NGO Press Releases: War or Peace Journalism? (Abstract)

Press releases from NGO’s are often perceived as an alternative view of conflicts from a humanitarian perspective. This study explores the elements of Peace Journalism in International NGO press releases related to the Libyan conflict. The monitoring period ranges from January 16th 2011 to October 20th 2011. This study applies Galtung’s framework of Peace Journalism, further extended by Peace Journalism indicators suggested by Workneh (2011). From a total sample size of 187 press releases from 10 International NGOs, the results were rather surprising. Even humanitarian organizations seem to deliberately use certain elements of War Journalism such as Emotive Language and Magnifying Visible Effects of War to highlight distinctive views. However, they seem to rely more on the public opinion to frame their stories and refrain from demonizing terms, which is characterized a positive practice according to the Peace Journalism model. Apart from highlighting the use of elements of War Journalism by humanitarian organizations, the results of this research further raise questions about the relevance and efficiency of Peace Journalism in soliciting the desired response from civil society.

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While analyzing Press Releases was the major concern of this research project, individual perspectives will be separately analyzed by the team members as solo projects, wherever applicable. Barbara will explore the gender aspects of peace and war journalism within this research.

Kundan Mishra

Barbara Weghofer

Mary Natongo

Justine Kyarikunda

Anna Ngengwi