colleagues at
Shared Future News who planned an exemplary itinerary for us. We got to visit with the incomparably inspirational Richard Moore. Blinded by a British soldier’s rubber bullet in 1972, he told us about his incredible journey, one unencumbered by even the slightest whiff of anger or bitterness. He met the shooter 33 years after the deed, a day he called “one of the best of my life.” The two frequently give presentations together. His reflections on forgiveness were especially poignant. “Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself,” he said, adding, “Forgiveness doesn’t change the past, but it changes the future.”

We also met Paul Gallagher, who survived his own trauma during The Troubles, at the WAVE Trauma Center, which works with survivors of The Troubles with counseling, short courses, and fellowship. Importantly, WAVE reaches across divides, allowing its clients and others to hear about suffering that occurs in all communities. He discussed the nuances of victimhood in Northern Ireland: who are good and bad victims? Which victims are innocent, and which are terrorists? He then discussed NI’s segmentized society, admitting that he is a “recovering sectarian bigot.”

In-class presentations included Allan Leonard’s terrific overview of Northern Ireland’s terribly complicated history, Angela Fusco’s talk about how to sensitively report trauma, a panel discussing women in journalism, and my presentation on human rights reporting in transitional societies.

The journalists from Kosovo and I got to tour many interesting sites, including the so-called Peace Walls

Colin O'Carroll discussed Belfast's "Peace Walls"

that separate communities in conflict in both Belfast and Derry. In Belfast, we were treated to a biking tour by journalist/participant Colin O’Carroll, who showed us historical and tourist sites. 

We also journeyed to Derry, which is where we heard Richard Moore, toured important historical sites, and learned about a peacebuilding organization called the Holywell Diverse Community Partnership that facilitates difficult conversations and public forums on issues that cut across sectarian communities.

Next week, I’ll put a bow on our August visits to Kosovo and Northern Ireland, and preview the next phase of the reporting a troubled past project.

On the bike tour at Queens University-Belfast

 

Part Two
Journalists learn N. Ireland, Kosovo history, and PJ's role 
in reporting about troubled, contested pasts
(Pristina and Mitrovica, Kosovo)-Last week, 20 journalists from Kosovo and Northern Ireland gathered for a workshop focusing on responsibly reporting a troubled past. The journalists learned about the conflict in Kosovo, and analyzed the obstacles they face in reporting about contested narratives about the past. Of course, peace journalism was also on the menu.

The four day program included classroom sessions and a number of fascinating trips.  (In my previous blog below, I discussed the first two days of the seminar, including an interesting visit to Mitrovica, an ethnically-divided city.)

Journalists brainstorm bridge-building story ideas

The third day of the seminar was the in-class portion of the program. I discussed how peace journalism might inform better reporting about controversial past events and contested narratives. This included a lengthy but important discussion about the nature of the word “terrorist,” and when and how to use it. I presented the 10 principles of peace journalism, and asked the journalists which might best apply to reporting the past. Many answered “all of the principles apply,” while others picked out several most salient principles, including rejecting ‘us vs. them’ narratives and instead building bridges; providing context; balancing reporting; and avoiding inflammatory language and images.

During my presentation, I also recommended that the journalists consider producing stories that discuss the role of denial in confronting the past; how different post-conflict generations have dealt with memories of the conflict; victims, victimization, and trauma healing; how causes of the conflict are still present today; the ongoing negative impacts of the conflict—social, political, economic; previously unexamined human rights violations during the conflict; contested narratives, and the reasons/motivations behind them; commonalities between conflicted communities; and ideas about, and examples of, bridge building initiatives between conflicted communities.

My presentation was followed by a revealing discussion led by Allen Leonard, editor of Shared Future news and the project’s Northern Ireland co-director. He delved deep into the region’s history (the Norman Conquest!) before giving a brief overview of the Troubles, the period of violent sectarian unrest from roughly 1968 to 1998. Noteworthy was his analysis of the BBC’s shifting focus of the coverage, and whether it should have given the “oxygen of publicity” (in the words of Margaret Thatcher) to anti-British forces. Leonard also led a discussion about whether journalists should withhold information that would jeopardize the peace process. Are we citizens first, and journalists second?

Xhemajl Rexha, director of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK) and the project’s Kosovo co-director, then discussed reporting about the past in Kosovo. He began with a timeline of the conflict here, tracing it back to the 1970’s (Kosovo gets autonomy inside Serbia) through the beginning of attacks by the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1994, the war in 1998-99, and the birth of the state of Kosovo in 2008. He talked about one incident in 2004 when misreporting by the media caused riots that killed 19 and displaced thousands, and about the difficulty of reporting during this conflict, and in choosing language—Intervention or invasion? War or conflict? Peacekeepers or occupiers?

After the presentations, the participants visited the Kosova Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims, and the Barabar Center, a cultural dialogue hub in Pristina. They work to organize events and exhibitions that will “shift the pattern” and bring together people from all ethnicities to mingle and discuss an art exhibit, a book launch, a musical presentation, and so on. Interestingly, Barabar recently hosted a peace activist from Northern Ireland, Jo Berry, who gives presentations alongside an IRA bomber who planted a bomb that killed Berry’s father.

The week concluded with the journalists coming up with story ideas which they will utilize in reporting projects jointly conducted with one journalist from Kosovo and one from Northern Ireland.

The project was organized by the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, Shared Future News in Northern Ireland, and me, as director of education for Making Peace Visible. The project is funded by the British Embassy in Kosovo.

Next week, the project moves to Belfast and Derry, Northern Ireland. Updates will be posted on this site.

At "The Bridge" dividing ethnic groups in Mitrovica 
(Photo by Allan Leonard)

Part One:
Journalists from Northern Ireland, Kosovo convene to discuss reporting a troubled past, peace journalism
(Pristina and Mitrovica, Kosovo)-Other than being on the front lines during combat, journalists face no tougher challenge than reporting from and about places that are recovering from violent conflict. With this in mind, we convened 20 journalists last week from two such recovering conflict locations—Kosovo and Northern Ireland. Our task: to learn about conflict in Kosovo, to compare challenges in reporting contested narratives, and to discuss how peace journalism can be useful for reporting about troubled pasts.

10 journalists from Northern Ireland traveled to Kosovo for the project, organized by the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, Shared Future News in Northern Ireland, and me, in my roles as director of education for Making Peace Visible and director of the Center for Global Peace Journalism. In Kosovo, the Irish journalists met and collaborated with 10 Kosovo journalists. The project is funded by the British Embassy in Kosovo.

The four day program included a few classroom sessions, but also a number of field trips designed to educate the journalists about how the past is commemorated and reported about in Kosovo.

On Monday, we launched the program with a brief overview about the nature of memory. In short, memories are often distorted due to newly acquired information (misinformation effect), hindsight bias (people relate present perceptions with memories that they consider predictable), and the overconfidence effect wherein people credit themselves for better memory than they actually have. As journalists, I said we need to be aware of distorted memories, and how these help to fuel contested narratives, which are past events where the existing historical narrative is refuted or supplemented by alternative narratives and/or new perspectives. We then discussed the variety of distorted narratives in both Northern Ireland and Kosovo, many of which center on the origins of the conflicts, and how events and people are perceived (terrorist or freedom fighter? Massacre or battle?)

At exhibit on child war victims, Pristina

One of our first stops was an exhibit called “Once Upon a Time and Never Again” about the 1,133 children killed during the war between Serbia and Kosovo from 1998-2000. I had to fight back tears as I read the stories of kids who died, and looked at the artifacts they left behind, like shoes, a sled, and a tricycle.

On Tuesday, the 20 journalists traveled to Mitrovica, a city north of the capital Pristina that is essentially divided into two. Ethic Serbs live in the northern half. There, they fly Serbian flags, use Serbian currency and cell phone service, and consider themselves citizens of Serbia, even though their half of Mitrovica is inside Kosovo’s territory. Ethnic Albanians, who are the majority in Kosovo, live in south Mitrovica. Life in divided Mitrovica was addressed by north Mitrovica resident Jelana Rasic, who met with the journalists at the concrete barrier on a bridge that divides Mitrovica. Pedestrians calmly stroll across this bridge and around the barrier, though vehicular traffic isn’t allowed. In fact, there is a current proposal to open the bridge to vehicles which is opposed by the Serb minority. Interestingly, there was a rally at the bridge to protest this proposal the day after we visited Mitrovica.

Jelana Rasic, at the "border" between
North and South Mitrovica

In Mitrovica, we also met with representatives from Community Building Mitrovica, which is dedicated to building dialogue between ethic Serbs and Albanians. This exemplary organization is extremely active, and sponsors youth camps for young people from all ethnicities; a rock music school; local women’s organizations; and a coffee festival. They even helped to establish a peacebuilding course at a local university that is taught in English and enrolls students from across the ethnic spectrum.

In these first days of the program, I was thrilled to notice the camaraderie that the journalists built. They quickly became a team, and curiously questioned one another about the obstacles journalists face in both places, as well as the lessons they’ve learned in covering conflict.

At the end of the month,  the 10 journalists from Kosovo will travel to Northern Ireland to examine reporting a troubled past from an Irish perspective.

IN PART TWO: In part two of my report about our visit to Kosovo, we’ll discuss our visit to a peacebuilding organization in Pristina, as well as story ideas on reporting a troubled past produced by the participating journalists.

Assoc. of Journalists of Kosovo director Xhemajl
Rexha discusses the "border" situation in Mitrovica.

Podcast features leading peace journalist
A new Making Peace Visible podcast (from the organization of the same name) features one of the world's leading peace journalists, Gloria Laker from Uganda. 

You can catch my interview with Gloria and hear her inspiring story here. Enjoy!

Call for Papers: The Peace Journalist magazine

Dear colleagues:

The Peace Journalist, a semi-annual magazine produced by the organization Making Peace Visible, is seeking submissions for its October edition. Submissions should be 600-1600 words, and address peace journalism/peace media research and projects. Please also submit photos, if possible. We do not run articles about general peace projects or processes unless they have a strong media component/angle.

The previous edition of The Peace Journalist can be found at https://www.scribd.com/document/718881055/Peace-Journalist-Mag-April-2024

The deadline for submissions is Sept. 4. The magazine usually fills up quickly, so the sooner you can get your pieces in, the better. Please submit to steven.youngblood@fulbrightmail.org .

Thank you in advance for your submissions.

Best wishes,

Steven L. Youngblood
Editor, The Peace Journalist magazine
Director of Education, Making Peace Visible
steven.youngblood@fulbrightmail.org
@PeaceJourn