Peace journalism Myth or Reality

Loose gate keeping and ethnic influences witnessed radio Mille Collines the Rwandan radio fueling hatred in the Hutu and Tutsi venom that swept away eight hundred thousand people in one hundred days in 1994.
The event in Rwandan recorded a classic case of media failures and the human casualties, propelling media scholars and Peace building experts to adventure and carve the must read capsule of media reporting with peace building and sustaining flair.
Students of Mass communication and practicing journalists have repeatedly argued that Social responsibility theory compels journalists to be circumspect about their environment and the need to report for the cohesions of the society in mind.
The concept of peace reporting took center stage during the Media 21 Geneva Peace journalism training on The Media in the environment of peace and hostilities, held from May 18-22 in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The Media 21 training concepts propelled by hands on and respected media experts who covered the world and the many hot spots have successfully harnessed Geneva reputation as a hub for multi-national actors and matching the results on the ground.
But the controversial subject of peace and journalism added a unique twist and dimension to the gathering dominated by experts and media experience sharing.
The event held in collaboration with the Geneva Center for Security Policy, had in attendance journalist from Kosovo, Sudan, Palestine, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Jordan among others.
The Swiss outfit of respected global media watch dog Reporters Sans Frontiers or Reporters Without Borders brought to sharp focus it’s world wide pasture seeking to protect journalists and partnering with global partners to earn freedom for journalists behind bars and several being persecution for their reportage.
Therese Obrecht Hodler of RSF Switzerland outlined the cardinal initiative associated with journalism in fragile political terrains and the need to keep focus on their harmony of their societies and still reporting with professionalism.
Yves Laplume head of editorial of Foundation Hirondelle, the Lausanne based group that has promoted good journalism and democracy through equal assess radio, emphatically stressed that there exist good journalism.
Laplume’s outlet continues to influence democratization in key areas of the continent.
During Liberia’s first post war election in 1997, Star Radio, under Foundation Hirondelle, provided a platform giving diverse political actors unfettered assess to the population.
The election that eventually brought to power ex-rebel leader and now indicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor was hit by concerns of an unleveled playing field in several areas.
Though the station was finally closed by the Taylor government, it has now returned to Liberia though under-funded.
Laplume argues that in any environment where the basic professional precepts are respected the urgency for peace and specific concept of journalism will not be a necessary.
He doesn’t seem to flow along the concept that journalists be drilled into additional skills about reporting style to effectively function in a harsh and peace searching society.
Nasser Attia, the Palestinian journalist from the Gaza strip, reflected on the challenges associated with covering the uneasy holy land.
Nasser asserts that local media have been ignored in covering events with the bigger western press taking credits for dedication and sacrifices of local journalists reporting about the world worse events.
But the complicity about reporting with the tactfulness and caution in a fragile terrain was further highlighted by Inter-Peace Director General Scott Weber.
Weber explained that the coverage of events can be a key factor in consummating peace deals or worsening conflicts.
He informed the gathering that experiences in the middle-east and other parts of the globe have shown that negations have been aborted by reportage that lack the awareness of the environment.
The gathering, held in the headquarters of the World Meteorological Center in Geneva few blocks away from the headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, clearly reflects the contentious nature of journalists’ debates.
Frankly—the intensity of the debate—reflects that one’s position on the matter is significantly dependent on where he or she is situated. The discussion brings to mind a legal issue that embroiled Liberian journalists few years ago. Bobby Tapson [deceased], along with three editors—Jerome Dalieh James Butuah and Abdullah Dukuly of News Newspaper—were arrested and place behind bars for espionage.
The government of ex-President Taylor, by 2001 was engaged with rebels seeking to topple his regime, the economy was in shambles and civil servants salaries not being pay.
The News reported that the government had bought a helicopter gunship amidst the dying economic concerns. Hopes were fading for free and fair trail with invading rebels closing on the capitol.
Then Information Minister Jonathan Refell carved what looked like a one way ticket to freedom for the journalist. The Press Union of Liberia, championing the journalists’ release and a team of pro-bono lawyers, were asked to solicit an apology from their prison cell as a precondition for the dropping of charges, something the Union accepted based on the consent of their imprisoned Media colleagues.
The lawyers representing the journalists were outraged claiming that the PUL had wasted the chance to legally determine whether espionage is a billable offense under Liberian laws.
Visiting American-French journalist and former CNN stringer Edurdoi Que slammed the action as unethical.
The freed journalists insisted that the terrain was unpredictable and as such freedom was paramount.
Journalists must strive towards all of the professional heights they can attain but the complexity and realities of their locality must be what one of the heroes of the American Revolution Patrick Henry calls the lamp of experience that guards our feet.

By Alber Jaja, member of Media21 network from Liberia, journalist working for THE RENAISSANCE NEWSPAPER, TRUTH FM and REAL TV.