On July 6th, the 2nd peace media forum in France was held at Cocoon Nation-Auguste in Paris with the theme of ‘What is the peace journalism?’. In attendance with 20 participants including journalists and citizens, the forum had a discussion to seek the practical action plans to realize “Peace Journalism”.
The 2nd Peace Media Forum was made up with the time to discuss the ways for journalists to practice peace journalism in disseminating peace-related news articles.
Makaila N’guebla, journalist and blogger, from Maison des Journalistes said, “We can come closer to peace on the globe if the journalists in the world put collective effort to build an individual peace network” and actually proposed the idea of creating a “Peace Network of Journalists” which brought lots of agreement from the participants including the journalists and citizens.
Sakher Edris, journalist and general secretary of Syrian Journalists Association, also from Maison des Journalistes said, “I acknowledge much the value of peace journalism as a Syrian. Media in the world tend to release articles oriented in violence, conflicts, negative and sensational sources. I think media can play big roles to accomplish peace if they release articles more balanced and fair way.”
“Majority of nations on the planet claim that they are ‘republic’, yet it seems that they hinder peace-building work being the ‘fake republic’ in a way that many leaders try to control the civil society for their own profits such as money and power. I think that a better world will come if the children who will lead the future learn about the value of co-existence and peace from young age,” he added.
Philippe Triay, journalist at France Télévisions, emphasized the necessity of building the peace network of journalist and the cooperation with HWPL saying, “In often case, journalists have a hard time to select the theme of the articles because the editors decides such things. Thus, I also believe that building an independent peace network of journalist with HWPL would enable us to practice the peace journalism with big volume of information but apart from the frame of power and the interest in the society.
Sarah Manar, 25 years, Barrister commented, “I think an idea about ‘building a peace network of journalist’ is worth of being considered and it will be a good way to actually practice the peace journalism.'” She added, “I also figured out that journalists can’t write an articles only according to their own will or intention. I think it would be very nice if the journalists will be put in a circumstances where they can write articles for common good for citizens and the value of co-existence but apart from politic and social interests. And I think this ‘Peace Network of Journalists would be the first step to make it.”
Wahip-Lucas Makhlouf, a coordinator of the PR department of HWPL commented in regard to such messages, “As we prepared the event this time, it was very impressive to see the journalists studying the role of journalists to accomplish not only peace journalism but also peace itself. I think that ‘building a peace network of journalist’ is such a great idea and HWPL is willing to cooperate to make this idea realized if the journalists want.”
HWPL, the host organization of this forum, is an international NGO affiliated with the UN ECOSOC consultative status. It has been doing many actions to plant the value of peace in the each sectors of nations, such as politics, socials, religions, and more.
Matter of fact, Peace forums by HWPL have been held 40 times since November 2016 to facilitate peace journalism and peace-related news coverage with 176 journalists from 22 countries.