Peace Journalism: Dialog for Democracy and Democratic Media - Report Example

TOPIC: PEACE JOURNALISM (NAME) (COURSE NAME) (INSTITUTIONS NAME) 26th FEBRUARY 2009 Peace journalism reporting (proposal) 8 dead as gunman attacks school in Jerusalem (Sydney Morning Herald, March 7. 2008, eight dead as gunman Infiltrates school) Eight Jewish students have been killed by a gunman during the ongoing war in the Middle East, at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem. The Israeli police reported that the gunman, Alaa Abu Dhein hailed from east Jerusalem. The man had been an employee of the school in which the students aged in their 20s attended the religious classes. Dhein aged 20, succeeded in hiding a small gun and an AK – 47 rifles inside a box into the school at 8.30pm on Thursday local time and shot at eight students. Police intervention An Israeli soldier who was off-duty but happened to be around shot the gunman dead as an intervention measure to stop more killings. The grieving students came together to encourage one another in the wake of these killings. The police have acted fast to probe into this sad episode and bolster security measures to cushion the residents especially school children against such acts of violence and prevent the occurrence of such incidences elsewhere in the region. As a result of the attack, there has been a heavy presence of police patrols to ensure that the residents are encouraged and do not lose hope about peace and security efforts that can be achieved in the Middle East. Aryeh Mekel, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday that in spite of the attack talks that are aimed at bringing peace in the Middle East will continue between Israel and Palestine, and this is likely to give hope to residents as well as encourage both parties to a quick resolution to the conflict in Gaza. The attack might have been encouraged by the fact that Dhein is a man with social disorder. Four months ago, it is reported that the gunman had been arrested and put in an Israeli prison for two months. The attack was made possible by the fact that the area where the shooting took place, Mercaz Harav Yeshiva is a right- winged spiritual centre for Israel’s religious settler movement and that the conflict in Gaza is more or less religious oriented. Following the attack, the international community has widely seen the need to have a quicker and yet long lasting solution to the Gaza conflict. Countries such as the United States of America, France, Britain and Germany to mention a few are united in their divergent views and agreed that Gaza need to be given priority in as far as world security is concerned. The two factions in the warring Middle East are also giving their good will to commitment to a peace pact. For example, Mahoud Abbas who is the chairman of the Palestinian Authority has condemned the attack as well as the Israeli authorities. The world unity body (United Nations) through its secretary general Ban Ki-moon has also been disappointed by the attack. The event is a disturbing one on citizenry of Israel in around two years. Israel has realized relative peace and security inside Jerusalem for the last four years. Need for a peace resolution The attack therefore, has brought down the security developments that had been achieved as part of peace efforts in the region. There is still hope though as the two major organizations that has recently been liked to such attacks; Hamas and Hezbollah have denied being responsible for the attack. However, a less talked about group called ‘Galilee Freedom Battalions’ has claimed responsibility. The attack could have therefore been as a result of trying to seek for attention by the group. Earlier, the Israeli in their quest to stop rockets being fired from Gaza into its territory launched an offensive that the United Nations has reported killed more than 120 Palestinians. By general consensus it is agreed that every community has a right to defend its borders and territory against external or internal aggression .However, military alone can not succeed. Force that is associated with military action is more destructive as the people who suffer are civilians. In the Israel attack on Gaza, fifty two of the 120 killed were civilians 27 being children. Many people are of the opinion that military action is likely to evoke more violence. Helena Cobban is an expert in the Middle East who specializes in the analysis of conflict-resolution. She intimates that for there to be a ceasefire Israel must cede some grounds and negotiate with Hamas group. Although the leadership in Israel is not willing to take this step, the truth is that a solution is imminently required. Efforts should be made to encourage the United States of America backed peace process to include Hamas in the talks. This is because the movement won the January 2006 Palestinian elections. Cobban has reported that political inclusiveness is vital so that Hamas can also be included in the talks. Overlooking such a fact can lead to frustration, and thus cause more violence by the Hamas as they will feel ignored. Daniel Levy is the director of the Prospects for Peace Initiative and the Middle East Initiative. He has suggested that the merit of including all factions including Hamas to the negotiating table can be valuable for the peace process. He adds that this can lead to“de-escalation” and then a formal ceasefire. Commentary The above report is a media intervention exercise about peace journalism. It is a proposal about how reporters can be involved in peace efforts in a region that can bring about conflict resolution. Peace Journalism is a form of journalism that presents stories in a form that encourages conflict resolution and a non-violent response (Lynch and McGoldrick, 2005a). This is when reporters and editors filter and decide what to report, and how to report it. This in turn creates opportunities for the society in general to embrace non-violent responses to conflict. Peace journalism illuminates structural and cultural causes of war. In explaining violence, peace journalism puts first the lives of people in a war torn arena. It presents conflicts as consisting many parties, chasing after own goals, and not just a single and simple dichotomy (Hackett & Carroll, 2006). Peace journalism is a new concept that tries to offer pitfalls to traditional war journalism and reportage (Hackett, 2006). Practitioners have argued that traditional journalism emphasizes on the current conflict while not looking at the causes or outcomes. It is against this background that this paper proposes an organization dubbed the international peace journalism initiative War journalism versus peace journalism model In reporting the story above, the front page of Sydney Morning Herald dated March 8, 2008 reads ‘After the slaughter, sickening jubilation”. Then two contrasting images. The first one shows grieving Jewish students. The other one shows Palestinians celebrating as a result of the attack at the centre of the picture there is a man who is smiling with a gun pointing upwards. The image of Jewish students embracing each other is meant to depict the unmerited and unjust killings of innocent and that the surviving students are traumatized and in grief. On the other hand the other picture shows the celebrating Palestinians and the message which is clearly captured by newspaper heading “sickening jubilation” that is, Palestinians celebrating happily the killings. It presents them as uncompassionate, cruel and inhumane. The pictures present sympathy for Jewish boys but invoke hatred for Palestinians, who are being seen as the enemy. The news in the paper does not give therein any reasons for the violence, and therefore the audience has an impression that the motivation for the killings is in the inhumanity of the Palestinians. The action by a single individual is portrayed as representative of the whole Palestinian people and the entire community is shown to be guilty. This division of the factions to the conflict into the two groups of “good – bad” is a major characteristic of War journalism (Lynch and McGoldrick, 2005b). The text as well as graphics in the article is a good example of propagandistic representation of the conflict (war journalism). It does that by presenting the Israelis as the good, innocent and grieving victims but on the other hand the Palestinians are presented as killers, inhuman and cruel. The original article describes that the gun shooting of the eight in Jerusalem was followed by “thousands of Palestinians thronging the streets to celebrate as they fired shots in the air.” It further says that that Hamas calls the shootings “heroic” and “God’s vengeance”. By so doing the article draws a well defined image of the group as cruel murderers. The same article mentions in passing that about 120 Palestinians were killed during an Israeli offensive in Gaza. But it reports that the current onslaught jeopardizes the United States of America backed peace Process. There is not much reported on the 120 Palestinians that were killed as compared with the comprehensive coverage of the news of 8 Israelis killed. The paper fails to provide reasons for the onslaught against the Palestinians. In the article, the progenitors of violence are labeled as terrorists. This is another characteristic of the war journalism as opposed to peace journalism. War Journalism is likely to bring about negative feelings of hopelessness in an audience. It brings negative effects among the parties to the conflict. The effects come as a result of fuelling hatred and incitement to more violence due to the creation of enemy images in the minds of factions as they read through the news reports. The peace journalism model is urgently needed to form a standard for evaluative criteria in analyzing the content on coverage of conflict in Gaza. The model explores the root causes of the conflict and projects the future happenings if steps are not taken to avert the situation as it is now. The model is neutral. The two parties are aggrieved, yes, but the sanctity and value of human life which is being indiscriminately being lost must be upheld under all costs. The model therefore, suggests that in their reporting, journalists should disseminate information to the dwellers of the land on the urgent need to stop fighting and embrace peace. However, this has to be within the context of openness, sincerity and tolerance that will make peace not to remain a dream pipe but something that can be achieved collectively. The media is an important tool and weapon. If journalists decide to fuel animosity within a group then they simply have to report negative images to the group from their opponents. The journalists for peace can therefore, decide to reconcile or reduce the level of hatred among the communities in the Middle East by reporting on how co-existence can be achieved as opposed to who did what to whom. The peace journalism is likely to psychologically trigger a paradigm shift in the minds of readers and audiences (Lynch, 2006). The audiences in the warring camps are presented with another option of peace as opposed to the traditional outsmarting your enemy perceptions. Other people will start thinking of their community being magnanimous towards the other community with an intention of ending war and achieving peace that is long lasting. The foreign audiences will change their perceptions too. They will be illuminated by the idea of a peaceful world brought by peace within the Middle East. They will press their governments to be involved in peaceful efforts in the Middle East. The peace journalism model as reported in the above article focuses on the psychological damage and tries to investigate the root causes and these might prove to be starting points of making a conflict more highlighted rather than hidden as an important strategy of peace journalism. The initiative will shed light on issues of structural and cultural violence. They will present the sufferings of people especially the vulnerable groups such as women, children and people with disabilities. The plight of these groups is likely to touch those involved in the conflict to expedite peace resolutions. By running commentaries and graphics of the suffering of the society, those who have the wherewithal are called upon to act as they are obligated so morally. The initiative will frame these conflicts as consisting of many parties, pursuing many goals. Where many parties are involved, it is possible to ask the parties to unite for a common purpose which in this case is peace and a lasting one for that matter. The conflict will therefore be drawn from the ‘tug of war’ notion of either I loose or win but rather that because of our many interests lets negotiate that no one is left aggrieved but at the same time we value human life. For this to be so then every initiative suggested can not be overlooked by any means. The initiative therefore, demands that peace initiatives and images of solutions are made more visible to all parties and given a hearing despite of whoever puts them forward. The initiative then equips the audience to distinguish between stated positions and desired objectives as they judge whether given measures are necessary or desirable. The news are the way they are today because of several reasons. War journalism is a deliberate approach to misguide the audience by interested parties who wish to benefit from expediency in the conflict. Journalism can increase conflicts by bringing out propaganda as part of media strategy of the parties involved in the conflict. For instance, in the article on the Gaza conflict reporting, the Palestinians and Hamas specifically have been widely criticized by media. Part of this criticism comes by because Israel has its wide support from the United States of America as compared to Palestine and as a result the presentation of events as they unfold is likely to be biased. The ideologies from the United States of America are always in favor of Israel because of well established trade relations and military cooperation. Historical, economic and political factors also play a role in shaping journalism today. Historically, the journalist was supposed to report events as they unfolded without adding or deleting any items. This is because the media was supposed to present the reality and pass the test of being authenticate. The initiative will counter act this by ensuring that facts presented are true but also that whatever is presented does not fuel further turmoil but rather will motivate the audience to seek for peace in the Middle East. Economic factors play a role in journalism as getting reliable information and facts requires an outlay of capital. Lack of sufficient resources especially by local journalists to venture deep into the troubled hot spots at the same time protecting themselves have led to shallow or biased presentation of information. The peace journalism will counter this by investing heavily in the initiative through requests for funding by international agencies. Though there will be local offices in the troubled region the activities of the initiative will be coordinated from a neutral country outside the region. Politics influence the news as they appear today. Some media houses are owned by prominent politicians bringing about the conflict of interest. The initiative will be non partisan, employing journalists of high integrity and the organization’s top decision making organ will be situated way from the region to win the confidence of the parties involved in the conflict within the Middle East. The initiative derives it’s principles of operation from the fact that in war time journalism is not just an obtrusive observer but that it is involved actively in the developments within a conflict cycle. In wartime journalism can be a source of intelligence which provide crucial information that can be harnessed either to end war or even worsen the situation. Journalism can also be a combatant. In situations where peace journalism was either trying to be an arbiter or simply reporting the happenings, it can find itself between cross fires. Journalism in war torn areas can find itself as a target. The parties in war can sometimes turn to fighting the media if they think by so doing the journalists will succumb to fear and intimidation so that facts are not relayed as they appear on the ground. This is done especially when the journalism was helping to bring about end to conflict against the expectations of war mongers. Media can also be a battlefield and a weapon. Parties to the conflict within any given region or country can abuse journalism by using it to fight each other or use it as a platform to engage in a media war that is precedent to real war that can affect a country or region. The peace initiative journalism must therefore take precaution not to be used by individuals or parties that pretend to bring about peace in war torn areas when in real sense it is just a pseudo peace and merely playing public relations in order to gain political mileage. The journalism should instead be careful so as not to be seen as being partisan. Peace demands that all parties involved are tamed and encouraged to cede grounds so as to realize cease fire and reconstruction. Peace journalism therefore, should not only play the role of media highlights but also engage the parties morally urging them to use alternative ways of conflict resolution other than resorting to war. It is also important to note that the antagonists of peace journalism have argued that there is a loop between what such journalism presents and political realities (Allan, 2004). They say that the facts from sources information such as governments have been created with the intention that the media report them in such a way to pass on a preferred audience. The international peace initiative must therefore, rely on their own experience as observers, come up with own media coverage that will provide motivation for courses of action. References Allan, S. (2004). The culture of distance: Online reporting of the Iraq war. In S. Allan and B. Zelizer (Eds.), Hackett, R. (2006). Is peace journalism possible? Three frameworks for assessing structure and agency in news media. Conflict & Communication Online 5 (2), at www.cco.regener-online.de. Hackett, R. and Carroll, W. (2006). Remaking Media: The struggle to democratize public communication. (London, Routledge.York: Pantheon Books). Lynch, J. and McGoldrick, A. (2005a). “Peace journalism: A global dialog for democracy and democratic media,” in Robert A. Hackett and Yuezhi Zhao, eds., Democratizing Global Media: One world, many struggles, (Lanham MD, Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 269-88) Lynch, J. and McGoldrick, A. (2005b), Peace Journalism, Hawthorn Press, UK Lynch, J. (2006). “What’s so great about peace journalism?” At www.ipra2006.com/papers/PJWG/WhatSoGreatAboutPJ.doc. (Accessed February 20, 2009). Sydney Morning Herald, March 7. 2008, Eight dead as gunman =nfiltrates school http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/e=ght-dead-as-gunman-infiltrates-school/2008/03/07/1204780003440.html = (Accessed 24 February 2009) Read More