Engendering Peace Journalism

A presentation at the 3rd

“Women Making Air Waves of Peace”

NDFCAI-WED Training Center

Cotabato City

Thursday, July 5, 2007 by Lina Sagaral Reyes

Mindanao Women Writers (Min-WoW), Inc.

Engendering Peace Journalism

• 1.a What is peace and conflict journalism/conflict-sensitive reportage

• 1.b Characteristics of war journalism

• 1.c. Characteristics of peace journalism

• 1.d. From war to peace journalism, an exercise

• 2.a.What do we mean by ‘engendering’ peace and conflict coverage?

• 2.b.What are the practical strategies to engender peace and conflict reportage?

• 2.c.A group exercise on engendering peace and conflict reportage

Peace Journalism(according to Lynch and McGoldrick)

• 1.) Journalists, including editors and reporters, choose certain stories they report or write and how to report or write them

Peace Journalism

• 2. Because of the kind of stories they produce and how they are produced, readers and listeners are then given opportunities to consider and value non-violent responses to conflict

War/Violence Journalism

• Johann Galtung observed: Western mainstream media during the last 100 years is focused mostly on war reportage which is characterized by sensationalism and violence

War Journalism’s four (4) characteristics/elements

• War/Violence-Orientated

• Propaganda-Orientated

• Elite-Orientated

• Victory-Orientated

War-Orientated

• Demonizes ‘enemies’

• Focuses only on visible effects of conflict

• Focuses only on the violence

• See ‘them’ /’the other’ as the problem

• Reactive, waits till violence erupts before reporting

• Focuses only on two parties (enemies at war)

War-Orientated

• It is not difficult to find examples of war-orientated stories because they abound. Can you think of examples of War-Orientated Reportage from the materials you brought with you?

• Let’s listen to a brief radio newscast (“the killing of Untol Abdullah”) from Action Radio NDBC Balita, 7 a.m. newscast, February 2, 2007, Malu Cadelina-Manar

• … Kinumpirma ni 6th Infantry Division spokesperson Col. Joselito Ando na patay na ang magsasakang si Untol Abdullah, tagapangasiwa ng sakahan ng Midsayap ABC president at councilor Edgar Ostique.

• Ayon kay Ando, dinukot ng tropang MILF 105th base kumander Jade si Abdullah noon pang January thirty-one, pasado alas- kuwatro ng hapon.

• Humingi pa umano ng ransom money na twenty-thousand pesos ang grupo para sa kalayaan ng nasawing biktima. Gayun pa man kinabukasan, ay pinaslang ng grupo si Abdullah, pasado alas-onse ng umaga.

• Itinali ito sa puno ng mangga.Hinihinalaang pinahirapan hanggang sa masawi.

• Napag-alamang hinihinalaang isang deep penetration agent si Abdullah kaya dinukot ng MILF troops at inimbistigahan....

• Can we identify the elements of war-orientated reportage in the brief news broadcast on Untol Abdullah death?

War reportage in newspapers

• Can you identify war reportage in the newspapers you have brought with you?

Propaganda-Orientated

• Expose ‘their’ untruths and help ‘our’ cover-ups

• Do you have examples of radio newscast showing this kind of leaning towards propaganda?

Elite-Orientated

• Focus on ‘our’ suffering, on able-bodied elite males, being their mouthpiece

• Name their ‘evil-doers’

• Focus on elite peace makers, peace builders

Elite-Orientated

• Do you have examples of elite-orientated reports?

Victory/Defeat-Orientated

• Peace equals victory plus cease-fire

• Conceal other peace initiatives• Focus on treaty• Leave a ‘finished’ war, return if old

flares up , or off to another war

Peace Journalism’s4 characteristics

• Peace& Conflict-Orientated

• Truth-Orientated

• People-Orientated

• Solution-Orientated

War Journalism & Peace Journalism

• War &Violence --------- Peace & Conflict

• Propaganda --------- Truth

• Elite --------- Grassroots

• Victory& Defeat --------- Solutions

Peace and Conflict-Orientated

• Gives voice to many parties• Humanizes both sides• Focuses on the invisible effects of war &violence• Explores historical/cultural context and conflict

analysis• **An example • Note: the difficulty in looking for ‘best practice’,

model stories

Truth-Orientated

• Expose all untruths on all sides

• Uncover all cover-ups

• *** an example of radio news cast

• story on kahos

People/Grassroots-Orientated

• Focus on the sufferings on both sides

• Give names to all evil-doers

• Focus on grassroots peace-makers

Solution-Orientated

• Peace equals non-violence and creativity

• Highlights peace initiatives, also to prevent more wars

• Focus on culture, the peaceful society

• Focus on the aftermath, reconstruction, reconciliation

Peace Journalism Checklistaccording to Indonesian Reporters

• Before you ask questions, listen and observe

• Be aware of hidden agenda and prejudices

• Paint a bigger picture without blame/put in context (separate module)

• Watch out for loaded language (separate module)

• Open up creative possibilities which may lead to healthy solutions

Checklist (2)

• Broaden mainstream definitions of who and what is newsworthy so we do not marginalize any sector

• Recognize that a certain piece of news is part of a process and is not just a series of unrelated events and try to provide links

• Be aware of how you “frame” a story (separate module)

The sliding scale The more space the journalists

find to report on the factors in the right-hand column,the further the ‘cursor’ moves

towards Peace Journalism.To create this space often

entails connecting and combining elements from the left-hand column--

to hook the readers orto provide an arresting ‘top line’

for a more process-oriented story

War Journalism

Direct violence

Govt /rebel propaganda

Terrorist

plots

sectarianism

Peace Journalism

Issues ofstructuralviolence

Grassroots activism

Rights,freedoms,power imbalances

inequalities

From war to peace journalism

• What suggestions would you have in rewriting the story on Untol Abdullah so that it becomes a piece of peace journalism?

• How do you make new a trite story of a long war? Is there a way to salvage the story?

• the story on Untol Abdullah (15 minutes)• Share your New Stories

“Engendering Peace Journalism”

• Do you have any idea how we could apply a gender perspective to conflict-sensitive reporting/journalism?

• What does this term ‘engender’ mean to you? On a orange metacard write a word or phrase to express your understanding of this word?

• In a green meta card write how do you think you can “engender” peace journalism

Engendering Peace Journalism orUsing Gender Perspective

to Conflict-Sensitive Reporting

• Gender is not just another word for ‘women’

• Instead it is the socially constructed differences between men and women which determine how we are perceived and how we are expected to behave as men and women

Engendering Peace Journalism or Giving Gender Perspective to Conflict-Sensitive Reporting

What ‘Engendering’ is not just...

• ‘Engendering’ peace reportage does not only mean: bringing a woman’s voice into a story

• ‘Engendering’ does not only mean finding a woman’s angle

• ‘Engendering’ is not achieve by just assigning ‘gender stories’ to a woman journalist

Engendering Conflict-Reporting is a complex process

• Women cannot automatically be expected to be sensitive to or interested in gender issues

• There are those who prefer themselves as journalists first and women next

• Men and women must be both sensitized and made aware of the importance of gender sensitivity in their work

Engendering is a complex process (2)

• Engendering considers the focus, the language, the perspective and the analysis

• Essentials remain the basics: accuracy, fairness and balance

• Valuing and making visible and audible the marginalized sectors and interests

Engendering is a complex process (3)

• We have to be careful not to resort to reverse stereotyping in which we simply view women as passive victims, as sufferers

• We also need to report stories that reflect women’s courage, leadership; resilience and healing; as agents of change and peace building

She speaksWomen’s Voices

on Peace and Conflict• “When women say they want peace, they

don’t imply just the absence of physical violence, but a system based on social security, equal opportunities, access to resources, distribution, economic rights and accountability” -- Ashina Kaul Bhatia, WFS-New Delhi, as quoted in Gender, Conflict and Journalism

She speaks (2)

• “Conflict does not only mean wars between or within countries, but also ethnic/communal strife, gender violence and poverty”

She speaks(2)

• “My peace is when my children and my body are secure”

• “Global security should be radically defined to embrace “the human dimension… one that includes lives free of violence - including violence against women -- and HIV/AIDS as HIV/AIDS feasts on gender inequality and war.”

She speaks (3)• “For many women the frontline is the

home” (reference here)• “...the argument is not that women’s

innocence is universal or that women are inherently more peaceful or men inherently more warlike.”

• “Engendering …needs to take into account women’s heightened experience of violence and trauma during periods of conflict, both physical and psychological, both within the home and outside.”

Untold Stories at the 2nd WMAWfP in Zambo

• Murder, rape and wife battering (forms of domestic gender violence) perpetrated by a husband who came home from the war in Jolo

• The experience of a female rebel in Zamboanga de Sibugay

• The life story of a woman community peacemaker in Pagadian

Exercise, Part One:

Have You A Story to Tell? (30mins)• Divide the group into teams of 3-5• In each team, the members must think of one

untold story on conflict in her community which can be told with a gender perspective/lens (2-3 minutes)

• The team members will take turn in sharing their stories (3 minutes each x 5 women= 15 minutes)

• After all team members have told their stories, the summaries of the stories will be listed down on a piece of manila paper. (5 minutes)

• The team will choose someone to share the list of stories with the bigger group in a plenary session(5 mins each x 3 teams = 15 minutes)

Reporting Tips on the Untold Stories

• Murder, rape /domestic violence• - Be careful about use of words like ‘victim’.

Should you use it?• Be extra sensitive when you will interview

the survivor and/or the assailant, other members of the family

• Challenge attempts to normalize or condone the crime

• Follow-up the case at the police station till to the court and even after the trial

Exercise, Part 2How would you report

the Untold Stories?• The teams will exchange lists of untold

stories listed down on the manila paper

• The team will discuss reporting tips for each of the untold story on the other team’s list(15 mins)

• The tips will be listed on a sheet of manila paper using felt pens(5 mins)

• The list of tips will be reported/shared in the plenary (20 mins)

Food for Thought

• If we consciously try to write about conflict from a gender perspective and consciously try to be conflict-sensitive, are we in danger of losing our neutrality as journalists, whtehr we are in mainstream or in the community media?

• What agenda has this kind of journalism?

Food for Thought

• An engendered peace journalism does have an agenda: it is to “illuminate women’s voices” – to make women be visible and be heard in the daily ‘diaries’/narratives of humankind.

Tumong sa ‘EPJ’

• Paghatag og kasanag sa mga tingog sa kababayen-an diha sa inadlaw-adlaw nga pagmugna og kasaysayan pinaagi sa peryodismo