Reporting on Conflict | Media Watch Blog

• News source:
• 5 December 2012
• Transparency International
• Press release

A growing outcry over corrupt governments forced several leaders from office last year, but as the dust has cleared it has become apparent that the levels of bribery, abuse of power and secret dealings are still very high in many countries. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 shows corruption continues to ravage societies around the world.

Two thirds of the 176 countries ranked in the 2012 index score below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean), showing that public institutions need to be more transparent, and powerful officials more accountable.

“Governments need to integrate anti-corruption actions into all public decision-making. Priorities include better rules on lobbying and political financing, making public spending and contracting more transparent and making public bodies more accountable to people,” said Huguette Labelle, the Chair of Transparency International.

“After a year of focus on corruption, we expect governments to take a tougher stance against the abuse of power. The Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 results demonstrate that societies continue to pay the high cost of corruption,” Labelle said.

• News source:
• 21 November 2012
• Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
• By Brian J. Grim

Several recent incidents have drawn international attention to laws and policies prohibiting blasphemy – remarks or actions considered to be contemptuous of God or the divine. In a highly publicized case last summer, for example, a 14-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan was arrested and detained for several weeks after she was accused of burning pages from the Quran. In neighboring India, a man reputed to be a religious skeptic is facing blasphemy charges because he claimed a statue of Jesus venerated by Mumbai’s Catholic community for its miraculous qualities is a fake. The man reportedly is staying in Europe to avoid prosecution. In Greece, a man was arrested and charged with blasphemy after he posted satirical references to an Orthodox Christian monk on Facebook.

Pakistan, India and Greece are not alone in actively pursuing blasphemy prosecutions. A new analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that as of 2011 nearly half of the countries and territories in the world (47%) have laws or policies that penalize blasphemy, apostasy (abandoning one’s faith) or defamation (disparagement or criticism of particular religions or religion in general).

• News source:
• 8 November 2012
• ADR Tech Blog
• By Bill Warters

From Conflict to Cooperationis a lovely series of five cartoon-style booklets from Cooperatives UK which aim to help groups not only deal with conflict when it arises but also to avoid unnecessary conflict…

• News source:

CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION ETHIOPIA
THE GENESIS
_____________________________________________________

A FILM BY STEPHEN HERMAN
(WATCH TRAILER HERE)

Shot in Ethiopia by a Canadian lawyer, this film shares the message that when it comes to dealing with crime, establishing an effective justice system begins with the proper collection of evidence. Viewers get a fascinating glimpse into the struggles faced by victims of gender-based crimes and the Ethiopian Police and prosecutors investigating these cases. It documents the partnership between a Canadian and Ethiopian agency and their work with Ethiopian police and prosecutors to increase their capacity to respond through enhanced crime scene investigation skills.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22ND, 2012

7:00 INTRODUCTION: DARIN THOMPSON
Legal Counsel, Dispute Resolution Office, BC Ministry of Justice
Justice Education Society Board Member

7:15 FILM SCREENING
8:15 Q&A PANEL
• Evelyn Neaman, International Program Manager, Justice Education Society
• Shannon Halyk, Prosecutor, Criminal Justice Branch, BC Ministry of Justice
• Stephen Herman, Filmmaker/Lawyer, Scarborough Herman Bluekens, New Westminster, BC

AT: UVIC FACULTY OF LAW
Murray and Anne Fraser Building, Room 159

RSVP REQUIRED
PLEASE RSVP TO daniela.gardea [at] justiceeducation.ca

Project undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

Event eligible for “Continuing Professional Development Credits” with the Law Society of BC.
____________________________________________________________________________________

WWW.JUSTICEEDUCATION.CA/INTERNATIONAL

Poster (pdf)

• News source:
• Canadian Mennonite
• By Carl DeGurse

A federal government agency has warned Canadian Mennonite about publishing material that could rally its readers to oppose specific politicians and political parties. A letter to the magazine from Canada Revenue says: “It has come to our attention that recent issues . . . have contained editorials and/or articles that appear to promote opposition to a political party, or to candidates for public office.”

• News source:

A Child’s View From Gaza Exhibition – Tues., Nov. 6 – Tues., Dec. 4, 2012, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (details below)

Public Reception for A Child’s View From Gaza – Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, 7:00 p.m. (details below)

Exhibition:
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), Victoria Chapter, is delighted to announce the presentation in Victoria of a fascinating and heart-wrenchingly beautiful collection of drawings by children and youth from Gaza. The exhibition, A Child’s View from Gaza, features 20 drawings by children in Gaza from 5 to 14 years of age, created during the course of art therapy. The exhibition reflects the children’s perceptions of the Israeli offensive against Gaza, which took place from December 27, 2008 to January 17, 2009. Each drawing is unique in its perspective and details.

Public Reception:
CPJME is holding a public reception and viewing of A Child’s View From Gaza exhibit, at the A. Wilfrid Johns Gallery, Faculty of Education, MacLaurin Building-A Wing, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, at 7:00 p.m.

There will be a presentation by Dr. Robert Dalton, Art Education Professor, at the University of Victoria. Dr. Dalton’s Ph.D. dissertation was focused on the theme of children’s war drawings, and since then he has studied collections of drawings from Iraq, Afghanistan and other regions of the world, where the lives of children and youth have been affected by conflict. As well, he has studied art collections where peace, a much more hopeful and uplifting topic, was the theme.

Refreshments will be served. Live Arabic music will be performed. Short film clips (The Future for Gaza’s Children-An Interview with Dr. Eyad al-Sarraj, Psychiatrist; Samouni Street; and Gaza: Did You Know?) will be shown. Guests will be invited to participate in an art activity. A Gazan/Palestinian cultural display will be on hand.

CJPME gratefully acknowledges the A. Wilfrid Johns Gallery for providing this venue.

• News source:
• 15 October 2012
• Toronto Star
• By Susan Delacourt

Bullying is the topic up for debate in the House of Commons today. You may be saying: “At last!” ….

Although it’s a very worthy and timely topic, I’d argue that MPs, political folks and yes, even journalists could make this conversation far more meaningful today if they talked about their own practices on this score; their failure to lead by example.

• News source:
• TopShotUS
• By Singer, Jackie Evancho

• News source:
• 15 October 2012
• Daily Times

KARACHI: Hundreds of Pakistani students and journalists remembered the US journalist, Daniel Pearl, at 11th Annual Daniel Pearl World Music Day observed in Karachi…

The musical tribute was paid under theme of ‘Harmony through humanity’. Over 350 Pakistani students and journalists celebrated the positive vision to stand up for tolerance through words and music.

• News source:
• 14 October 2012
• All Africa
• By Nurudeen Oyewole

Lagos — Tony Oyatedor is a veteran journalist and publisher of Newstime International newsletters. He insists that Nigerian media has the magic wand to bring about peace in the country. He spoke exclusively to Sunday Trust. Excerpts:

• News source:
• 11 October 2012
• Huffington Post
• By Sanjay Sanghoee

In the wake of noted economist Paul Krugman’s criticism of journalists for their shoddy analysis of the presidential debates, the recent remark that veteran newsman Ted Koppel made during a face-off with Bill O’Reilly of Fox News seems particularly relevant. He said that the sensationalist and often biased news media of today, on both the left and the right, are not just covering the partisanship in American politics but actually encouraging it.

• News source:
• 2 October 2012
• Yes! Magazine
• Alice Walker spoke to YES! about the challenges of working for change, and the possibility of living with awareness—and joy.
• By Valerie Schloredt

Alice Walker is a poet, essayist, and commentator, but she’s best known for her prodigious accomplishments as a writer of literary fiction. Her novel The Color Purple won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in 1983 and quickly became a classic of world literature. Set in an African-American community in the rural South during the decades before World War II, the novel is told in letters written by Celie, a woman who survives oppression and abuse with her spirit not only intact, but transcendent.

Walker’s writing is characterized by an ever-present awareness of injustice and inequality. But whether describing political struggle—as in Meridian, which deals with the civil rights movement—or meditating on the human relationship to nature and animals, as in her latest book, The Chicken Chronicles, her work conveys the possibility of change. In Walker’s vision, grace is available through love and a deep connection to the beauty of the world.

Walker was born in the segregated South, the eighth child in a family who made their living as sharecroppers in Georgia. She came of age during the civil rights movement, and emerged early in her career as a defining voice in feminism and an advocate for African-American women writers. She is a prominent activist who has worked, marched, traveled, and spoken out to support the causes of justice, peace, and the welfare of the earth.

• News source:
• 3 October 2012
• Journalists for Human Rights | Press release
• Canada's leading media development organization kicks off an online drive to fund training for journalists on the elections beat in Sierra Leone.

TORONTO – Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), Canada’s leading media development organization, is launching the Sierra Leone Election Drive to raise awareness of the upcoming presidential elections in Sierra Leone and to raise funds to continue JHR’s journalist training programs in the country.

On November 17th, 2012 Sierra Leone will hold the third democratic election since the end of its devastating civil war in 2002.

Given the vital role media plays in setting the tone of an election, JHR’s presence could mean the difference between a peaceful election or a return to violence.

• News source:
• 26 September 2012
• Guardian
• By Leo Traynor

He drove me off Twitter, hacked my Facebook, and abused and terrified my family. Yet the biggest shock of all was meeting him

I’m back on Twitter.

I can imagine the cries of “I knew he wouldn’t last!” from the Twitterati.

But give me a few minutes of your time and I’ll tell you why I’m back and the real truth about exactly why I left in the first place.

• News source:
• 27 September 2012
• Video for Change
• By Witness

Today in the lead up to World Habitat Day on October 1st we’re proud to announce a new video People Before Profit – bringing communities across the world together to tell the global story of forced evictions. WITNESS has supported forced evictions campaigns for more than 10 years. During this time, these projects have amplified the voices of communities across the world. For World Habitat Day we are bringing many of these voices together for the first time to tell another story.

The video is also available in a multilingual version here in Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Spanish. In order to access the various languages, click the “cc” button at the bottom of the video frame.

• News source:
• 15 September 2012
• New York Times
• By MARGARET SULLIVAN

In journalism, as in life, balance sounds like an unassailably good thing.

But while balance may be necessary to mediating a dispute between teenage siblings, a different kind of balance — some call it “false equivalency” — has come under increasing fire. The firing squad is the public: readers and viewers who rely on accurate news reporting to make them informed citizens.

Simply put, false balance is the journalistic practice of giving equal weight to both sides of a story, regardless of an established truth on one side. And many people are fed up with it. They don’t want to hear lies or half-truths given credence on one side, and shot down on the other. They want some real answers.

“Recently, there’s been pressure to be more aggressive on fact-checking and truth-squading,” said Richard Stevenson, The Times’s political editor. “It’s one of the most positive trends in journalism that I can remember.”

• News source:
• 10 September 2012
• Deep South Journalism School
• By Chaiwat Satha-Anand

Prof. Dr. Chaiwat Satha-Anand, a political scientist at Thammasat University and a prominent peace scholar, spoke at a seminar on “Peace Dialogue in ASEAN Context” on 7 September 2012 at Prince of Songkhla University at Hat Yai. He delivered a peace massage to southern insurgents in English. Here is his full speech:

• News source:
• 22 August 2012
• Globe and Mail
• By Mark MacKinnon

Something remarkable happened in Myanmar this week. For the first time in 48 years, newspapers and magazines were allowed to go to print without first having a censor approve and edit their articles.

• News source:
• August 2012
• Neiman Journalism Lab
• By Jonathan Stray

If democracy would be poorer without journalism, then journalism must have some effect. Can we measure those effects in some way? While most news organizations already watch the numbers that translate into money (such as audience size and pageviews), the profession is just beginning to consider metrics for the real value of its work.

That’s why the recent announcement of a Knight-Mozilla Fellowship at The New York Times on “finding the right metric for news” is an exciting moment. A major newsroom is publicly asking the question: How do we measure the impact of our work? Not the economic value, but the democratic value.

• News source:
• 14 August 2012
• CPJ

NEW YORK – A series of attacks against journalists in Syria over the past two weeks have included the killing of at least three journalists and the kidnapping of several others, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Pro-government media have borne the brunt of the recent attacks.

“We call on all sides in Syria to remember that journalists covering conflict are civilians and attacks against them constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. “Journalists have already paid a heavy price in Syria and are risking their lives daily to cover the news. They must be protected.”