Journalists Discuss Peace Journalism Around bianet's Workshop

Supported by Dutch Consulate and supervised by Prof. Sevda Alankuş from Kadir Has University, bianet’s “Peace Journalism Workshop” has kicked off today with the participation of 10 journalists and 4 media association representatives. 

The workshop is taking place in Istanbul’s Cezayir  Meeting Hall where participants are discussing the difference between peace and war journalism as well as the ways to put peace journalism in practice. 

A keynote by Associate Prof. İncilay Cangöz from Anadolu University shared the results of a research on journalism. 

Prof. Alankuş: Medya loves and reproduces violence

“Media loves violence. It doesn’t create violence but it reproduces violence and it has to do with the media industry,” Alankuş told bianet prior to the workshop. 

“They think that violence sells. However, it is also in the hand of media to change this,” she added. 

Some of the highlights from Alankuş are as follows:

“Turkey is going through an important process. It is not only about the resolution process with the Kurds. The culture of violence has escalated, it became more obscured with the daily life. In an environment like this, peace journalism is not only important for the resolution process but it is something that must be used in every news piece that a division in the society.

“This workshop aimed for journalist is the first one in Turkey. I think it is very important. Because mainstream media is the motor of this. Even if we do something in the alternative media, there is no large reachout.”

Peace Journalism Project

On the first leg of the project, a press coverage study has been realized concerning the content of 9 newspapers between September 1 and 15, 2014 through a concentration on peace journalism with the coordination of Altuğ Akın from İzmir Economic University. 

In the upcoming month, four more workshops will be held based on this report. The workshops will be realized with representatives from media organizations, news editors as well as ombudspeople, right organizations and academics from communication studies. 

At the end of the project, a handbook will be drafted departing from the discussions of the workshop. The book is expected to be released in print and online. The last activity of the project is a conference on peace journalism. (EA/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.