This event will take place over Zoom. Registration information to follow.
“Journalism is not just about reporting facts. It is about ‘what’ to report and ‘how’ to report it.” – Vanessa Bassil, Director of the Media Association for Peace
“Peace journalism is the art of choosing healing over harm.”
- Gloria Laker Adiiki Aciro, Founder and Director of the Peace Journalism Foundation
In this talk, Vanessa Bassil (focus, Lebanon) and Gloria Laker Adiiki Aciro (focus, Uganda) will share their in-the-field experiences, Peacw Journalism in current contexts, and how they are educating others to become peace journalists.
Moderator: Lana Ulrich, JD, UN Association of Greater Philadelphia
Peace journalism uses conflict analysis and transformation to update the concepts of balance, fairness and accuracy in the traditional news reporting. The peace journalism model differentiates between what is violence-war/victory journalism and what is conflict-sensitive or peace journalism. What is called war journalism is oriented towards violence in reporting, propaganda, elite and victory. On the other side, peace journalism is conflict, truth, people and solution-oriented journalism.”
Peace Journalism is characterized by the following principles:
- – Exploration of the backgrounds and contexts of conflict formation of all the sides involved in the conflict, not just two sides as the mainstream media usually portrays,
- Giving voice to the views of all rival parties from all levels
- Offering creative ideas for conflict resolution, development, peacemaking and peacekeeping
- Exposing lies, covering-up attempts and culprits on all sides, and revealing excesses committed by, and suffering inflicted on peoples of all parties
- Paying attention to peace stories and post-war developments.
BIOS:
Vanessa Bassil is the Founder, President & Executive Director of the Media Association for Peace (MAP), a media development specialist, an expert in peace journalism, an international trainer and consultant, a researcher, a motivational speaker, a human rights defender and a peace activist. For more than ten years, she initiated capacity building and advocacy projects and activities locally and internationally to enhance the role of the media in peace, conflict transformation, human rights, gender equality, accountability, and environmental peacebuilding.
Gloria Laker Adiiki Aciro received the Luxembourg Peace Prize for her pioneering work in peace journalism and refugee advocacy. As the Founder and Director of the Peace Journalism Foundation (PJF), she has dedicated her career to training over 700 journalists in conflict-sensitive reporting, focusing on peacebuilding rhetoric and inclusive storytelling. She also founded the Uganda Refugee and Migration Media Network, launching Refugee Online News to challenge exploitative reporting on refugees. Her commitment to youth and refugee-led storytelling has played a crucial role in fostering sustainable peace.