Fredrick Ogenga - Peace Journalism in East Africa: A Manual for Media Practitioners

This concise edited collection explores the practice of peace journalism in East Africa, focusing specifically on the unique political and economic contexts of Uganda and Kenya.

The book offers a refreshing path toward transformative journalism in East Africa through imbibing pan-African institutional methodological approaches and the African philosophies of Utu (humanity), Umoja (unity), and Harambee (collective responsibility) as news values. Contributions from key academics demonstrate how media practices that are supportive of peace can prevent the escalation of conflict and promote its nonviolent resolution. The chapters cumulatively represent a rich repertoire of experiences and cases that skillfully tell the story of the connections between media and peacebuilding in East Africa, while also avoiding romanticizing peace journalism as an end to itself or using it as an excuse for censorship.

This cutting-edge research book is a valuable resource for academics in journalism, media studies, communication, peace and conflict studies, and sociology.

Fredrick Ogenga is Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies; Founding Director, Center for Media, Democracy, Peace, and Security, Rongo University; and President of the Peacemaker Corps Foundation Kenya. Ogenga is championing a pan-African journalistic institutional approach for conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

First published 2020

by Routledge

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2020 selection and editorial matter, Fredrick Ogenga; individual chapters, the contributors

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ISBN: 978-0-367-25068-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-28584-4 (ebk)

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Victor Bwire is the deputy chief executive officer for Media Council of Kenya.

Gloria Laker is the director of the Peace Journalism Foundation of East Africa in Uganda, prior to which she reported on the Lords Resistance Army insurgency in northern Uganda.

Jacinta Mwende Maweu is a senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and an adjunct lecturer in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Nairobi.

Fredrick Ogenga is an associate professor of Communication and Media Studies; the founding director of the Center for Media, Democracy, Peace, and Security, Rongo University; and the president of the Peace-maker Corps Foundation, Kenya.

John Oluoch is a senior lecturer in the Department of Communication, Journalism, and Media Studies at Rongo University.

Steven Youngblood is an associate professor and the director of the Center for Global Peace Journalism at Park University, USA. He is also the editor-in-chief of Peace Journalist magazine.

Fredrick Ogenga

This publication is the outcome of the East Africa Regional Peace Journalism Training Workshop for journalists covering conflict and peacebuilding in East Africa. Organized by Rongo Universitys Center for Media, Democracy, Peace, and Security (CMDPS) in partnership with the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the two-day event brought together journalists from five East African countries Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda to develop their capacity for reporting on conflict-related issues in an objective manner based on the tenets of the theory and practice of peace journalism.

The workshop also served as a forum for facilitating discussions and networking between journalists and scholars from diverse East African countries working on peace and conflict at local, national, and regional levels. Participants also learned more about the APN-SSRC, including the opportunities it provides to support research and networking activities between scholars and practitioners across Africa. They also learned about how to effectively use peace-promoting approaches, tools, and platforms for covering and reporting stories on conflict and peacebuilding.

This book brings together and captures the presentations, discussions, and outcomes of the workshop. The chapters that follow are based on the presentations by the lead speakers at the workshop. They explore the various dimensions of violent conflict, particularly the way it is reported in the media and how such reports affect society. This analysis comes against the background of the role some media reports have played in the outbreak of violence across East Africa, particularly in fanning the embers of election-related violence or mass anxiety and fear following terrorist attacks. For example, media coverage of Kenyas disputed 2007 elections contributed to the escalation of the conflict resulting in loss of lives, displacement, and destruction of property. Apart from the adverse impact on the image of Kenya as a peaceful and prosperous nation, reports of communal and political conflict or the threat of violence in other East African states have undermined local, national, and regional efforts at peacebuilding. It is against this background that some media scholars and practitioners underscore the importance of paying more attention to the need for peace journalism as a strategy for peacemaking and peacebuilding.

These experts are of the view that sensitivity to peace and the non-violent prevention and resolution of conflict are best captured within the conceptual framework of peace journalism that, in addition to its emphasis on accurate reporting on matters of public interest, employs a variety of techniques to de-escalate social tensions. Peace journalism is not reporting that is wholly or even primarily oriented toward peace at all costs; it does not sacrifice truth and justice for a law and order type of peace as defined by the state. Peace journalism brings together certain elements that are essential to promoting peace in East African countries. The enabling elements of this form of journalism include sensitivity, agility, caution, factual information, and self-reflectivity in relation to what media practitioners put into the content of news reports and editorials.

Due to the reality that East African countries vary with respect to the nature of conflicts and the degree of media freedom, these elements may not be practically applicable across the board but will depend on the relevant circumstances. For instance, covering a civil war will differ from reporting on terrorism or political or election-related conflict. However, these elements and the values embedded in peace journalism will help foster a culture of peace and nonviolent conflict resolution across the region. It will also facilitate the creation of a media space within which practitioners, scholars, and other stakeholders can learn from and support one another. This approach to information and knowledge dissemination will foster new insights and help develop innovative journalism.