Doing some research while under the weather

So you might be wondering why it has been a week since my last blog post. Well, it seems Norway has some ambition to punish me. I have been ill for the last week, and there isn't quite an end in sight. I've spent the last few days isolated in my room while the rest of Norway enjoys the beautiful summer weather. I was not unproductive, however. Since I didn't make it out to sight see, I worked on my research project instead. Here's what I'm looking at.

I am looking into the concept of peace journalism, the brain child of Johan Galtung, a famous Norwegian peace researcher. In its simplest sense, peace journalism works as an ethical framework to deal with reporting in conflict zones in a way that not only presents the facts but seeks to be a positive force to end the conflict. There is obviously some criticism of this method. Opponents to peace journalism say that media organizations are stepping out of their bounds by trying to be peacebuilders. The analysis and advocacy required of peace journalists should be done by politicians and other stakeholders. Nevertheless, I am giving this method a chance.

In the interest of making this project more than a theoretical presentation, I am going to focus on a particular conflict and the major news organizations that have covered the conflict as of late. I chose the Arab-Israeli conflict because it is a well-established conflict with plenty of media attention in times of direct action. It is also a place where media has often failed to accurately depict the conflict for a global audience.

Hopefully something good will come out of the time spent on this project. I would like to help my audience, whoever that might be, to put more faith in journalism as a legitimate means to acquire accurate information that can help them in their daily lives. Too many times, I've had to endure conversations about the ills of the media. How the media is obsessed with celebrities. That the media is all about sensationalism. They tell me the media blatantly lies, or that it has its own agenda. Maybe a quick introduction to an ethical form of journalism would change their minds. I plan to look at how organizations like Al Jazeera English have done an excellent job with conflicts in the Middle East, and how their work has actually influenced public opinion for the better. That's quite a tall order for a 10 minute presentation, but I'll give it a shot.