27 Aug 2014 Peace journalism in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon

Communication for Peace

Lebanon

Forum for Development, Culture and Dialogue (FDCD) organized two workshop with the aim of training young Arab journalists on peace journalism and civil peace. The first workshop took place 15-19 May 2009 in Beirut, Lebanon. Twenty-seven participants shared in this workshop (13 from Lebanon, 5 from Palestine, 6 from Iraq, and 3 from Egypt). The second workshop took place 19-23 October 2009 and was led by Professor Jake Lynch, a pioneer in the field of peace journalism. The workshops helped participants to analyze critically media representation of conflicts and to identify elements of war journalism and peace journalism in their own editing and reporting; to acquire a basic critical understanding of conflict and peace; to understand the potential impact and influence of different patterns of media response on the actions and motivations of parties to conflict; to adapt and apply concepts and techniques for producing peace journalism in their own professional context; and to integrate peace journalism decisions and methods into their own work as editors and reporters. Twenty-five women benefitted from the workshops and 22 men. Participants agreed to explore establishing a committee called “Journalists for Civil Peace”, to include all the Arab countries and work to organize workshops for journalists to develop their ability in writing balanced reports and to set up a website covering the news of the Arab countries from a perspective of peace journalism.

Final Report