Conflict Sensitive Journalism Report - NPI Africa

1CONFLICT SENSITIVE JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

CONFLICT SENSITIVE JOURNALISM INITIATIVE2

CONFLICT SENSITIVE JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

Activities Report

2008

A Peace Resource Organistion

Sponsored by

US Embassy, Nairobi


TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACRONYMS ......................................................................................................................... 3

SECTION 1 ........................................................................................................................... 41.0 BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES ..........................................................................................41.1 Expected outcome of the project ...........................................................................................................................41.2 Achievements so far ...................� 41.2.1 Media Trainers and Peace Practitioners Consultative meeting .........................................................................41.2.2 Breakfast Consultative with Media Stakeholders .................................................................................................51.2.3 Editors retreat ............................� 51.2.4 Workshops with journalists and vernacular presenters ...................................................................................51.2.5 Addressing Post traumatic effects of post election crisis in media houses ..................................................51.2.6 Draft Material for radio broadcast ........................................................................................................................5

SECTION 2 ........................................................................................................................... 62.0 CONSULTATIVE MEETINGS ...� 62.1 Consultative meetings between peace practitioners and media trainers ......................................................6Jacaranda Hotel in Nairobi on 25th April 2008 ...............................................................................................................62.1.1 Outcomes ....................................� 62.1.2 Journalism training, peace and conflict transformation .....................................................................................62.1.3 Towards “conflict sensitive media” core thematic areas ....................................................................................72.2 Consultative Breakfast Meeting with Media Stakeholders .................................................................................82.2.1 Outcome ......................................� 82.2.1.2 Visionary Media .......................� 92.2.1.3 Transformative Media and professional development ...................................................................................92.2.1.4 Truth and reconciliation ........� 9

SECTION 3 ........................................................................................................................103.0 EDITOR’S RETREAT AND RWANDA LESSONS LEARNT SEMINAR ........................................................103.1 Outcome of Editors’ retreat ..� 103.1.1 Realities of post election violence in Kenya and the role of media in it ......................................................103.1.2 ‘Our commitment’ ....................� 103.2 Rwanda Lessons-Learned Seminar ........................................................................................................................113.3 Recommendations for the amendments of the Media Act, 2007 ...................................................................123.4 From the Editors’ ‘Desks’ – Towards increased conflict reporting literacy ................................................13


SECTION 4 ........................................................................................................................154.0 FIELD BASED CONFLICT SENSITIVE JOURNALISM TRAININGS ............................................................154.1 Outcome .....................................� 15Conflict sensitive journalism program ............................................................................................................................164.2 Issues that the participants struggling with before training on conflict sensitive journalism ...................174.3 After training; journalists’ commitments to change in their approach on conflict reporting .................174.4 Suggestions on their various media houses can aid in conflict transformation ..........................................184.5 The journalists want the future conflict journalism interventions to address ............................................18

SECTION 5 .......................................................................................................................195.0 Addressing post-traumatic stress experienced by media personalities ........................................................195.1 Outcome .....................................� 192.2.2 Healing in the Media Workplace ...........................................................................................................................19

SECTION 6 ........................................................................................................................206.0 Production of materials on peacebuilding for broadcast with vernacular FM radio stations .................20

SECTION 7 .........................................................................................................................217.0 REMAINING ACTIVITIES YET TO BE UNDERTAKEN ...................................................................................21

ANNEXES ..........................................................................................................................22BREAKFAST CONSULTATIVE MEETING WITH MEDIA STAKEHOLDERS .......................................................22ATTENDANCE LIST ..........................� 22EDITORS RETREAT LIST OF CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................24

CONFLICT SENSITIVE JOURNALISM TRAINING WORKSHOPS ............................26

KISUMU NASELICA HOTEL ...........� 26

KASARANI, NAIROBI .......................� 44

KAKAMEGA ........................................� 58

Mombasa ...............................................� 80


ACRONYMS

AFC Abaluhya Football ClubAFIM Association for Free and Independent MediaAPS Administrative policeCCP Concerned Citizen for PeaceCELEBS CelebritiesDC District CommissionerECK Electoral Commission of KenyaIDPS Internally Displaced PersonsKBC Kenya Broadcasting CooperationKICC Kenyatta International Conference Center KTN Kenya Television NetworkMOU Memorandum of UnderstandingMPS Members of parliamentNGO Non Governmental OrganizationsNMG Nation Media GroupODM Orange Democratic MovementPC Provincial CommissionerPNU Party of National UnityTJRC Truth Justice and Reconciliation CommissionTRC Truth and Reconciliation CommissionUNDP United Nations Development Programme


SECTION 1

1.0 BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES

As a result of the disputed 2007 presidential poll, Kenya was faced with a crisis that was due to escalation of hostilities, loss of life and property, and disruption of economic activities. The images of ethnic violence and social divide made headlines in virtually every global media. The hostilities negatively impacted on Kenyan people including the media professionals. Uncertainties, bitterness and polarizations are still evident and the public continues to rely on the media among other actors for information and education to help build trust and break the cycle of violence amongst Kenyans.

In an attempt to ensure that the media is well prepared as Kenya reinvents herself, Nairobi Peace Initiative-Africa (NPI-Africa), in consultation with Concerned Citizen for Peace (CCP) initiated Conflict Sensitive Journalism program aimed at combating conflict reporting illiteracy. The program activities include consultative meetings with stakeholders involved in the media in Kenya, Reflections with Editors, workshops for field based journalists across the country and the development of broadcast materials on Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation to be aired by vernacular FM Radio Stations.

1.1 Expected outcome of the project

a) Open discussion on the role (positive/negative) of the media during the post-election crisis and lessons learnt.

b) Stakeholders’ commitment on behalf of their respective media houses to promote messages and reporting that will seek to unite and build Kenyans on the basis of fair and unbiased in all reporting.

c) Exposure on the importance of conflict-sensitive reporting.d) In agreement, develop respective plans to aid in implementing steps to ensure media promote topics of

peace and reconciliation. e) Development by Journalists, of effective self-regulating techniques including the revision of Kenya Media

Code of Ethics

1.2 Achievements so far

1.2.1 Media Trainers and Peace Practitioners Consultative meetingOne day meeting between Media trainers and Peace practitioners was held to brainstorm on conflict journalism training content for field based journalist. The following core thematic areas were envisaged in the ongoing draft handbook; that it should address foundational values/ideology and non violence; contextualize conflict, identify role of media in the given context, analyze the dynamics of conflict; discuss media and conflict prevention; undertake understanding conflict, Media perspectives, Journalism and mediation; capture people’s perception of media as knowledge carrier and role in responsible citizenship; prepare media as agent of change.


1.2.2 Breakfast Consultative with Media StakeholdersA Breakfast Consultative meeting was held with stakeholders of the media including representatives of Media Owners Association, The Kenya Union of Journalists, The Editors Guild, The Kenya Correspondence Association, media NGOs, Training Institutions, State/Public Media, the Alternative Press, Ministry of Information and communication and Development Partners.

1.2.3 Editors retreat Editors retreat which brought together members of the editors’ guild made up of the mainstream media, senior editors, senior reporters including freelance and those from the independent media. It also covers Rwandan Lessons Learned Seminar held at the same time with the same participants.

1.2.4 Workshops with journalists and vernacular presenters Five of the nine series of workshops with journalists and vernacular presenters based in the provinces have been conducted exposing participants to conflict transformation and peace building skills. The workshops have been conducted in Nyanza, Western, Nairobi, Nyeri and Coast provinces. A total of 131 presenters and journalists were reached. Lists of participants are available in the annex.

1.2.5 Addressing Post traumatic effects of post election crisis in media houses In addressing Post traumatic effects of post election crisis in media houses, three FM radio stations have been visited namely Nam Lolwe FM in Kisumu, Baraka FM in Mombasa and Ramogi FM in Nairobi. Apart from just talking to staff, the FM stations also contributed part of their prime time presentation hours to the project to discuss with listeners matters of peace, post election crisis and the role of media in it.

1.2.6 Draft Material for radio broadcast Draft Material for radio broadcast has been developed in English and Kiswahili ready for translation in vernacular languages. The radio programmes with peace building and conflict transformation information are broad titles.

Contact Person:George Kut – Capacities for Peace Programme Coordinator

Nairobi Peace Initiative – Africa (NPI–Africa)P. O. Box 14894-00800

Nairobi-KenyaTelephone: 254-20-4441444/4440098 (office)

Tel. 0726543989 (mobile)Email:[email protected]


SECTION 2

2.0 CONSULTATIVE MEETINGS

This section captures the thoughts and recommendations of consultation meetings with media stakeholders called to discuss the process towards conflict sensitive journalism in Kenya. Two meetings held respectively for Media Trainers and Media Owners.

2.1 Consultative meetings between peace practitioners and media trainers

Jacaranda Hotel in Nairobi on 25th April 2008Consultative meeting between Media trainers and Peacebuilding practitioners was meant to;

a) Identify target groups for conflict sensitive journalism trainingb) Propose a detailed syllabus of the training curriculum for conflict sensitive journalismc) Agree on a training plan, that specifies location, dates and times for e training workshop

2.1.1 Outcomes The media in Kenya has a leading role in creating a culture of peace through responsible information and communication. Despite the fact that conflict resolution is not part of the formal curriculum in journalism schools, and in the absence of policy guiding peace building in the country, scattered initiatives have been conducted by various civil society actors and have not involved the media directly. From the consultative meeting with media trainers and peace practitioners, it was clear that there is a common point between peace building and journalism. All the participants agreed that there is need to involve media stakeholders in active conflict transformation and peace building throughout their work.

2.1.2 Journalism training, peace and conflict transformation Media in Kenya is undergoing transition. There are many forums that are convened to discuss the role of media in influencing the various aspects of our lives. Perhaps there is need for leadership in shaping the role of the media in Kenya by deliberately putting in place strategic interventions that include the media in the promotion of peace building and conflict transformation.

Media Council of Kenya in collaboration with UNDP trained 500 journalists in the advent to 2007 general elections to be to able identify and avoid reporting ethnicity and hate speeches. The post election violence would have been worse than what we experienced if the training did not happen. However, Journalist had difficulties dealing with imminent violent conflict situations.


“Between 25th and 27th December, I got very many calls from my journalist telling me I got this and that hate speech, what do I do?”, said one of the trainers who is also a media owner. She also added, “We realized that we trained them but they did not have the capacity to apply it. There was no peace building skills component in the journalism training. Probably now is the time to have it entrenched in the mainstream media training”.

Media have a way of seeing things and reporting that depict only those situations with negative impact of our lives. The issues of women and children in conflict situations need to be addressed carefully in a manner that does not cause trauma and suffering to the affected. This calls for change of attitude within the media not to get what is perceived by most victims of bad reporting as their worst part of the story. Reporting and showing pictures of dead bodies as it happened during the post election violence in Kenya for example, had a lot of traumatizing moments on viewers and even the journalists themselves.

The lenses through which the media sees, seems dominated by political confrontations and human tragedies. Journalists have a golden opportunity to make peace in Kenya by reporting peace promoting events like the western media do for their countries. For example “During the September 11 attacks, no bodies of dead Americans were shown on TV and yet in our context? Pictures were shown of people butchering one another and even commentators telling of who was killing who. There is need to develop new models which predict our common humanity. We need African model of journalism sensitive to the African culture more than what western media audiences expect of Africa!

The post election events also had positive experiences and messages of hope that still need to be captured. Journalists have in the past also written positive stories that are not published. Articles written of reconciliation efforts between Turkana and Pokot are yet to be published while those about violence between the two communities get published many times. Peace does not seem to get as much publicity as the violence. Change of attitude conflict sensitivity can result in peace promoting media that reports a good peace process that followed after the conflict report.

The media reporting is also influenced by the owner factor. For this reason editors are at dilemma trying to balance between the country and the political beliefs and aspirations of the media owner.

The public has so much influence on what the media buy into and public education toward this is necessary. The audience-media relationship should be enhanced.

“People have given up on the secular world news, no more buying of papers or listening to news, now the people have turned into the religious FMs for something different, hope and restoration”, Selline Korir – Rural Women Peace Link, Eldoret.

2.1.3 Towards “conflict sensitive media” core thematic areasJournalism trainers brainstormed in plenary and came up with the following Core thematic areas to be addressed by the conflict Sensitive Journalism Training. That the training should;

a) Should address foundational values/ ideology and Non violence b) Contextualize conflict, identify role of media in the given context, analyze the dynamics of conflict


c) Discuss Media and conflict preventiond) Undertake understanding conflict, Media perspectives, Journalism and mediatione) Capture people’s perception of media as knowledge carrier and role in responsible citizenshipf) Prepare Media as Agent of Change

Based on the core thematic areas suggested above, two groups separately discussed the emerging probable topics for detailed syllabus of the training curriculum for conflict sensitive journalism. The two groups, one comprising of Peace Practitioners and the composed of Journalism Trainers later discussed and agreed on the following to form the content of the curriculum and detailed training process on Conflict Sensitive Journalism:

a) Definition and scope� Understanding conflict� Contextualizing conflict

b) Transformative media� Peoples perception� Change agents

c) Visionary Media� Early warning� Conflict prevention� Change Agents

d) Monitoring framework

2.2 Consultative Breakfast Meeting with Media Stakeholders

The consultation breakfast meeting was inspired by a realization that conflict transformation has become a crucial national agenda following the post-elections violence in Kenya. It was acknowledged by participants that

the media in their social responsibility should play a central role in the promotion of conflict transformation. This, it was noted, would require that the media too becomes a transformative and healing media. The meeting took place at the Nairobi Safari Park Hotel on 13th April 2008.

2.2.1 Outcome

2.2.1.1 Conflict sensitive journalism: “thoughts from stakeholders”It was acknowledged that post-elections violence presented new challenges to the media which included the need to embrace conflict sensitive journalism. Media owners and trainers observed the following;

a) In view of Kenya’s relative history of peace, conflict sensitive journalism was not considered necessary in both the media training institutions and the newsrooms. In addition, the code of conduct for journalism in Kenya does not broadly address concerns relating to conflicts prevention. Consequently, social ethics encompassing these gaps should be considered as a component of media training.

b) On the other hand, participants noted that peace practitioners have over the years of involvement in resource based conflicts in Kenya and beyond, developed peace building models, healing techniques


and skills for reconciliation. Whereas these skills would be useful and relevant to media performance in view of the fact that media communication itself can be active agent in the promotion of peace and reconciliation, linkages of mutual relations and understanding between peace practitioners and media practitioners have never been established.

c) The meeting recommended that it was time closer relationships were cultivated between journalists as communicators and peace practitioners as sources of vital information towards judicious packaging of media reports for the promotion of peace and reconciliation.

2.2.1.2 Visionary MediaThe consultation’s recommendation on visionary media underlined the need for the media to look “beyond the frame of a picture” to appreciate the “bigger picture” of the common humanity of all despite the ethnic divide and bones of contention in conflicts. Accordingly journalists should overcome “framed” minds, which tend to be framed by potent elements of tradition, culture and politics affecting “the seeing, the listening and the talking”. It was acknowledged that the way any subject is framed determines the attitudes of reverence or contempt, tolerance or intolerance, confrontation or reconciliation.

2.2.1.3 Transformative Media and professional development The following recommendations were made towards transformative media and professional development:-

a) The media should become development agents. In so doing they will automatically address peace agenda as well as healing and reconciliation agendas.

b) A culture of mentoring of younger journalists by the older generation of journalists should be considered as one of the ways of helping professionalize the media.

c) Both media practitioners and peace practitioners should from time to time examine “the challenge within themselves.”

d) The media need to be compassionate to capture moments of human compassion amidst conflicts, help restore the dignity of victims and appreciate that communicating victims’ stories is an essential means of breaking the terror imposed by perpetrators.

2.2.1.4 Truth and reconciliationIt was acknowledged that reconciliation cannot take place without truth-telling which would in turn promote trust building for reconciliation and forgiveness. In addition, the media owners noted that Kenya needs to observe the following ahead of a Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission. That;

a) Media coverage of the commission’s proceedings will be crucial. It was desired that the media should offer “safe media platforms” to encourage confessions by offenders seeking to down load their burden of guilt for reconciliation.

b) Allowing truth to be told and encouraging public disclosure of the truth are crucial. Telling the truth can be challenging and even so when it is told publicly. Speaking out the truth in the context of distorted information can be costly.

c) It is essential that the voices of hatred should be silenced in favour of the voices of peace.


SECTION 3

3.0 EDITOR’S RETREAT AND RWANDA LESSONS LEARNT SEMINAR

This section covers the proceedings of Editors retreat which brought together members of the editors’ guild made up of the mainstream media, senior editors, senior reporters including freelance and those from the independent media. It also covers Rwandan Lessons Learned Seminar held at the same time with the same participants. The retreat and seminar were held at Reef Hotel Mombasa, from 12th – 15th June 2008.

3.1 Outcome of Editors’ retreat

Conflict sensitive journalism was discussed in a context in which media communications could be perceived as a weapon of hate, intolerance, ethnicity and exclusion, and where it can also be used as a tool for promotion of peace, love and friendship. Mitch Odero, a media consultant and trainer emphasized in a presentation that “Local media must therefore consider withholding controversial information that might result in a violent reaction”. He added that. Peace journalism is emerging with the need of not only the emphasis on incidences but also with emphasis on conflict transformation. After the Rwanda genocide where journalists became perpetrators of war by using the media to insight one ethnic group against the other, it is now clear that the journalist must be peace builders. More insight into similar discussions can be found in the annex.

3.1.1 Realities of post election violence in Kenya and the role of media in itThe editors concluded that media played a role in the post election crisis both by omission and commission. The following are observations they made towards the conclusion;

a) A section of the media kept some truth away from the public and thereby therefore creating uncertainties

b) Propaganda and partisan dissemination of unrefined information was aired. e.g. so many versions of Raila’s controversial MOU with the Muslims, claims by some PNU leaders that one required a visa to go to another jimbo.

c) Political adverts in media houses condoned, solicited and aired inciting obscene commercials.d) Media houses flaunted the principle of equal and fair coverage to all parties with some openly aligning

themselves with certain political parties.e) Journalists jettisoned / stopped being professionals and retreated to their ethnic cocoons; supporting

parties perceived to represent the interests of their communities.

3.1.2 ‘Our commitment’The editors stated their commitments to enhancing fair and unbiased reporting by: a) Promoting peace and avoiding sensational reportingb) Identifying and educating the public on root causes of conflict


c) Giving hope by airing/writing positive storiesd) Focusing more on public issues, rather than political agenda

They identified conflict sensitive journalism as a way forward to transformative media further committed themselves to;

a) Not giving platform to politicians known to ignite tribal passions to comment/ talk / react to emotive issues.

b) Sustained follow –ups on issues the government has committed itself to ensure it fulfills its obligations to avoid conflict.

c) Adhere to journalistic code of ethics.d) Partnering with organizations promoting peace e.g. NPI-Africa and educate the public on the dangers of

actions/utterances that may ignite conflict.e) Encouraging journalists from all media houses to attend such workshops on peace promotion.

3.2 Rwanda Lessons-Learned Seminar

Participants made comparisons between Kenya post election crisis and Rwanda genocide and identified similar trends in historical injustices, social problems, leadership issues and role of media.

RWANDA KENYA

1 Historical injustices French and Belgians attempted to separate Rwandese claiming Tutsis came from Ethiopia are thus elite and better rulers

Historical injusticeKenya’s history from independence – how Jaramogi and Kenyatta fell apart, distribution of land/resources back them largely favored Kenyatta’s ilk.

2 Social classes and inequitable distribution of resourcesTutsis clashing with Hutus in education leadership and matters of superiority and inferiority

Social classes and inequitable distribution of resourcesEmergence of very rich people and squatters /slums, those related to “important” families getting better jobs

3 LeadershipPresident Habyarimana ensured Hutus got all the good allocations is sidelined by the Tutsis

Leadership President Moi, suppressing those already suppressed and ready to rule for long.President Kibaki allocates key positions to members of his community.

4 Use of media especially radioPropaganda spreading to incite communities against each other

Use of media, electronic and printEspecially vernacular radios used to spread propaganda to incite tribes/communities against each other


Participants made the following recommendations for the media towards averting further crisis in Kenya.

a) Positive and frank reporting during campaigns.b) The government needs to listen to grievances of the people and offer solutions.c) Advocate for peace education and awareness, and create dialogue forums through talk shows, live call-in

shows, etc.d) Disseminating research findings on social and relational issues.e) Rigorous farming campaigns and other socio-economic issues to help improve the living standards of

societal members.f) Health education through media to improve the living standard of the peopleg) Equitable industrialization to create employmenth) Media Council must be strengthened and to ensure all media houses implement code of Ethics in order

to promote unity of purpose among all media houses.

3.3 Recommendations for the amendments of the Media Act, 2007

The Editors perused copies of The Media Act 2007 (copies courtesy of the Director of communications and Information) and proposed revisions to promote conflict sensitive journalism as follows;

a) Members of the council; that one member of AFIM ought to replace Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (which will soon be part of the university). AFIM – this will include those not in the mainstream

b) Page 125 9(a) & (b) - broadcast / publish SUGGESTED REVISION – Journalists should generally avoid publishing obscene, vulgar or offensive

material unless such material contains news value which is necessary in the public interest. SUGGESTED REVISION –In the same vein, publication or broadcast of photographs and broadcast

of images showing mutilated bodies bloody incidents and abhorrent scenes should be avoided unless the publication or broadcast of such photographs will serve the public interest

c) Functions of council – promote peace and conflict sensitive journalismd) Page 126 11(b) – SUGGESTED REVISION – Provocative and alarming material, headlines,

newspapers and commentaries should be avoided.e) Page 111 (d) SUGGESTED REVISION (e) Donations, gifts and endowments from lawful organizations

both multilateral and bilateral and donor partners of foreign governments. f) Funding from the exchequer. Scrape out (f) ORIGINAL ENTRY – Grants which shall not be from

foreign governments or foreign entities.

Other proposed amends to the Media Act included;

� Asking the Media to challenge the draft Media bill itself since the Media Act emerged from the bill. � Publication – the word “publication” explains the broadcasting aspect as indicated in the preamble of the

Media Act. It was however felt that the word broadcast needed to be specifically added into the clauses. The word ‘publication’ gave it a general feeling.

� Effecting amendments to the bill – Director of information committed himself to include the comments.


3.4 From the Editors’ ‘Desks’ – Towards increased conflict reporting literacy

a) Healing of journalists; there is an urgent need for healing processes and forums set up specifically to cater for psychological trauma faced by journalists during conflict situations.

a) On training of journalistsi) More training on conflict sensitive journalism and especially for journalists who will be handling

the peace space, to increase popularity for “peace stories” and also increase sales.ii) More awareness – focusing on the code of ethics particularly with practicing and trainee

journalistsiii) Teaching of conflict sensitive journalism in media colleges and universitiesiv) Journalists need more professional training covering all categories of journalism. This should be

continued as they graduatev) There is need to expand team of peace advocates by capacity building of peace journalistsvi) Follow up of all those trained in peace building to see how they are putting into practice issues

of peace buildingvii) Continuous training of peace journalists; and not only towards general electionsviii) Organize some in-house training sessions for media practitioners who are not able to attend

retreats like this.

c) Collaboration between civil society and journalistsi) Advocate for greater collaboration between civil society and journalists.ii) Have real bonding between media and civil societies for stories to have room in the media.iii) Support / give space to peace education programs (sponsor).iv) Engage more with the other editors and arrange frequent visits to ensure that there is

implementation of conflict sensitive journalism by Kenyan media.v) Journalists must see themselves as part of the society and not as a “conveyor belt”.vi) Strengthening of networking between media practitioners and peace workers.

d) Professional body and remunerationi) Forming professional bodyii) Attractive remuneration for qualified journalists

e) Peace building in our newsroomsi) Redefine what makes newsii) Lead by example – publishing articles that promote peace.iii) Confront realities in newsrooms that interfere with independence of journalists.iv) Deliberately include peace messages in programming and published articles.v) Make a request to have dedicated space for a peace story probably starting Monday – airtime or

newspaper space.vi) To see if measurable mechanisms to monitor the peace programming are working. The media

council has a system that monitors all programmes that are aired by FM stations.vii) Capture traditional peace and reconciliation practices.


viii) Peace advocates in our respective newsrooms should be increased.ix) Sharing information with colleagues passionately what has been discussed at the retreat and start

a process of making them practical.

f) Media council and media ownersi) There should be active representation of the media council in these forums which will enable

them to organize frequent seminars or review forums for journalists.ii) There should be security, insurance and compensation for journalists.iii) None interference by the media house owners of editors and all other journalists.iv) Regular retreats are a great forum for meeting editors and journalists from other countries with

business fraternity and media owners and politicians.v) Make it mandatory for all media houses to register with Media Council so that the media can

have a strong voice that can set the peace agenda for the media owners.

g) Fundraising for peace programsi) Deliberately fundraise for peace initiatives in all arenas including human conflict, climate change

among others.


SECTION 4

4.0 FIELD BASED CONFLICT SENSITIVE JOURNALISM TRAININGS

This section highlights training experiences of the field based Conflict-sensitive media training workshops for field based journalists and presenters. Each workshop was organised in such a way that participants arrived at the venues on Thursdays and left on Sundays. The rationale of the workshops emphasized on the fact that these were a response to the needs and calls of the people especially following the profound role of media in the last years post election crisis. The main objective of the workshops was to increase conflict literacy in reporting and radio presentations.

4.1 Outcome

Five of the nine series of workshops with journalists and vernacular presenters based in the provinces have been conducted exposing participants to conflict transformation and peace building skills. The workshops have been conducted in Nyanza, Western, Nairobi, Nyeri and Coast provinces. A total of 131 presenters and journalists were reached. Lists of participants are available in the annex.

During the workshops facilitated jointly by media trainers and peace practitioners, participants shared written and verbal acknowledgement of the realities of the post election crisis in Kenya, and the media’s role in it. They made commitments to refrain from inflammatory reporting and promised to seek to remain fair and unbiased in all reporting. They recognized the importance of implementation of conflict-sensitive reporting and proposed activities in which they can draw their own respective plans to implement steps to ensure their

media houses remain fair and unbiased while promoting topics of peace and reconciliation.

During the workshops, some journalists made news points from the training and covered it live as news of the day in their media houses, others went back and organised with their organisations that later offered prime time shows for discussions on peace and media.

The table below gives a summery of the attendance at the 5 workshops conducted.


Conflict sensitive journalism programSummary of field based workshops for journalists and FM radio presenters

Area/region covered Media houses represented Venue and date

Number of Participants

M F Total

1. Nairobi

1. Royal Media- Ramogi FM- Chamge FM- Mulembe FM- Musyi FM

2. Kenya broadcasting Cooperation3. Radio Simba4. People Daily5. The Standard Group6. Frontier7. Radio Waumini8. Kenya Times9. K24

Nairobi, Kasarani 26th -29th June 2008

33

2. Nyanza

1. Radio citizen2. Radio Nam Lolwe3. Ramogi FM4. Radio Lake Victoria5. Nation Media Group6. Egesa FM

Kisumu, 3rd - 6th July 2008 37

3. Western

1. Royal Media2. Standard Newspaper3. Citizen4. Nation Media Group5. Radio Africa6. People Daily7. Radio Mambo

Kakamega, July 3rd – 6th , 2008 30

4. Coast

1. Citizen2. Standard Group3. Baraka FM4. Pamoja FM5. Ramogi FM6. Radi Salaam7. K248. KTN

Mombasa, 24th – 27th July 2008.

12 04 16

5. Central

1. Standard Group2. Enooro FM3. Citizen TV4. Citizen Weekly5. Kenya News Agency6. People Daily7. Pastoralists Network8. Kenya Times9. Nation Media Group10. KBC TV11. KBC Radio

Nyeri, 26th-29th June 2008 11 04 15


4.2 Issues that the participants struggling with before training on conflict sensitive journalism

� The risk of sounding biased when reporting� The demands of the employer versus the real or true state of affairs� Threats of listeners or readers when reporting against their views � Tactics to use when handling issues of persons involved in the conflict� How to interview individuals who perceive to know it all� My role as a journalist, in conflict resolution� Lack of freedom of the press and subsequent interference from influential sources e.g. the government� Approaching and understanding conflict� Finding the balance between objective and informative reporting� How to ensure that the stories reported offer both the problem and the solutions � Finding one’s identity as journalist i.e. tribe, profession and nationality, the order in which they should

appear, when reporting.� My role as a journalist in the post election violence� Accurate and timely reporting� How to report sensitive issues such as tribalism and ethnicity� Learning to separate the truth from presumptions and speculations when reporting� Failure to be the voice of the common man i.e. the ‘HAVE – NOTS’ and instead concentrating on the

‘HAVES’ in society� How to act as a mediator by presenting both sides of any given story

4.3 After training; journalists’ commitments to change in their approach on conflict reporting

� Strive to find the balance of every story when reporting, without fear or favour � Incorporate sensitivity in my reporting� Having an open mind and getting all the facts correct when reporting� Present both the conflict and suggestions or solutions to aid in resolving the conflict� Ensure that as journalists we are peace promoters and not all inciters in a conflict� Being the society’s watchdog in all matters without favour or bias� Establish one’s own identity ( tribe, profession, nationality ) before covering any given story� Having the notion of being an opinion shaper in that as journalists we have a lot of influence over a wide

range as persons� Report only true and researched stories, no more ‘half- truths’


4.4 Suggestions on their various media houses can aid in conflict transformation

� Get rid of bias and allow the journalists to report both sides of the story and not just what is favourable to them as individuals

� Holding regular in house training for the staff i.e. journalists on the importance of not only offering the problems but also being part of the solutions

� Highlighting cases of historical injustices thus keeping the Government on its toes and ensuring that plight of the voiceless is constantly heard

� Simply take up an active role as a very effective peace building tool in any given conflict� Involve the community when retrieving solutions to various conflicts� Employment of professional journalists who have received the required training and not artists who lack

the required training on conflict sensitive reporting� Taking responsibility for each and every story broadcasted, reported or printed� Encourage interactive talk shows on issues that affect the locals and thus ensuring that any budding

conflicts are averted through exchange of ideas� Ensuring that inflammatory statements or inciting stories are neither broadcasted nor printed� Acting as a bridge or mediator in any given conflict and avoid taking sides� Handle the role of being the society’s watchdog with the seriousness it deserves

4.5 The journalists want the future conflict journalism interventions to address

� Corruption and its various effects� Trauma in the various conflicts and how to handle it� Live broadcast during the general elections and its effects the listeners� Patriotic Reporting� Issues of land, land disputes and the role of the media in its effective distribution� How to fight tribalism out of Kenya � The role of the media owners and the marketing departments in our media houses vis- a- vis our work

as reporters / journalists � The role of leaders in conflict � Specific issues on conflict� Political Reporting� How TV Cameramen / Photographers could or can handle the issue on conflict� The role of the media owners versus that of the journalists


SECTION 5

5.0 Addressing post-traumatic stress experienced by media personalities

Media personnel were affected by the magnitude of post election violence in the country. Field based Journalists eye witnessed ugly incidences/genocides while covering the unfolding faces of the violence. They were affected both as citizens and at work.

5.1 Outcome

2.2.2 Healing in the Media Workplace During the editors retreat and consequent field based journalists training, it came out that media personalities were affected both as individuals and in their work. Some stations have staff still not free to talk to each other. Three FM radio stations have been visited namely Nam Lolwe FM in Kisumu, Baraka FM in Mombasa and Ramogi FM in Nairobi. Apart from just talking to staff, the FM stations also contributed part of their prime time presentation hours to the project to discuss with listeners matters of peace, post election crisis and the role of media in it.


SECTION 6

6.0 Production of materials on peacebuilding for broadcast with vernacular FM radio stations

Draft Material for radio broadcast has been developed in English and Kiswahili ready for translation in vernacular languages. The radio programmes with peace building and conflict transformation information have the following broad titles;

� Understanding conflicts� Conflict transformation and Peacebuilding� Leadership and Peacebuilding part 1

� Leadership and Peacebuilding part 2� Community peace building part 1� Community peace building part 2

The 15 minutes radio programmes will be aired in the following vernacular service stations:

1) Ramogi FM for Nyanza Province2) Egesa FM for Nyanza Province3) Mulembe FM for Western Province4) Mbaitu FM for the Eastern Province5) Muga FM for Eastern Province

6) Baraka FM for Coastal Province7) Sifa FM for Coastal Province8) Inooro FM for Central Province9) Kass FM for Rift valley Province10) Pamoja FM for Nairobi Province11) Ghetto FM for Nairobi Province

These are weekly programmes for six weeks beginning immediately the air time is paid for. The programmes are interactive with short text messages from listeners, letters and give away of peace song “Umoja” CDs and T-Shirts.


SECTION 7

7.0 REMAINING ACTIVITIES YET TO BE UNDERTAKEN

The following activities are yet to be undertaken. While the visits to media houses are already funded, they are done only when the media houses have scheduled time for the visit. The remaining workshops and broadcasts are already planned and depend on the second disbursement of the funds from US embassy to NPI-Africa. The activities include;

a) Visits to Media houses for post crisis trauma healingb) Field based training for Journalists in;

i) South rift - Nakuruiii) North rift – Eldoretiv) Eastern – Meruv) North Eastern

c) Vernacular FM Radio Broadcasts of Peacebuilding programmes


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mailto:/[email protected]

mailto:/[email protected]























CONFLICT SENSITIVE JOURNALISM TRAINING WORKSHOP

KISUMU NASELICA HOTEL3RD TO 6TH JULY 2008

TRAINERSPETER MARUGA - NPI AFRICAGEORGE KUT - NPI AFRICAMITCH ODERO - MEDIA CONSULTANT


TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 3

1.0 Introduction 41.1 Expectations 41.2 Shedding The Burden; Experiences During The Post Election Crisis 5

1.3 The Big Picture; Contextualizing Conflicts In Africa 101.3.1 The Tree Model 111.3.2 The Systems Tool 111.3.3 Stages Of Conflict .121.3.4 Theories Of Conflict 13

1.4 Media And Conflict: A Contextual Analysis 13 1.4.1 Typology Of Bias 13

1.5 Models Of Reporting 15

1.6 Case Studies Where The Media Has Helped In Peace Building 161.6.1 Group Exercises 16

1.7 Peacebuilding And Conflict Transformation 201.7.1 Functions Of Conflict 211.7.2 Conflict Mapping .221.7.3 Group Task 24

1.8 References 26


ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AFC Abaluhya Football ClubAPS Administrative policeCELEBS CelebritiesDC District CommissionerECK Electoral Commission of KenyaIDPS Internally Displaced PersonsKICC Kenyatta International Conference Center KTN Kenya Television NetworkMPS Members of parliamentNGO Non Governmental OrganizationsNMG Nation Media GroupODM Orange Democratic MovementPC Provincial CommissionerPNU Party of National Unity


1.0 Introduction

The workshop started with the registration process and the journalists registered` as they came in. Opening remarks were given by Mr. Mitch Odero. He emphasized on the rationale for these workshops and the fact that they are a response to the needs and calls of the people especially following the profound role of media in the last years post election crisis. The main theme of the workshop is therefore what he called peace journalism. This is aimed at looking at journalism differently, we adopted models which did not know peace e.g. there was no news until it was, how many people died? And so on. Good news is not news, is not sexy enough to sell according to the models.

The participants were asked to pair into twos and introduce themselves i.e. name, media house, designation and expectations to be met by the end of the workshop.

1.1 Expectations

1. To be able to use his journalistic tools in resolving conflict in his line of duty2. To be more equipped in solving conflicts in his line of duty3. To be able to assist the IDPs and gather sufficient knowledge to handle conflict4. To be a good reporter in managing conflicts and in healing the post election trauma5. A good mediator, and know the role of journalism in conflicts6. To understand how to repackage conflict sensitive information7. To be enlightened on conflict sensitive journalism8. To avoid arousing conflict while reporting9. To get new contacts from the participants and share experiences10. To understand the role of media in conflict transformation11. To be a peaceful journalist12. To be a transformed journalist, prepared to cover news in conflict situations13. To be a journalist who can report well on conflict issues, wants to socialize fully14. The participants go back and implement what they will have learnt here15. To be equipped with conflict resolution skills16. Sharpen skills in preaching peace in the station17. Fully empowered in conflict sensitive journalism18. To gain knowledge which will enable him write stories that will promote peace

MR. PETER MARUGA stated the importance of the Nairobi Peace Initiative and its conception and birth in 1984 during the crisis in Ethiopia. We are more known outside Kenya, Ghana, Congo and the other parts of Africa that have been experiencing crisis. We are now focusing on building the capacity of the key in actors in Kenya, you included. We are training across the country in the call to build the capacities of key actors, we are also committed to walking with you in this walk we have started, he promised as he closed the statement.


1.2 Shedding the burden; experiences during the post election crisis

Healing begins when people tell their stories and experiences. This is the session for opening up and telling our stories and personal/professional experiences during the electioneering time. Requested to go through a reflection for two minutes then we begin the sharing.

FRED NGOMBE from radio Lolwe locked up himself for almost two weeks without stepping outside. It was not easy. I was affected, bored with life, and I asked myself several questions, e.g. when will this end. I lost everything I had bought to looters because I was not going home. I had to start life a fresh.

SAMUEL OWINO from royal media remembers the evening when the electoral commissioner differed with legislators with nostalgia. He remembers the way the entire Oyugis area went into flame when the president was announced. He was given a stern warning by police not to take any photos and he complied because from the look of things, he was going to shoot him. He concludes that Kenya lacks a constitution and it will be the solution to our problem. We missed food for a while, our friends were looted and the police shot indiscriminately. We wanted the war to end; our children are traumatized up to now.

As a journalist, I was blessed because I operate where everyone knows me; my colleagues had to take refuge in police station. I talked to the youth to make them understand that looting and destroying things was not a solution.

PHILIP OSEWE of Radio Lake Victoria covered Langata constituency in Nairobi. During the voting day we inspected the registers and to our surprise, the name of a parliamentary candidate was missing. All names of P,O,A and the like were all missing. I experienced the worst when we were thrown away at KICC and they rushed to announce the results. Hell broke loose and we all ran, we lost track of colleagues, I was rescued by a police who gave me a lift from inside town but before long I was off loaded. I had to foot from town to Komarock. At Donholm, we saw people who were believed to be Mungiki, they chopped eight necks of people as I witnessed, I ran back to Buruburu where I was housed for a night. I was tempted to think I can kill because I saw what it takes to be tribalistic.

ATIENO KIJANA of Radio Nam Lolwe started by stating that she was sent to Mbita. People turned in big numbers and voted well. She remembers the chaos which erupted following the announcing of the results. It was very ugly seeing people in hospitals with wounds, old young and all. It was a bad experience.

JOSEPHINE of Royal media was covering Bondo. She remembers finding it so hard and how her and her colleague had to stay in a house for a week. She narrates the day the results were announced and hell broke loose. We were separated from our families for weeks and we kept hoping they were fine. We tried moving by road up to Awasi were we were warned of death if we went ahead of that point. We finally flew back to Nairobi. I was psychologically prepared for death; they said “kama ni mbaya, ni mbaya”. Calls for rescue from parts of the country were very


traumatizing when we were back in the station. We could not air live broadcast, our arms were tied. She confesses we are recovering though it is going to take time.

JARED OPIYO from Ramogi in Siaya remembers how he was warned not to relay any information. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. The mobs were threatening to attack him on the other side.

JOE from Capital FM western remembers witnessing the looting in Kisumu, shooting of civilians by police and so on. I was with a Kisii colleague and the mobs were already chasing away Kisiis and Kikuyus. We had to lock him up in the hotel. I had to get news though. I had to visit the morgue every day and give more stories. We went through road blocks at every kilometer or so, I had to pay through and get to look for news, links were cut off virtually everywhere.

RIAGA of Royal Media Services remembers the cerebrations as the ODM supporters had taken a lead and everyone new their candidate was winning only for things to change. Born fires were lit everywhere as early as when the results were delayed. I realize I was not safe at all because the bullets did not know tribes. My employer became a problem and we became a target, all people employed by people believed not to be friends of ODM. I overheard people say “tunataka kutavuta watu wa Ramogi” when they concluded that they had pushed out all the non Luos. Later it became a war of class were they started targeting those who were going to work. We were stopped at Kibuye and asked, “wadosi mumekuja? Tuachieni yetu” there was no time to argue, you do their wish.

OBIERO of radio Nam Lolwe, witnessed tribal politics in Kisumu, he witnessed the sending away of neighbors, burning cars, blocking the roads and all manner of things. I miss my friends who left during that time.

FRED of Radio Lake Victoria starts by stating that it was like a movie, he was affected and lost a close friend the young man showed on television by KTN, they had grown up together. He recounts all the moments with tears bulging in his eyes. He affirms that the war later degenerated into a class war.

JACKLINE MORAA of Nation Media Transmara narrates how people were threatened by the gunshots and the wave of revenge witnessed in her area. It was painful to see people who had moved from their ancestral lands way back and they could not trace their way back, up to now some people are housed by friends. She witnessed two brothers who were lynched when they attempted to come back as she fought back tears.

JAEL LIETA of radio Nam Lolwe talks of the eroded morals witnessed when parents were sending their children to loot because they believe police was not shooting children. Some were eventually killed in the mayhem.

MAUREEN ONGWAE of the Nation Media Group still hears gunshots when she goes to some areas especially her sisters’ place. I have stopped going to such places to date, and that is all she could share as she fought back tears.


COLLINS radio Nam Lolwe recalls how they were forced to show if they voted before taking any news. They were quite threatened.

JANET GITONO of radio Victoria remembers the torture they went through by bowing to idols, i.e. Raila, Kibaki and Lucy. You had to through a stone to Kibaki and wail, same to Lucy and celebrate Raila before you proceed. It was a bad experience for me.

DOROTHY OLWENY calls it “my encounter with satan” she remembers her encounter at Naivasha and how she had to speak to God in the midst of the assailants. She escaped because of her looks after hiding her ID in a short inside her jeans. When she reached kisumu she was again a target, people said “huyu ni mwingine amebaki” and they pursued her, she ran as fast as she could and escaped. She stayed in the house for two weeks till the death of Mugabe were, then hell broke loose again. I witnessed the beheading in Naivasha and the shooting of the young man at kondele, at some point I escaped by pretending that my mum was shot and I was on my way to view her body in the morgue. Am still traumatized, she said as she wept and retired.

ABISALOM of radio Lake Victoria was covering Nyeri. When he reached Othaya he started by orientation, police station, hospitals, hotels etc. He had to bribe to get a room. He witnessed children as young as eleven voting, he interviewed them and they had voted so early in the morning. Kibaki gathered more votes than the registered voters. He got a warning that the moment he gets Kibakis results he should get back to Nairobi immediately. Back in Nairobi it was red ballets every where, scaring and unusual. They were forced to throw away bags with the ECK logo to access anywhere, it was chaotic. He narrates how a flight he had used was turned back on air to Nairobi and back to Kisumu after refueling. He acquired a panga for security reasons; people kept coming to his house and at some moment almost lynched his wife.

VINCENT MWASI of Egesa FM stated that personally I was affected because I had greater expectations for ODM; I slept for three hours to come to terms with it. Gucha remained peaceful though people were really affected by the final results. In an IDP camp latter, I remember a two year old child who had been broken the two legs; the picture is still as fresh in his mind todate. He remembers a sms which the Kikuyus were passing around to defend their kingdom; this sms has profusely affected his relationship and way he views the same to date.

ELISHA OTIENO, NMG. The editors kept pressure on us to produce results though we were quite scared as people. I gathered stories through phone calls; it was my first time I was kissing violence. The Kikuyus loosing their property and fleeing away most of who were medics. People died at the stories. I stopped being a journalist and started being a human being and started consulting with people to stop the violence. People swore by whatever that a kikuyu will never step in south Nyanza. My son had known every thing, ODM, PNU and when he heard the gunshots he called Kibaki as a vote thief. Young boys started making toy guns and started shooting PNU versus ODM. Children were very affected. We were making plans to go stay in Tanzania just before the deal was brokered. As a journalist, o wondered, at what time do we start being a journalist? How are you supposed to take a picture of a dying person and leave him there? For a while I had bad dreams, went through counseling and now am on my road to recovery.


HENRY of NMG remembers the calls of people for help asking me to ask the MPs to come to their rescue etc were enormous and quite overwhelming. I got in touch with Sam Ongeri and he consulted the DC who organized for evacuation of the victims. People were displaced in hundreds, and in the same number they reported into the Ekerenyo camp. People told of life without food, surviving on water, children came and did not know where their parents were, others hardly new the names of their parents, calling them mami and dady. What annoyed me most and I forgot my profession was when people started torching houses. The worst wash when we went to the battle field; we got gun scare from the gum trees and the tea bushes including the PC and the MPs. The chinkororo group was also attacking the Maasais on the other side it was chaos, smoke going up the skies and cries filling the air. I would like to forget the experiences. I went deaf of gun shots, thought I was dead at some point.

JARED of Citizen witnessed shooting of two young men, the bullets and seeing the young man airborne then when he landed all the intestines were out. The mayhem was for that night especially for Kisii. He met a guy who was cut off both of his hands; they were severally attacked by gunshots including the PC himself. He stopped taking any more news at the border because of fears of his life.

The session was summed up by Mr. Mitch Odero by highlighting the key words from the experiences.

1.3 THE BIG PICTURE; CONTEXTUALIZING CONFLICTS IN AFRICA

The afternoon session started with an exploration of the big picture; contextualizing conflicts in Africa. Mr. Maruga introduced the PB thinking format to include the context i.e. historical epochs, helps us understand the context, tools and analysis, i.e. context, likely scenario, tools for intervention. Interventions i.e. theories on tools for interventions and evaluations which is response evaluation, developing theories of change.

The bigger picture; we want to identify incidences in Africa. What are the three traumatic episodes in recent Africa history that have had significant impact on the breakdown of African institutions, and thereby on the incidences and intensity of conflict in Africa? We want to take a historical journey and understand where we are coming from and where we are going;

1. Slavery and slave trade; the best of Africa were taken away in the slavery. This was an economic project and we were de humanized.

2. We were colonized; Africa was partitioned during the colonization and for sure some parts had much more interests than others especially the central Africa. We were given education to serve our masters

3. Modernization; We have been abused and traumatized

So how do we come out of that particular scenario?

This takes us to tools of analysis which enables us to know the actors in the conflicts, the main actors and the secondary. Then if we were to intervene, at what level are we able to intervene?


1.3.1 The tree modelMostly we report on what we see, the visible aspects of conflict, what is quantifiable. At times we cut off the stem only for it to spring up a fresh with many stems. These are usually the content. Underneath in what we see as roots are the relationships symbolizing aspects of interdependence. They are usually characterized by hatred, desire to dominate, stereotypes and frustrations among others.

Mr. Maruga then introduced then aspect of the lenses. He placed them strategically to capture the both aspects of the tree, the visible and the invisible. He urged us to put on such lenses when looking at issues of conflict.

1.3.2 The systems toolHe looked at the picture retrospectively from the crisis, structure/ institutions, the processes and finally the relationships. That was looking at the past so that we could think about the future. It is only when we look at the history that we can focus to the future.

1.3.3 Stages of conflictThis tool explained the stages of conflict as pre conflict, escalation, crisis or impasse. This leads to outcome then post conflict which take time. The down part of the diagram shows the stages of what we see, what should be done and most likely who the actors are. He concluded that you do your analysis as journalists and report accordingly so as to elicit the right intervention at that stage of conflict. You should therefore be able to see the indicators after you interview the people.

He concluded the session by narrating a story about his father and him as a little boy, how he admired him and did most of the things with the dad. The dad was a dictator by nature of being a supervisor of the tea estates in Kericho. He was amazed at the way his father was obedient to the priest on Sunday and therefore he really admired the priest. He usually could be asked by the dad to scratch his back, here there and finally he could tell him “kwenda uko, wewe nikama mama yako” so he ended up looking for a dry stick for him to scratch himself. Members of press, I have given you the stick (tools) use it.

1.3.4 Theories of conflictThese are the community relations theory, the human needs theory, the identity theory, principal negotiation theory, intercultural miscommunication theory and transformative theory. He expounded each theory giving real life experiences from economic, religion, culture to the just concluded post election crisis.

1.4 Media and conflict, a contextual analysis

Mr. Mitch Odero elaborated the typical media environment. Pressure from the government i.e. laws, bills and ultimatums. Pressure from media owners, who expect high rating. He wants people to tune to you. The audience as the media consumer has its own kind of pressure, multicultural e.g. in Kenya with 42 tribes with political communities with political agendas some of which can cause conflict, etc. The audience dictates your survival. The other pressure comes from advertisers who want their messages run on air, some could be inflammatory. This can change and or affect your programming. Lately there is pressure from civil society which also includes faith institutions. We are her to try and perform the balancing act.


1.4.1 Typology of BiasHe also introduced and discussed the typology of bias as follows

OPEN HIDDEN

INTEDED PARTISANSHIP PROPAGANDA

UNINTENDED UNWITTING SELECTIVITY IDEOLOGY

Partisanship - It can be by choice, you can announce you bias by owning the subject e.g. the government owned the Kenya times. Sometimes it is not ownership but by policy e.g. citizen in the referendum supported banana. Partisan is not wrong in journalism so long as objectivity is observed.

Propaganda - is intended but hidden bias e.g. the government spokes man uses propaganda to carry government messages across.

Unwitting selectivity - is where we have a problem. It carries you socio cultural background, which shapes and carries your view. This affects us as media because we come from the very communities we are reporting about. It weighs us down with cultural weight. He gave example where a certain reporter could not admit that AFC lost to Gor Mahia those earlier days of two major football clubs, he reported something like “the weaker side, Gor Mahia who were favored by unfriendly wind which blew to their side, managed to steal the win from AFC…”

Ideology - This bias is unintended and hidden so it is not a major threat.

He gave an example of the information which reached Kibera when Kalonzo Musyoka became the vice president saying; all the Kambas leave or faces dire consequences. On one side, would you live to see the Kambas killed the following day or announce it and be seen to fuel the crisis?

• I ignore it• Pass the information in a better way e.g. you ought to be careful, stay next to your people to be safe• Treat the message seriously; I would inform the security but not on air. Inform them how grave I think

the situation will be• Involve a voice they can listen to e.g. a politician, elder etc.

He summed up with an up down and down up model i.e. where names made the news and abstracts came last. The reversed model shows the abstract coming first then the names. Our communities should be able to make news, we should develop models which respect and recognize news from our communities.A journalist shared the experience he had with the buses carrying APs as PNU agents and how they followed them up until Homabay and Sori and proved they were really APs. He strayed in vernacular and said” ng’ato man gi gino ratego kabisa” To mean when you have the evidence you are so bold. We should report with basis of evidence base, someone who has evidence is very confident in the information they give. We managed to uncover the truth and gather evidence and unleash the truth, he concluded.


1.5 MODELS OF REPORTING

1. The mirror- this models reflects what is on the ground. It is limited to the 4Ws and a H i.e. What, Who, Where, When, and How? We are here to add the C into this model i.e. Conflict reporting.

2. The professional model emphasizes on the ethical issues and generally following the codes of ethics3. Organizational model refers to policies of the media house/ media owner. It relates to bias which is open

and intended. 4. Political model refers to the political environment in the country. It refers to laws that have been

formulated towards the media.

The four models affect our news making process but should not affect peace journalism. A discussion ensued around the local media stations and the facilitator urged the journalist to be very wary. He was concerned with the very first sentences uttered e.g. the greetings we give to our people in vernacular become quite isolating. The minute you tune in and get the greeting, you feel this is not meant for you but for a certain people.

He used the saying that “a word is not the thing; a word is a symbol of the thing” Words are occasionally used

to hind deeper meanings especially in a conflict situation where you may not want to use real names. We have to be very careful to unveil the real meaning, i.e. the thing which the word ahs been used to symbolize. An example, there was a slogan in Kalenjin land going like “chemgei 41” this meant in Kenya we are 41 tribes excluding the one tribe which takes peoples land. You must learn the language of conflict at all times.

The media has what we call formative influences which can transform conflict.

How did the media contribute to the last year’s crisis?

1. By airing some clips, they fueled it but they did not start it2. When the mobs saw us, they became more violent and wanted to be captured the more. Some even

staged shows with the police3. Media had everything to do with violence by building up the tension through the ratings in papers, polling

and so on4. We were playing our role of informing the people5. We played role as media6. We did not do our jobs, we gave people everything without editing which is our role, we gave raw

information

1.6 CASE STUDIES WHERE THE MEDIA HAS HELPED IN PEACE BUILDING

Case study – AA Washington DC based Common Ground a media NGO , used video productions to record concerns of rival parties of South Africa community who could not see eye to eye, to enable them communicate through exchange of their recorded video tapes.


Case Study –BRadio freedom in Gulu Uganda provides airtime to elders to invite rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army to return to their community for dialogue and peace making.

Case Study –CFish FM, a Christian community based radio station in Eldoret, Kenya offered its media platform to IDPs to “tell their stories” and therefore “vent off” as a healing process.Lessons learnt from the case studies: • We should be compassionate• We should be Interventionist• We must follow the code of ethics• We should up hold service journalism, the cooperate world are controlling our content and programme,

everything has become commercialized

1.6.1 Group Exercises The participants were put into three groups and given the following assignment

Group one; Should the government hold the responsibility to prevent harm producing press reports? If yes, by what means? If no do indicate why

Group two; Do Kenyan Media consider their professional responsibility when exercising the freedom to publish in conflict situation? Give examples

Group three; How much coverage should be presented immediately conflicts break out bearing in mind a) the risk of telling inaccurate story, b) the risk of spreading panic and attracting destructive participants to the scene.

GROUP PRESENTATIONS

Group three; Enough information with verified facts should be given to the listener. The media house and the representative on the ground should be the ones to verify the facts. There is the risk of telling inaccurate story to the media house thereby loosing credibility and dent the image of the station. There is also the issue of legal processes whereby you need to wary about issues like defamation. To the listener, you can end up creating another conflict/ confusion and psychological trauma e.g. when the news were aired on the man (Luo) pulled out of a matatu and killed, the Luos reacted by asking “Ginego jowa to jogi warieba rieba” (They’ve killed our people but we just chased their people) and you can imagine what that solicits.

In the plenary it was agreed that in such circumstances we should be able to send reliable journalist to the scene especially those who do not break down easily and most preferably the journalist who are trained on conflict sensitive journalism.


At that moment avoid names e.g. two Luos have been killed, rather say two people were killed. The international media was blamed on this issue because they said words like, ten Kikuyus were killed, so and so Luos were burnt and so on, unlike their context where they show bodies covered but you are not shown the real picture when the shooting took place.

Some media houses represented the policy difference in their particular media houses e.g. a KBC reporter says they report according to the information given by a key person on the ground, say the police, chief, etc. Example, you could get ten bodies lying dead and the chief says four people were killed, you report four people were killed, how you account for the others as he tried responding to the plenary was that they may not have been killed at the scene. The discussions were very helpful.

Localize the information e.g. if something happened in a hotel in Kisumu, do not report like the whole Kisumu was affected. Report the exact place and incidence.

GROUP ONEWe had some people saying yes and others saying no.

NOa) The government would want the media to favor their policies and views; they would use the media as a

tool for propaganda.b) The capacity to investigate the scandals would be prohibited by the governmentc) The media would act as a PR tool of the governmentd) The role of media as watch dog tool would be curtailede) The media has its code of ethics and conduct to control and regulate itf) If the government is left to control the media, then the media will be in the hands of few elites who have

upper handg) By controlling media the government will promote corruption

YESa) The media council is inefficient and unable to control the mediab) The media is in business and therefore cannot control itself. The media has been known to employ

untrained people at the expense of the trainedc) The media should be regulated until the media council is empowered to control the media on its ownd) The media has killed the journalism training in Kenya.

The plenary agreed and supported most of the points in the positive and negative evidenced by real life situations e.g. the media should be regulated to some extend because they have killed professionalism by employing the so called “celebs” who are not qualified in the jobs. It was concluded that it is time the media formed media consumers association; it can be a good watch over the media.


GROUP TWOThere were two responses of this question, yes 20% and no 80%.

NOa) Because most of the people especially in the FM stations are not responsible because they are not

trained journalist but “celebs” who have been put there by their friends.b) There is a lot of unprofessional language especially due to (a) abovec) Media owners have personal interest which affects the house policyd) Television which is unfit for public viewing, viewers should be fore warned, but at the same time that is

the time people really get keene) Lack of work ethics due to arm twisting of journalists with moneyf) Infringement by governmentg) Scoop mentality

YESa) When media came to its senses and began showing only good things eg the common Eric Wainainas song

of patriotism, “mimimni mkenya, mwanchi mzalendo” and other songs of peace from the music fraternityb) The pamoja campaignc) The one peace headline

The plenary discussed issues of emotions amongst journalists in the crisis witnessed, e.g. a someone witnessed a colleague wail in vernacular saying “Kivuitu okwalone Kibaki kura, kikuyie!!, kikuyi!!e” in a very charged emotion. We should avoid emotions which water down our code of ethics.

Others said they were on duty and following instructions of their bosses to loose their jobs etc.Some journalists were accused of becoming public relations officers of MPs in a hot debate which named some in the sitting. Before we leave this place we should have a clear cut on professionalism and responsibility as one of the journalist concluded the discussions.

The facilitator summed by saying that the journalists were very participative and therefore he expects participatory journalism from this region. 1. All the responsible media around the world have agreed that as media you could hold information

considered harmful2. Coverage can increase the intensity of conflict3. Non coverage would encourage roomers which are neither health in a conflict situation


1.7 PEACEBUILDING AND CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION

Violent conflict does not erupt over night but erupts with time, as were the opening words of the presenter Mr. Kut.

There are different meanings and ways we look at peace hence the following schools of thought;

1. Absence of war. The same way most the government organs view peace as absence of war, e.g. when Koffi Annan came he drafted the four agendas, when the fire ceased and things were cooled thereof by power sharing, they have now ignored agenda number four which addresses the root causes of the crisis.

2. State of tranquility. Mostly seen in the picture of heaven as it is preached. We do not interact with it in our daily lives

3. Continuous conflict transformation. This concept accepts conflict as a healthy part of our lives, what we make sure is that conflict is transformed before it turns violent. He gave an example of the Chinese way of describing conflict, the two symbols i.e. danger and opportunity. For every danger, there is an opportunity.

Story on transformationThe story of the three sons and their mother; the woman felt like she was not going to be living for long so she drew a will. Her only wealth was seventeen goats 17. She said that when she dies, her first son should take 1/9, the second 1/3 and the third ½ of the wealth. On division, the first was to get 1.8 of a goat, the second 5 and seven eighths and the third eight and a half. A neighbour heard their quarrels and gave them an extra goat which enabled them to get 2, 6 and 9 reminder one which they gave back to the owner. This neighbour was a conflict transformationist.

1.7.1 Functions Of Conflict Examples from the group; A man was camping with a certain young lady and they ended up marrying. They are together as a family to date.

He gave example of types of violence i.e. direct, structural and cultural violence’s. Elaborated the three examples and how they lead to one another. He demonstrated by use of a plant. It is advisable to nab the conflict at the stage of cultural violence.

We realized that our society suffers conflict illiteracy, what we need is conflict literacy. A diagram on the power point and he asked what we see.• Un healthy tree (grass, shed leaves, )• Expectant woman• Desert• Anthill at the bottom of the tree• African continent• Streams joining river to the main lake• A table


The second picture,• A white woman• A Lion yawning• Face of a lady in warm clothing and a dove

This tells us our perceptions are informed by our environments and the things we see or the way we are brought up. It also influenced by religion, and culture.

1.7.2 Conflict mappingBasic Conflict Analysis Identifies perspectives of all stakeholders Goes beyond obvious conflict symptoms to the issues Explores the sources and effects of the conflict Explains the historical and social context Examines the escalation or de-escalation of the conflict Examines stakeholders’ options and their implications Analyzes attempts to negotiate or bridge gaps Uses an effective style and medium for reports

Parties and Stakeholders: What’s the Difference?Parties are persons or groups directly involved in a conflict or a negotiation whereas Stakeholders are all persons or groups: who can make or implement decisions who can block or sabotage decisions or their implementation Who are affected directly or indirectly by decisions or their implementation (including voiceless or

vulnerable persons or groups and including women and men)

Relationships?Consider relationships between individuals, relationships within and between groups, families, organizations, communities, Gender relations, political relationships. Consider current relationships and historical relationships, consider power dynamics in relationships

Making a “Conflict Map”What is a “conflict map”? It is a tool for understanding relationships involved in a conflict. So why take time to create a conflict map? Use to help identify all stakeholders… Assess stakeholders’ relationships… Assess power dynamics… Identify and assess alliances… Identify and carefully evaluate some possible entry points for investigation or intervention… Assess intervener relationships with stakeholders… Assess your own position regarding issues and actors…


Model of a conflict map

ISSUE X

ISSUE Y

Connection

ISSUE

Direction of power or influence

AllianceDiscord


1.7.3 Group Task

(a) Pick a conflict that in your view has potential for violence and create a conflict map.(b) In the map mark the point (s) where the media could intervene and state how.

With adaptations fromCatherine Morrish

GROUP PRESENTATIONS CONFLICT MAPPING

Group three did a map on the relationships between three major tribes in Kenya, and the power. It illustrated the ethnicity of the country. Group one picked the same theme and focused on Nyanza with it sub tribes, Luo, Kuria and Kisii. The arrows were showing the different relationships mostly based on cultural basis.

Group two focused on stock theft within the Transmara focusing on the Maasai, Kipsigis, Kuria and part of the Luo community. As the other two groups, it high lightened issues of cultural differences within the communities and the wars in between them. The media was seen to come in between the communities and report positive things they do together and encourage social cohesion.

The sessions were summarized by Mr. Mitch Odero by going through reporting style, he emphasized on reporting from the heart to the hut. He went through the book my tribe is journalism pages highlighting examples of sensitive journalism. It was a successful workshop.

The journalist thanked the facilitators for such a timely course, especially bearing in mind how this part of Kenya was affected. We have gone through trainings but this is special one. Thank you so much.

1.8 REFERENCES


JOURNALISTS TRAINING WORKSHOP

KASARANI, NAIROBI26-29TH JUNE 2008

CONFLICT SENSITIVE JOURNALISM

TRAINERS GEORGE KUT-NPI AFRICAMITCH ODERO-MEDIA CONSULTANTGEORGE WACHIRA-NPI AFRICA


TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ...................................................................................................................... 3

1.0 INTRODUCTION .........� 41.1 EXPECTATIONS ............� .4

1.2 INTRODUCTION OF THE OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP ..................................................... 51.2.1 ACHIEVEMENTS ...........� 61.2.2 TOWARDS CONFLICT SENSITIVE JOURNALISM ............................................................................. 61.2.3 OBJECTIVES ....................� 6

1.3 SHARED EXPERIENCES .............................................................................................................................. 71.3.1 SUMMED UP EXPERIENCES ...................................................................................................................... 11

1.4 UNDERSTANDING AND ANALYZING CONFLICT .......................................................................... 111.4.1 TOOLS AND LENSES ...� 111.4.2 SYSTEM VIEW .................� 121.4.3 EXERCISE ........................� 131.4.4 CONFLICT CYCLE .......� 131.4.5 RELATIONSHIP AND CONTENT TOOL ............................................................................................... 14

1.5 CONFLICT MAPPING .� 151.5.1 MAKING A “CONFLICT MAP” ................................................................................................................. 151.5.2 MODEL OF A CONFLICT MAP ................................................................................................................ 161.5.3 GROUP TASK .................� 171.5.4 LESSONS LEARNT FROM THE EXERCISE ............................................................................................. 18

1.6 ROLE OF MEDIA IN CONFLICT .............................................................................................................. 19

1.7 REFERENCES ..................� 20


ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

ATIM -EG -GSU - General Service UnitID - Identity CardIDPs -Internally Displaced PersonsKBC - Kenya Broadcasting CorporationKCA -KICC - Kenyatta International Conference CentreKUA -MOA -NGO -Non Governmental OrganizationNPI -Nairobi Peace InitiativeODM - Orange Democratic MovementPNU - Party of National Unity


1.0 INTRODUCTION

The workshop started with an invitation to the workshop by Mitch Odero who introduced George Kut to set the workshop rolling by a welcome note. He took us through introduction of NPI Africa how it started way back in 1984, and their core competences. He emphasized on the role of training and intermediary the institution plays to mention a few. He concluded by stating that this workshop is a response to the call of the people following last year’s skirmishes.

All participants introduced themselves by pairing up and interviewing each other. The key words in the introduction included participants’ name, media house he/she represented, a little information about the media house and expectations. Attendance was 100%.

1.1 EXPECTATIONS

1. To achieve the set goals especially how to report in conflict2. To be transformed on the conflict reporting3. To learn conflict resolution4. To leave this place transformed in reporting matters of conflict in the community5. To not only be a listener but also a doer ie action oriented in issues of conflict and journalism 6. To get expertise in reporting conflict7. To gain experience which will put us as messengers for peace8. Raise pressure on key stakeholders to bring about peace9. To understand the process of conflict and how it impacts on the reporting10. To gain skills and knowledge to work in pastoralists conflict prone areas especially for pasture and water

i.e. Resource Based Conflict11. Reduce suffering in the country through reporting12. Get rich in knowledge concerning peace and conflict in Africa13. A better reporter of conflict; hopes to be a “Kofi Annan” i.e. mediator and takes this as the first step14. To be hardy in conflict issues and editing of conflict stories15. To be able to unite the conflicting communities16. To handle conflicting stories in a professional way17. Wants to know her role in issues of conflict especially being in a religious media house18. Better her skills in presenting conflict situations19. Wants to be a good reporter, quotes Jesus as blessed are those who make peace20. To know how to avoid conflict i.e. stopping it before it starts usually known as early warning reporting21. To learn skills on peace building and reconciliation22. To learn skills to help people live peacefully23. Some of these discussions could go on air as news

Mr. Mitch Odero summed up the expectations into two main questions, i.e. when the peace justice and reconciliation commission starts, how will the media report it? Will it put the message of peace across or send us back to war? We capture very large audiences hence have to be wary of the messages we put across. A discussion ensued centered on issues of what happened and what they think the media houses should have


done. Among the key issues was looking for opinion leaders and asking them to take over in guiding their people, an idea which was widely bought.

1.2 Introduction of the Objectives of the workshop

This workshop is aimed at combating conflict reporting illiteracy. Its activities include consultative meetings with stakeholders involved in the media (Editors, Field based Journalists) and development of broadcast materials to be aired by local FM Radio Stations.

The expected outcomes include, open discussions on lessons learnt, stakeholders’ commitment, exposure on conflict-sensitive reporting, plans on peace and reconciliation, self-regulating techniques and Media Code of Ethics - revised

1.2.1 AchievementsSo far, we have the following achievements; Meeting between Media trainers and Peace practitioners held to brainstorm on conflict journalism

training content for field based journalist consultative meeting with stake holders of the media (MOA, KUA, EG, KCA, Media NGOs, Training

Institutions, State/Public Media, AFIM, Development Partners The consultation was inspired by a realization that conflict transformation has become a crucial national

agenda

1.2.2 Towards Conflict Sensitive Journalism

Conflict - Sensitive Media Training Workshops for journalists and presenters

The strategy is designed to reach out to those journalists and presenters in the field.Conducted in a total of nine venues cutting across all provinces

1.2.3 Objectives

An acknowledgement of the realities of the post election crisis in Kenya and the media’s role Exposure to conflict transformation and peace building skills Recognition of the importance of implementation of conflict-sensitive reporting Appreciation of the promotion of topics of peace and reconciliation Commitment to broadcast Peace Building and Conflict Transformation radio programs. Commitment to remain fair and unbiased in all reporting.

Mr. Mitch Odero asked all of us to reflect on what happened last year. We observed moments of deep silence as we opened to the next session. This was followed by a request to share our experiences. He emphasized that healing stars with opening up and sharing. The stories have bottled up and therefore we need to lift the lids. We cannot time healing but we can briefly cite our experiences with emphasis on what happened and how you acted for better or for worse and how you think you should have acted.


1.3 SHARED EXPERIENCES

ROSE ACHEGO of Waumini fm started us off with her personal experience. She was staying at Kinoo a Kikuyu dominated town while she is a Luo. Her neighbours started issuing statements and giving them deadlines to leave the town or face dare consequences so they left to their other relatives in other estates. As a journalist, she did not think this was her country anymore with no more jams and only GSU in town.

BEN OLUOCH of Ramogi FM started by stating that media stations took sides before elections as was seen campaigning for individuals. This started fuelling the trouble as he put it. The nominations were characterized by mayhem. He covered Nyanza region during the elections. Being an employee of people associated with PNU, ODM supporters in his homeland criticized him of being happy and enjoying even as he reported. He continued in citing that the major problem with media houses is the fact that they are competing for market. Community stations cover only leaders accepted by that community which compromises the ethics. He had to change neighborhood and he concludes that it was the hardest time of his life as a broadcaster.

JUDY MBUGUA of Waumini FM, a religious media house confessed how she avoided verses in the bible with the word enemy. We also played the songs of peace and very well checked / censored. I hated news, though I ma a media person. Presentation was completely difficult with fear of being misinterpreted.

LYDIA NYANGALA of Mulembe FM said it was quite hard because the local media have to go with what the owner had chosen to support. As a mother, I had to be strong for my kids and it wasn’t easy. We should always say then truth irrespective of what the prevailing circumstances. We all failed. I lost a neighbor in the skirmishes.

SUGUT of Chemgei FM said the main problems stated during the campaigns. We were accused of working with or for other people e.g. people would call and ask, why did you play that advert? We had to delay and censor messages because some read as bad as “we are ready for anything” I lost a lot of friends. I could not go home for some time because I was accused of supporting other people; people were looking for me because I had not done their wish.

JUDY MAINA of KBC is a residence of Naivasha and so as she was approaching the town one of the evening with her friends from the lake side, they realized the clear town and said waoh! Today the town is so cool, no jams, no cars etc. Before they new it, a group of young men approached them and plainly told them if you are Kikuyu, you are ok, if you are not, you are dead. Fortunately they were all Kikuyus. An approaching man was asked for an ID card upon production he was Luo, the cut off his head instantly. Some houses were on fire with screams from inside, people were being burned alive. I did not see the story to write. I still see that person and the screams from the houses burning in the background to date. She narrated all this in between tears and deep sorrow.


TITUS MULI of Musyi FM affirmed that it all started with the campaigns. We as a media house were accused of supporting Kalonzo. I had to sneak into my house in the night and leave so early. I spent the nights at work enough times.

MARTIN GITAU of the People said it began after the referendum in form of tribal politics and 2007 was just but a climax. He concluded by saying he saw Sudan in Kenya. He says they became bias.

MASEME of the Standard stated that news is bad news. He confessed that fro three days he did not write anything in his note book. I witnessed massacre in the Rift valley live. Media was so divided; the editors took sides, the church too. I saw relationships break between the young people who were dating. I have been going through quotes during the referendum, campaigns and I am ashamed to see how they were phrased.

EDITH of the standard was at KICC at that moment. She say they had tallied and written their stories, already knew then next president when they were all over a sudden told the results were going to be delayed. I was carried out by a GSU askari and put out; only KBC was allowed in the hall. I could not write any report. There are so many injustices which need to be settled.

Most of the journalist from north eastern gave stories around how they lacked essential foods during the crisis. There was also the general fear that incase all was worse, were they going to run into Somalia which was already burning? There was also this peculiar occurrence that north eastern hosted so many IDPS, something they did not think they could do. We as Kenyans and the media were not prepared for such a large scale of conflict. This training should have come earlier than this mostly in November last year. One of them concluded by saying “I blame the media, and more so the international media. Media should have censored the arguments to be aired.

MUTANI of the Kenya times told the gathering that on 26th December last year, the Kikuyus were wearing God father hats, all of them in the local market, a symbol later known to symbolize their expected win in the elections. Way before the announcement of results the police commissioner was issuing statement that whoever causes chaos, from whichever tribe will see… I saw people cut off genitals of the Luos. We saw Israel, Palestine and the Gaza strip in one of the estates. I saw beheading of people in Mathare and massive massacre. The media divided us.

EMILY OKELLO of Radio Simba was reporting the prayers for the victims of violence at Kibera. She narrates her story of the turn of events that day in midst of tears. She says she was so affected by the tear gas she thought she would go blind. She continues narrating how she contemplated loosing her job because of the violence. She also talked of a colleague who tried removing his eyes from the camera to see if it was really real what he was seeing.

Another participant gave an example how a famous politician in Juja gave an example quoting the biblical Esau and Jacob story. This was centered on how Kibaki was Jacob and Raila, Esau. Esau was supposed to inherit their wealth but Jacob stole it, we see God still blessing Jacob even though he stole what was meant for his brother Esau.


In Ngong, there was a mutual agreement that if Mungiki strikes, the Maasai will hit and based on this, the investors in Ngong asked Mungiki not to strike in fear of loosing their property to destruction. We are seeing some kind of a war of the classes.

“Kibera was noma” those were the words of Maka Yusuf of Pamoja FM based in the area. We were cut off from power to avoid seeing the live broadcast of the unfolding events. People died in big numbers were all she could say before she broke down. She remembered some of her friends who lost their lives, neighbours who were up to now displaced and dispossessed and no signs they could ever come back.

Andrew Kilonzo of KBC narrated his journalism story as was influenced by his life in Rwanda for two years. He got narrations from people and their live experiences were so painful e.g. they parted at the gate to avoid seeing each other die and took to different directions. Years after some never ever met and assumed their loved ones had been killed somewhere. I wanted to capture stories and that was his word. In Kenyan situation, he witnessed rape of a mother who was traveling with her four kids in the presence of all the commuters in the matatu, as they raped her, they reprimanded her that “munazaa kama panya” am still traumatized is all he could sum up. He said the media was used by politicians.

1.3.1 Summed up experiencesMr. Mitch Odero summed up the above experiences by citing that we are victims of socio-cultural experiences of our communities as media and as people. He shared the box below showing the types of biases we go through.

OPEN HIDDEN

INTENDED PartisanshipPropaganda

UN INTENDED Unwitting selectivity Ideology

He cautioned us against the unwitting selectivity which is the most dangerous form of bias. Being well understood as it is part of the wide media training, we moved on.

1.4 Understanding and Analyzing Conflict

1.4.1 Tools and lensesA tool is a framework that helps you to see things in a particular way “if your only tool is a humor, you see all problems as nails” We want to equip us with specific attitudes that help us carry out our work. How do I look at media as a tool for conflict resolution?

We wear lenses for different reasons, the types of ideas that we going to share are going to act like changing our lenses. Let us wear the lenses that make us understand the continent of Africa so that we can understand our country, Kenya. We have to be descriptive before we are prescriptive.


We begin with a picture of now/ current situation e.g. family situation, what am I earning? How many children do I have, what investment have I made? Look at it in a vision say five years to come and see what happens. Once you do that check what are the required changes to make the move from now to the future? The changes are at four major levels i.e. personal, relational, social and structural. Mostly, when we have changes at structural level, all the other three will change.

Assume we are looking down from a distance at the continent of Africa, how many countries have had war/conflict or how many have not? Human beings have basic needs and any time these are threatened they have to stand up for them. Is there anything that has happened or is in Africa that you think has prone us to these?

Colonization-brought about the borders and divisions between communities which were living together

Brought reward system to the people they favour e.g. the Kikuyu were awarded in rift valley with other peoples land

Slavery-they took away the best of us Our dictators were also educated and influenced by the colonialists. Have we understood how we have come through violence and how it has been transmitted to generations?

1.4.2 System View

Symptoms Crisis

Past Present System You can decide to put your lenses on the symptoms, as a media? You must take a critical journey back and forth to come up with a solution. We are observing the symptoms but we need to have a critical mind to begin understanding the whole processes and analyze them. He summed up with the saying that

“A ghost town is a town where people have come and gone but Amasukra is a different ghost town, the people have not yet arrived”

We have a crisis of confidence, where is our confidence going to come from? Why do we under look our own?


1.4.3 ExerciseHold your partners hand across the table, the objective is to ensure that the back part of your partners hand touches the table as many times as possible within 30 seconds. Why did you do it the way you did? In our minds, we have come to associate the idea of placing elbows on tables with arm wrestling. Take your mind from what you already know and do the exercise.

A story about a woman who had three children, she was a pastoralist, had many animals.She wrote a will, child number one to have half of my wealth, number two a third and number three a ninth. Drought came and cleared most of her animals except 17 cows. A friend overheard the quarrels and offered to give her one remaining cow to the children. They divided into 9, 6 and 2 with one still remaining. The old man smiles to himself and took away his cow.

What do you understand by conflict? Misunderstanding, clash, confusion, differences, struggles, anger, opposition, hate, quarrel, hate, competition, blood, death all negative images. How come when we think conflict we think negative? Think anything positive about conflict.Negotiation, changes, comprise, dialogue,

How do you think we come up with this negativity about conflict? By way of socialization.

1.4.4 Conflict CycleWe begin to develop certain ways values, beliefs, perceptions and attitudes about conflict. Sayings in our community such as,i) The coward will be shot from the backii) Amani haiji ila kwa nja ya upanga, iii) If you want peace prepare for war

There are beliefs too e.g.i) In Gikuyu you are warned do not do that like watu wa juu (western)ii) Hii nyumba inakaaje kama wakamba wakipigania ndege?iii) St. Peter meets the golden gates missing while he asks God whether to let the Kikuyus in

How much have we done to each other in the past skirmishes based on perceptions? e.g. this is how we behave towards these kind of people.

Conflict occurs then the response which elicits consequences such as hatred, grudge, escalation etc this leads back to the beliefs, perceptions, attitudes and values reaffirming them all and the cycle continues. We are then locked up in a vicious cycle of conflict. In the contrary, when we see negotiation, mediation, questioning as a response, we see consequences of transformation which leads to new values attitudes and perceptions. This outer cycle creates the next level of growth. We should be sailing in the outer cycle. Conflict is neutral it is what we do in response that gives it a name.


1.4.5 Relationship and content tool

Diagram of a treeThe things we see like branches and leaves, fruits become the content while roots are the relationships such as beliefs, stereotypes, emotions, history etc. When we are confronted with conflict, we place the lenses at a place we can see all the dimensions of the issue.

Press ConferenceThere was a press conference from the concurrent workshop members who were attending a youth workshop on leadership and peace building organized by NPI Kenya.

DAY TWO

1.5 Conflict mapping

Basic Conflict Analysis

Identifies perspectives of all stakeholders Goes beyond obvious conflict symptoms to the issues Explores the sources and effects of the conflict Explains the historical and social context Examines the escalation or de-escalation of the conflict Examines stakeholders’ options and their implications Analyzes attempts to negotiate or bridge gaps Uses an effective style and medium for reports

Parties and Stakeholders: What’s the Difference?Parties are persons or groups directly involved in a conflict or a negotiation whereas Stakeholders are all persons or groups: who can make or implement decisions who can block or sabotage decisions or their implementation Who are affected directly or indirectly by decisions or their implementation (including voiceless or

vulnerable persons or groups and including women and men)

Relationships?Consider relationships between individuals, relationships within and between groups, families, organizations, communities, Gender relations, political relationships. Consider current relationships and historical relationships, consider power dynamics in relationships

1.5.1 Making a “Conflict Map”What is a “conflict map”? It is a tool for understanding relationships involved in a conflict. So why take time to create a conflict map? Use to help identify all stakeholders… Assess stakeholders’ relationships…


Assess power dynamics… Identify and assess alliances… Identify and carefully evaluate some possible entry points for investigation or intervention… Assess intervener relationships with stakeholders… Assess your own position regarding issues and actors…

1.5.2 Model of a conflict map

ISSUE XISSUE Y

Connection

ISSUE

Direction of power or influence

AllianceDiscord


1.5.3 Group Task

(a) Pick a conflict that in your view has potential for violence and create a conflict map.(b) In the map mark the point (s) where the media could intervene and state how.

With adaptations fromCatherine Morrish

GROUP PRESENTATIONS

The participants went into four groups and the following is the feedback on their group work.

GROUP ONEThis group focused on the election crisis. They showed the different relationships within the parties involved including ODM, PNU, ECK, the public, Kliger commission and media. This group understood the subject matter quite well as evident in their work.

GROUP TWOThis group focused on the issues surrounding the taxation of the MPs salary. The map depicted well how the legislators feel they should not pay taxes because they are always down at the constituency assisting in harambees and funerals. The wananchi feels all Kenyas should be taxed irrespective of who they are, same to the civil society. The debate was so clear on the relationships building due to this issue. They concluded by saying the media should explore reasons given by all stakeholders against MPs taxation. In Kenya, violence is baptized peaceful demonstration.

GROUP THREEThis group focused on the issues of the wages and trade unions. They brought out the issues between the employees and the employers, the trade unions and the Government. They brought out the idea that this could cause violence through demonstrations, destruction of property and eventually economic sabotage. Media should come in between the trade unions and government mostly in highlighting issues affecting the employees, their flight especially evidence based.

GROUP FOURThis group focused on issues of cattle rustling common in the Northern part of Kenya. The relationships were centered between the two major tribes, Turkana and the Pokot. The other key players were the civil society and the government.


1.5.4 Lessons learnt from the exercise

1. You must be well informed otherwise a misrepresentation of information especially on the type of relation, can cause violence.

2. The media has to be neutral3. It is a complex exercise4. It needs team work and evidence base.

Picture of a tree, then asked what they saw; they all saw different things ranging from a tree, two faces, woman wailing standing on a grave. The lesson learnt was that we all have different perceptions. We see one thing so differently and that is what causes conflict.

1.6 ROLE OF MEDIA IN CONFLICT

In summary, the topic centered on the different and ideal role the media should play in conflict. He stated that we as media play the mirror role. We have to be in the frontline, investigate and give the truth. We therefore

should have the capacity to intervene through investigative journalism as he called it.

He emphasized on i) Ethical journalism as guided by the code of ethics,ii) Visionary journalism; that which looks beyond the frame. He advised journalists not to be limited within

the frame, to move out and see the bigger picture. iii) He went on and encouraged what he called muted reporting, characterized by soft language He urged

them to develop the techniques including in vernacular languages. iv) He finally touched on the compassionate media, media that acknowledges human beings come first and

of course responsible. He cited examples from the past where the editor would call a journalist and ask “hakuna watu wamekufa bado? Basi tungojee kidogo” which shows there was no news without deaths and really bad news.

1.7 REFERENCES


JOURNALISTS TRAINING WORKSHOP

KAKAMEGA3rd – 6th July 2008

Peacebuilding and Conflict transformation


Table of contents

INDEX .............................................� PAGE

Introduction of Participants and their Briefs ......................................................................................................... 3 - 8Media Houses ........................................� 8Challenges ...............................................� 8Peace Building ........................................� 9Values and Principles of Conflict Transformation ..........................................................................................................9Functions of Conflicts ........................� 10Comments from Participants ...........� 11Transformative Media .........................� 12Power and Role of Media ........� 12 - 13 News Room Culture ........................� 14Way-forward ........................................� 15Breaking the Cycle ..............................� 16Tool for Reflection ....................� 16 - 17Traumatic Episodes in Recent African History ...................................................................................................18 - 20Theories about the Causes of Conflict ................................................................................................................20 - 21Approaches to Manage, Resolve or Transform Conflict .............................................................................................22Stages of Conflict ......................� 22 - 23Conflict Cycle ............................� 24 - 25


JOURNALISTS TRAINING WORKSHOP – KAKAMEGA 3rd – 6th July 2008

The meeting began with a word of prayer followed by welcome remarks by Enid on behalf of NPI-Africa. Francis Muroki went on to give a brief on why “Conflict Sensitive Journalism?”

Background information on the UNDP training prior to the 2007 General Elections - effect of training that was carried out before and its effectiveness!

A quarter of the media practitioners in the country were trained on how to cover the General Elections.

NPI-Africa as a peace component saw the need to equip, understand and identify and if possible stop the escalation of violence in Kisumu.Backgound of the programmeIntroduction of participants

The impact of the crisis was very personalized and therefore everyone was given a chance to share their personal and professional experience of the crisis without feeling intimidated.

Introductions

Luka Kapchanga – Nation Newspapers based in Webuye and Bungoma

⇒ Personally four days after the violence broke out, he went to a church, children and women were camping because of the period being a festive

⇒ Lopsided reporting because where he was was relatively calm and he relied on what people were telling him, newspapers were not reaching him

⇒ The media failed because since the campaigns began, stories were sided either for PNU or ODM. There was no chance to challenge the political leadership and we played into their hands by not making them accountable for their promises to the electorate.

⇒ Some of the stories from the field never got to see the light of the day.

Simbi Kusimba – Radio Africa Group based in Bungome

⇒ Traumatised by the events of the post election period – getting locked up in houses, police shooting innocent Kenyans, mortuaries to count number of fatalities, covering live events deeply affected him.

⇒ Was not personally satisfied with the handling of the news reporting and coverage and this arises from the top echelons of media houses because of political biases.

⇒ In the field, there is a chance of voicing over what was on the ground as they saw it because these events tribalised societies as we have not moved away from the colonial groupings, economic aspects should not control our way of thinking, we need to move away from it.

⇒ We need to move away from our way of reporting so that this country can heal.


Yusuf Masibo – People Daily – Teso District

⇒ He sought refuge at the Police station because the marauding youth thought he was a PNU sympathizer.

⇒ He was also out of the station for almost one month because he was still being sought for. ⇒ The numbers of IDPs and dead people were mostly exaggerated. Police were not willing to

give information making reporting very hard.

Robert Juma – Webuye – Radio Mambo

⇒ The country’s instability and lack of peace made him very uneasy because in the course of duty, he was never sure of returning alive from covering stories. The media was also not balanced in the reporting of events and this ignited people to join the fracas.

⇒ This influenced the response of the people and this led to unnecessary demos that caused chaos.

Alicia Wafula – Radio Mambo

⇒ As a radio presenter she was totally traumatized. ⇒ Reporters were relaying information as events were unfolding on the ground and finding a

way of relaying the information was quite challenging. ⇒ Lies took centre stage and the fright of fleeing the country with no documents haunted her

to the point of having sleepless nights.⇒ Media took sides and these unbalanced the stories that the public were exposed to. ⇒ If she were to do it differently, she would only offer balanced news and report events in a

more positive manner.

Kefa Juma – Royal Media Kakamega

⇒ Barred from airing anything that was on the ground. ⇒ He felt that he would have reported more but there were restrictions. From the nominations

a lot of irregularities happened which they saw and money spoke more that the people’s votes.

⇒ Police were taking part singing to the tunes of their superiors. He saw police shooting people e.g. in Maraba a boy was shot who was a choir master at the Kakamega Catholic Church.

⇒ Professionally, he was affected because you could be mistaken to be a certain party’s sympathizer and risk your life. When you gather information and you cannot air it, then there is no job satisfaction.

⇒ He would have reported this differently because of biasness – ECK, Police, anomalies and the tallying process, he would insist on telling the true story to correct some of these anomalies.


Hilton Otenyo – Radio Africa Kakamega

⇒ Personally, when the country went violent, he and his family were unable to get out of the house to even get food, the end of the violence, the children kept asking who were Kikuyus, Luos, etc and this deeply affected him, hearing the gun shots.

⇒ Professionally, when the violence broke out, he was out of town and getting back was a very big challenge because you would know which crowd you were moving towards because the people in Kakamega know he whom he works for and if they think you are not on their side, they would harass you and even threaten to kill you.

⇒ He saw his fellow journalist’s colleagues being clobbered by police just because they had witnessed the shooting of innocent Kenyans. He was satisfied with the way he covered the elections.

⇒ The media houses were biased because some are owned by politicians and this affects the wording even of your stories – as editors would even ask you – what tribe were these people.

⇒ Newspapers were not reaching people with the correct stories as they were changed and this annoyed him quite abit.

Gertrude Kayo – Radio Mambo Webuye

⇒ Personally stayed near a politicians house and she could not even pass through to get to work. She was worried about her family’s safety, there were calls for her to resign and this confused her.

⇒ The media reporting was satisfactory because the stories on the ground were told but they were denied publication or airing because of the prerogative of the editors. Radio Mambo did not take sides

Sella Wambilianga

⇒ Could not bring out the truth because of the reaction of the people. ⇒ The right information was never aired and the risks involved in the course of duty endangered

their lives. ⇒ The ethnic divisions touched on their listenership and attacks were imminent which sapped

their energy.⇒ She would still report in the same way.

John Muganda – Standard Newspapers

⇒ Terribly affected because his house became an IDP camp. A neighbour who was a widow had her house burnt down and had run out of food.

⇒ There was a problem professionally and filing reports for the newspapers and not seeing a newspaper for five days really affected him.

⇒ When it came to coverage, if the media houses continue to behave the way they did, then Kenya will not change. The editors questions and remarks were mostly unfortunate because

⇒ Transport was a problem yet the editors wanted them to reach the scenes, the police were hostile as they did not want stories of people that have been killed to reach the public.

⇒ If politics continue to be tribal then the violence will continue to be experienced during the violence.


Robert Wafula – Royal Media Bungoma

⇒ Personally – Airtime was too expensive and scarce, a lot of insecurity. Professionally, he was not relaying his stories because there was no way to do it. Insecurity was too much and he was not satisfied and the media houses had taken sides, the tribal interests meant some stories could not be taken.

⇒ Lastly, he thinks that the situation will continue if the media houses policy of supporting sides, then people on the ground will have no choice

Geoffrey Kibisu - Royal Media Vihiga

⇒ He was clobbered because of being affiliated to Royal Media and he could not get protection from the police. Filing stories was a challenge because of insecurity and lack of transport.

⇒ He did what he could professionally at that time as a journalist. Sms service contributed to the escalation of violence. The change must begin from the top. Facilitation of the journalists and relying on politicians to boost the media people on the ground.

Vincent Otenyo – Citizen Busia

⇒ Landlord was a Kikuyu and they received threats of burning their houses and he had to move into a hotel.

⇒ Professionally, the media did not handle the issues well and took sides. ⇒ As a reporter, you can do very little because you submit your story and either it is distorted

or does not see the light of the day.

Henry Andanje – Nation Media – Teso

⇒ Was in Bungoma and took a matatu to Teso but on reaching Kocholia, they were forced out of the matatu and asked to remove their ID’s for identification. They were out looking for Kikuyus and not finding one they took away all the cash and ordered to go back to Bungoma.

⇒ He had to stay in Bungoma for another one week, unable to file a story and send to Nairobi. ⇒ The covering of the elections was quite okay but what was published was quite contrary. ⇒ The results announced were quite shocking and this upset him because he had spent quite a

bit of time in the counting hall. ⇒ His life became endangered because of reporting for Nation. When they file stories of appeal

to the government to assist the IDPs across the border, they get threats from the Iteso people. Their lives in Teso district have become endangered.

Cyrus Akhonya

⇒ Almost getting married and having the bride to be in Naivasha was too traumatizing. ⇒ The ban on live coverage affected them because the filing of stories has a bearing on the end

of month pay and this had a deep effect on him.⇒ The media played its role when liking putting the people in charge on the spot. He was not

biased and straight to the point and he would still report in the same way.


Pauline Wanjala – Radio Mambo

⇒ Transport was a big challenge and most of the matatus were mostly owned by a certain ethnic community.

⇒ Reporting was only n election issues and this limited their coverage.

FRANCIS MOROKI – General Secretary. Media

⇒ He was very much affected professionally by spending more time training on the violence though there were more challenges from media by misreporting issues.

Media houses: (Challenges)

⇒ Some media houses took side and it was much challenging because media houses were not taking their time to listen keenly and report the right news.

⇒ Reporters to put their foot to the consumer’s foot for harmonization to avoid traumatization.

NPI-Africa has been active for 25 years but not known in Kenya, was only known after post election violence (i.e in Rift Valley).

Challenges- transportation and communication was poor with a lot of disappointments. Nobody could talk of peace because people wanted to hear of justice alone and that made it difficult to work in other parts in Kenya.

Most challenging was e-mails from friends in other countries telling friends in Kenya to seek refuge.

CONFLICTS

Conflict is about change.

What is peace – “mulembe”

Peace is :-⇒ Absence of war or overt violence this by state.⇒ State of tranquility.⇒ Continuous conflict transformation.

PEACE BUILDING – this is managing conflicts without becoming overt.

Dependency is created by power.


Question. Is power equal?It’s proportional

Peace building is keen in looking the infrastructure in institution and being strategic, sustainable and comprehensive.

Stereotypes – (behaviour in Community)

Examples

⇒ Good cooks and watchmen-Luhyia⇒ Best stone throwers - Luos⇒ Money makers by stealing- kikuyus

Values and Principles of Conflict Transformation.

⇒ Consistency ⇒ Identifying the root causes⇒ Root causes of the conflict⇒ Justice, injustices and fairness⇒ Restricting of relationship

Practical agenda

⇒ Consultative meeting with⇒ Media⇒ Journalists⇒ To develop all local media in mother tongue

Expectations.

Lessons learned

Questions 1. A suggestion from a member, he felt that the NPI could have started with the journalist on the ground.

Ans. The media groups were the most targeted.

2. How are we going to be sure that implementation is done?

Ans. ?


FUNCTIONS OF CONFLICTS

1. Helps establish our identity2. Conflicts can build new relationship3. Conflicts can create coalition.4. Helps parties assess, measure each other’s power5. Helps in identification6. Tents to create clear boundaries7. Creates and modifies rules, norms and laws

HOW DOES THE MEDIA COME IN?

Live story about conflict between Kalenjin and Kerosoi For the last three years the kalenjins fed the Kikuyu’s cattle and kept the money.The media questioned whether the two tribes ever quarreled?

Like in the post election violence the media only looked on the PNU and ODM the only negative part was captured. Media should not only confine themselves to what they see. Media should be able to go deeper into aspects of other matters affecting large area not looking conflict as only two opposing parties.Media need to write opinions of the people on the ground and also business men to find out their problem.

Comments from participants

⇒ People do go for negative stories rather than positive stories⇒ People like politics⇒ People go for negative rather than positive i.e PNU members and ODM members could not

match.⇒ Wananchi goes to current news i.e. tell us about “Luhyia” who have accomodated wakikuyu.⇒ A sister to journalist who accommodated a Kikuyu feared the matter being taken to media

because she would be beaten.⇒ Some editors don’t understand the geographical factors they just move carelessly.⇒ Changing the system is very difficult because of the already developed culture. i.e. “we were

taken out by the Nile water donors to see and understand how they do assist the communities. Only to find that the donors pour a lot of money yet there is no implementation to the wananchi around. If we quote that, the project managers say we want to fight them”.

⇒ Mr. Muroki said that the media can be changed by journalists being liberal ⇒ The real revolution will take cause in the ground but not to the top People⇒ Members said that they are trying very hard and they have diversified on the ground.⇒ Members questioned Mr. Muroki whether he is condemning them of giving negative report,

but the real fact is that they have changed a lot. The requested Muroki as NPI to assist them advocate for a good and conducive environment.


Muroki’s comments, “if we only look on one side of the situation then we are not helping the suffering because both parties suffered”.

LANGUAGE

Example: two people has been hacked on the neck, police has brutally murdered ten people. These are very provoking and scaring words thus increasing conflicts. Journalists need to harmonize their words.

Mr. Muroki reminded journalists (participants) not to write the story when there is doubt

TRANSFORMATIVE MEDIA (Mr.Muroki)

⇒ People’s perceptions and misperceptions⇒ Role of journalism in solving conflicts⇒ Recreating reality (need for a hort video clip and some photos)

The power and the role of the media

There are several elements of conflict resolution that good journalism can deliver:-

1. Channeling communication: The news media is often the most important channel of communication that exists between sides in

conflict. Sometimes the media is issued by one side of broadcast intimidating messages, but other times, the parties speak to each other through the media.

2. Education Each side needs to know about the other side’s difficulty in moving towards reconciliation. Journalism

which explores each other side’s particular difficulties, such as its politics or powerful interests can help educate the other side to avoid demands for simplistic and immediate solutions.

3. Confidence Building Lack of trust is a major factor contributing to conflict. The media can reduce suspicion by digging into

hot issues and revealing them so there are no secrets to fear. Good journalism can also prevent news that shows resolutions is possible by giving examples from other places and by explaining local efforts at reconciliation.

4. Correcting misperceptions: By examination and reporting on the two sides, Misperceptions of each other, the media encourages disputing sides to revise their views and move

closer to reducing conflict.

5. Making them human Getting to know the other’s side, giving them names and faces, is an essential step. This is why negotiators


put two sides in the same room. Good journalism also does this by putting real people in the story and describing how the issue affects them.

6. Identifying underlying interests In a conflict, both sides need to understand the bottom-line interests of the other Good reporting does

this by asking tough questions and seeking out the real meaning of what leaders say. Good reporting also looks beyond the leaders’ interests and seeks the larger groups’ interest.

7. Emotional outlet In conflict resolution, there be outlets for each side to express their grievances or anger or they will

explode in frustration and make things worse. The media can provide important outlets by allowing both sides to speak. Many disputes can be fought out in the media, instead in the streets and the conflict can be addressed before it runs violent.

8. Framing the Conflict: In a conflict, describing the problem in a different way can reduce tension and launch negotiations. In

good journalism, editors and reporters are always looking for a different angle, an alternative view, a new insight which will still attract an audience to the same story. Good journalism can help reframe conflicts for the two sides.

9. Face Saving, consensus-building:

When two parties try to solve a conflict they must calm the fears of their supporters. By reporting what they say, the media allows leaders in a conflict to conduct face-saving and consensus-building, even reaching to refugees, internally displaced persons or even people in exile in far away places.

10. Solution Building: In a conflict, both sides must eventually present specific proposals to respond to grievances. On a daily

basis, good reporting does this by asking disputing parties for their solutions instead of just repeating their rhetoric of grievances. Good journalism is a constant process of seeking solutions.

11. Encouraging a balance of power Conflicting groups, regardless of inequalities, to believe they will be given attention they meet the other

side in negotiations. Good journalism encourages negotiation because reporting is impartial and balanced. It gives attention to all sides. It encourages a balance of power for the purpose of hearing grievances and seeking solutions.

Conclusion:Good journalism is a constant process of conflict transformation.


NEWS ROOM CULTURE (Reaching the Other Side)

It’s well believed that professional journalists have standards for accuracy, impartially and responsibility. They should remove their own personal values.

When a newsroom reports the news by only looking at everything from one side against the other, it hinders the reporters from thinking independently. But if we do not listen and report to other side, how we know the other side has changed or shifted positions. We will loose the values of reliable journalism and no longer communicate and educate and dispel rumors and myths.

Professional journalism will help bridge the barriers between the opposing sides is to reach for stories about what is common to both sides. It can be about common environmental concerns, business prospects, health concerns or new farming techniques. And the stories that report solutions can be shared by both sides.

Another way of breaking the barriers is to write stories about trans-ethnic identities, or people who are national heroes from both sides. These are people who will in most cases rise beyond one ethnic group or region, to represent the whole country or community or society, either in business, sports, politics and education.

Do away with stereotypes, race, region, culture, caste, prejudice and create diversity.

NEED FOR PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION

⇒ Personal⇒ Relational⇒ Structural⇒ Cultural

CONCLUSION:

The media can lead society by example.

QueryHow do we guide the propaganda

Ans: by going to the other side of the story and avoiding stories which may incite.

Way forward:

⇒ Creating a network of peace journey⇒ Peace award to journalist who are promoting peace stories⇒ Award proposal is good but the editors to be excluded⇒ Journalists having a partnership with npi proposed by Muganda for ease of -communication


and facilitation.⇒ Support by the npi for better research⇒ Having uniforms and caps in the workshop functions this is for identification and promoting

the organization.⇒ Npi to have web site for the community.⇒ to hold another seminar to monitor the performance whether it succeeding or not⇒ District Information Officers to be contacted instead of the CEO for smooth running of

communication.⇒ arrangements to be made to visit all media houses (both print and electronic) so that you can

address .⇒ the issues to the employees(reporters/Journalism).

SUMMARY ON TRANSFORMATIVE MEDIA

Reliable journalism is accurate, balanced and responsible. Culture, race and religion should have no influence on our reporting. We are to be color-blind. And our newsrooms and offices should represent many colors of race, religion or culture. There is need of diversification.

But often our newsrooms are not diverse. We have no reporters from ‘the other side’, culture or race. We do not have reporters of different race, religion or culture together as a team, in order to counterbalance prejudices.

MEDIA CHECKLIST:

⇒ In our reporting, does the amount of news about the other side or the other culture equal to the other sides’s proportion in our society?

⇒ Do positive reports about minorities only appear in certain sections of the news such as sports.

⇒ Who in the newsroom has good contacts or reliable sources on the other side⇒ Are reporters recruited from minority communities and are they are given a mentor and skills

upgrading.⇒ Are there guidelines for achieving more diversity in the newsroom and in the news we

report.


BREAKING THE CYCLE

SEEKING TRANSFORMATION

A tool for reflection

To spark and sustain a process of desired social change requires at least three related capacities.

1. An understanding of the current situation and the identification of relational patterns and characteristics that need change

2. An image of the desired future, the vision, the hope, the dream with specificity about relational patterns and characteristics that are sought

3. The clarification of changes and change processes needed to move from immediate situation toward the vision.

Below is simple tool for reflection about this process. For the two categories (Immediate/Vision) fill in several ideas about patterns and characteristics in reference to a concrete situation (community, organization, country, etc). Be as specific as possible. Then think through what changes processes would be needed to move from immediate situation to longer term vision. In particular think about who and what would need to change, what sets of relationships would need to be developed or created, and what kind of social spaces would be required.


TYPES OF FACTORS

Vision/Hope

Process of Change (Transformation)

Immediate Crisis/Situation

Potential Change Processes NeededPersonal 1.

2.Relational 3. 4.Structural 5. 6.Cultural 7. 8.

FEW

AFFECTED

PO PULATION

MANY

Describe Vision ofPatterns/Characteristics1. ...............................................2. ...............................................3 ...............................................

Describe CurrentPatterns/Characteristics1. ...............................................2. ...............................................3 ...............................................

Level 1: Top LeadershipMil i tar y/pol i t ica l /re l ig ious leaders with high visibility

Level 2: Middle Ranger LeadersLeaders respected in sectorEthnic/religious leadersAcademics/intellectualsHumanitarian leaders (NGO’s)

Level 3: Grassroots LeadersLocal leadersLeaders of indigenous NGO’sCommunity developersLocal health officialsRefugee camp leaders

- Focus on high-level negotiations- Emphasizes ceasefire- Led by highly visible, single

personality mediator

- Problem solving workshops- Training in conflict resolution- Peace commissions- Insider partial teams

- Local peace commissions- Grassroots training- Prejudice reduction- Psycho-social work in post-war

trauma

APPROACHES TO BUILDING PEACE


Three traumatic episodes in recent Africa History that have had significant impact on the breakdown of Africa institutions, and thereby on the incidence and intensity of conflicts in Africa.

Introduction:

When one looks at he continent of Africa, compared to many continents and peoples. It is a continent that has been deeply traumatized, it has been robbed, massacred, degraded discriminated against and brutally exploited, not jus once, happening in the current economic and political and social life in Africa has a lot to contribute, but the advents of slavery, colonialism and modernization process provides a deep insight into the present situations.

(a) Slave trade It is one of history’s greatest manifestations of human misery. Apart from holocaust, it is the most

disturbing from of genocide cruelty and hatred inflicted with impunity upon a section of the human come by our time.

The silence of the modern European nations on the questions of reparations deepens the historical dilemma of how Africa should elate to by taking away its strongest and most productive members and the destruction of the fiber that brutality. It was not enough for Europe to have e bodies of Africans and exploit their labour; now Europe wanted land.

(b) Colonialism Given that Europe wanted land, five European powers partitioned off the whole continent among

themselves to colonize and exploit it without restraint. Africans that escaped slavery now faced a new form of dehumanization and exploitation under the banner of colonialism. Under this system, the Africa was not considered a human being; he was a bit better than the animal, but lower than the European human. Africa culture, religion and institutions were considered inferior and the Africa had to even give up his name in order to be accepted by the colonial masters.

Under colonialism and slavery, Africa traditional institutions of governance disintegrated or disappeared. The glues of Africa society were coming loose.

Ethnic groups were pitted against each other for the purpose of weakening them favour of the colonial master. In some instance, the created ethnic hierarchy and some ethnic groups were made to rule over others. This increased animosity and destructive competition. Then toward the end of colonialism, came the modernization process.

(c) Modernization process The new economic, political and educational systems whatever was left of the systems that Africa

societies had evolved over generations, and put in place a totally alien value system. Western education in Africa generated even more alienation between an instrument to supplant everything that is Africa instead of enhancing or adapting it to meet the emerging needs of the African society.


This is not to say that nothing good has come out of modernizing process, or everything that is traditional is good. There are may backward things about Africa traditions, and a lot of good has come from modernization. But all traditional societies like those in Africa had developed values and institutions that cope with the environment, and to manage their resources. When this was brutally dismantled or discredited as it was during slavery and colonialism, a deep trauma and disorientation occurred. And this has significant implications on conflict at the personal, psychological, and social level.

This lack of roots and the importation and imposition of values, ideologies and institutions on a society without the adequate consideration for whether it is well adapted to the social reality, contributes a great deal to understand African conflicts. When you consider all these traumas, it even surprises many that Africa is not in worse situation. In fact it can be said that the African people and their culture are survivors. There are still lots of positive and healthy things about that society that if managed properly, could be the sources of Africa’s salvation!

Summary: theories about the causes of conflict

a) Community Relations Theory assumes that conflict is caused by on Going polarization, mistrust and hostility between different groups within community.

The goals of work based on community relations theory are• to improve communication and understanding between conflicting groups.• to promote greater tolerance and acceptance of diversity in the community.

b) Principled Negotiation Theory assumes that conflict is caused by Incompatible positions and a “zero sum” view of conflict being adopted b y the conflicting parties. The

goals of work based on principled negotiation theory are:

• to assist conflicting parties to separate personalities from problems and issues and to be able to negotiate on the basis of their interests rather than fixed positions.

• to facilitate agreements that offer mutual gain from both/all parties

c) Human Needs Theory: assumes that deep rooted conflict is caused by unmet or frustrated basic human needs – physical, psychological and social. Security, identity, recognition, participation and autonomy are often cited. The goals of work based on human needs theory are:-

• to assist conflicting parties to identify and share their un met needs, and generate options for meeting those needs.

• For the parties to reach agreements that meet basic human needs of all sides

d) Identity Theory: assumes that conflict is caused by feeling of threatened identity, often rooted in unresolved past loss and suffering. The goals of work based on identity theory are:-


• thorough facilitated workshops and dialogue, for conflicting parties to identify threats and fears they feel and to build empathy and reconciliation between themselves.

• to jointly reach agreement that recognize the core identity needs of all parties.

e) Intercultural Miscommunication Theory: assumes that conflict is caused by incompatibilities between different cultural communication styles. The goals of work based on intercultural miscommunication theory are:-

• to increase the conflicting parties’ knowledge of each other’s culture• to weaken stereotypes they have of each other• ultimately, to enhance effective intercultural communication

f) Conflict Transformation Theory: assumes that conflict is caused by real problems of inequality and injustice expressed by competing social, cultural and economic frameworks. The goals of work based on conflict transformation theory are:-

• to change structures and frameworks that cause inequality and injustice, including economic redistribution

• to improve longer term relationships and attitudes among the conflicting parties• to develop processes and systems that promote empowerment, justice, peace, forgiveness and

recognition.

Different Approaches to Manage, Resolve or Transform Conflict

Conflict Prevention: aims to prevent the outbreak of violent conflict

Conflict Settlement: aims to end violent behaviour by reaching a peace agreement

Conflict Management: aims to limit and avoid future violence by promoting positive behavioural changes in the parties involved.

Conflict Resolution: addresses the causes of conflict and seeks to build new and lasting relationships between hostile groups.

Conflict Transformation: addresses the wider social and political sources of a conflict and seeks to transform the negative energy of war into positive social and political change.

STAGES OF CONFLICT

Conflicts change over time, passing through different stages of activity, intensity, tension and violence. It is helpful to recognize these stages and use them together with other tools to analyze the dynamics and events that relate to each stage of the conflict.


The basic analysis comprises five different stages, which generally occur in the order given here (although there may be variations in specific situations) and may recur in similar cycles. These stages are:-

• Pre-Conflict: This is the period when there is incompatibility of goals between two or more parties, which could lead to open conflict. The conflict is hidden from general view, although one or more of the parties is likely to be aware of the potential for confrontation. There may be tension in relationships between the parties and/or a desire to avoid contact with each other at the stage

• Confrontation: At this stage the conflict has become more open. If only one side feels there is a problem, its supporters may begin to engage in demonstrations or other confrontational behaviour. Occasional fighting or other low levels of violence may break out between the sides. Each side may be gathering its resources and perhaps finding allies with the expectation of increasing confrontation and violence. Relationships between the sides are becoming very strained, leading to a polarization between the supporters of each side.

• Crisis: This is the peak of the conflict, when the tension and/or violence is most intense. In a large-scale conflict, this is the period of war, when people on al sides are being killed. Normal communication between the sides has probably ceased. Public statements tend to be in the form of accusations made against the other side(s).

• Outcome: One way or another the crisis will lead to an outcome. One side might defeat the other(s), or perhaps call a ceasefire (if it is a war). One party might surrender or give in to the demands of the other party. The parties may agree to negotiations, either with or without the help of a mediator. An authority or other more powerful third party might impose an end to the fighting. In any case, at this stage the levels of tension, confrontation and violence decrease somewhat with the possibility of a settlement.

• Post-Conflict: Finally, the situation is resolved in a way that leads to an ending of any violent confrontation, to a decrease in tensions and to more normal relationships between the parties. However, if the issues and problems arising from their incompatible goals have not been adequately addressed, this stage could eventually lead back into another pre-conflict situation.

Confrontation

Crisis

Outcome

Post-ConflictCon

flict

esc

alat

ion

Time Pre-Conflict

Stages of Conflict


1. Our responses to conflict situations depend on the images, metaphors, associations and perceptions we have toward conflict and those that we in conflict with

2. Our images, values, attitudes, perceptions etc are shaped by our life experiences, cultural lore, myths, stereotypes, messages communicated to us as we grow, media etc.

3. Our responses to conflict determine the consequences. Negative responses (e.g. counter-attack, revenge, run-away, insult etc) will draw negative consequences (e.g. death, displacement of people, loss of property, escalation of the conflict etc).

4. With such negative consequences, we are locked in the cycle of conflict, because the consequences re-affirm our values, attitudes, perceptions etc about conflict and those that we are conflict with. This is the inner cycle in the diagram above.

5. But, conflict is not all negative. It is fact of life, inevitable. If we view conflict as an opportunity for transformation, better understanding, new ideas, growth, change etc, this could lead to more positive response (e.g. inquiring, discussion, negotiation, mediation etc).

6. Positive responses could lead to more positive consequences (e.g. understanding, settlement, forgiveness, de-escalation, new ideas, reconciliation etc). Such consequences contradict the old values, perceptions, attitudes etc leading to new ones. This way we move to the other cycle which points to a positive view of conflict that leads positive responses and consequences each time there is conflict.

7. The arrow pointing the box of new values perceptions etc, to the box of conflict, is an indication that conflict is a fact of life and will always be with us. The conflict cycle tells us that if we want to change the negative consequences of conflict, we have to change our response to conflict. In order to be able to change the responses we have to think back to our values, attitudes, perceptions etc towards conflict and those that we are in conflict with. This is where change has to begin. Particularly important are the stereotypes clichés, and lenses that we use to view these we are in conflict with.

ADAPTED BY NPI.

The Conflict Cycle

New Values, beliefs, attitudes and perceptions

RESPONSE

Values, Beliefs, Attitudes and Perceptions

CONFLICT OCCURCONSEQUENCES


Mombasa ConferenceMombasa- Reef Hotel

Friday, July 25th, 2008


DAY ONEFriday, July 25th, 2008.

First Session: 8AM-10AM

Getting Started

As more than half of the participants were not present, the facilitators decided to wait for the latecomers to arrive. At 10:40, though most were still absent, the conference started.

George Kut, the facilitator, started off by thanking those present for their patience.

He introduced himself and NPI-Africa. NPI works towards promoting peaceful coexistence among communities

in Africa through peacebuilding and conflict resolution. NPI started 24 years ago, in 1984, and is one of the better known peace organizations in Africa. It started during a famine in Ethiopia. Several African people came together to start an African organization (without Western influence) to work on problems in Africa. In Kenya, NPI works with the NCCK (National Council of Churches in Kenya). Since the 1997 ethnic clashes, NPI has worked in other areas around the country, including the coast. This conference is part of a larger initiative on how to respond to the post-election crisis. This initiative includes leadership and peacebuilding conferences as well as conferences for sensitive journalism.

George Kut welcomed everyone, and invited Christine Nguku to take over. She started by talking about the group dynamics. The participants were asked to come up with rules for mobile phones. They agreed to put them on silent mode. The group nominated Renson Mnyamwezi, from

Standard Group to be the group leader. Concerning time issues, the group nominated a timekeeper, Njeri Ngugi, from Hot 96 FM. The penalty for being late was voted on, and decided that latecomers had to dance and sing in their native language. Benjamin Wangari, from Royal Media services was nominated to be the ‘energizer’ of the group.

Then, Christine started the introductions by introducing herself, as a journalist and trainer of journalists. In school, she studied peace and conflict resolution for a bit. She is working with NPI to help train journalists.

Following that, everyone introduced themselves giving their name, job (specifics- not just ‘journalist’) and one thing about themselves that most people don’t know.

Everyone was asked to write down their expectations of the workshop i.e. what they wish to learn from the workshop. All the parcipants were asked their opinions on the different goals and how and if they would be met.


Objectives of participants

1- Bring peace to Kibera2- ‘Kill’ ethnicity3- What is my role as a journalist?4- How can peace become a newsworthy story?5- How can you positively control the power of paper and pen?6- How to avoid writing sensitive stories in an ethnically divided society, especially in politics7- Receive a certificate8 - Be a peacemaker9- Learn something new about reporting from a conflict zone10- How to tackle sensitive matters that can cause conflict11- To be able to improve the community through fair reporting12- Be equipped with skills to write and shout on conflict resolutions13- The techniques of handling this, how to balance reporting and covering14- To get more information in collecting and gathering information15- I will influence sustainable peace in my area of operation16- To be trained about peacebuilding and how to train others17- Why is the Kenyan society so reactive?18- What is my role as a journalist in conflict situations?19- To understand what triggers the periodical conflict20- To be a peace initiator and advisor

George Kut gave the objectives of the workshop from the facilitators’ point of view:

- To combat conflict reporting illiteracy - To discuss/share the realities of post-election crisis in Kenya, and the media’s role.- To give exposure to peacebuilding and conflict transformation skills towards a conflict sensitive journalism

in Kenya- To share commitments/plans for implementation of conflict-sensitive reporting

Second Session: 11:30-1:45

Sharing the Burden, Sharing Experiences

Then came the time called “Sharing the burden”: journalists wrote other peoples’ stories, but not their own. So this was a time to share about what happened, both professionally and personally. The participants were also asked to answer the question: “Knowing what they know now, how would they have acted differently?” Some people shared enthusiastically, others were a lot more hesitant to share.


Some of the stories:

Immediately after results were announced I was threatened by officials because I was reporting negatively about them. Traumatized by the threats, I became an IDP.

I was indirectly affected. I covered a story about former MP for Malindi and I was threatened by this MP. I ended up reporting it to the police, and to my bosses and didn’t follow up on the story. I want to share that I thinks that journalists need to be protected when covering certain stories.

I spent 5 days in a house, without food, waiting for the results, away from home.

I had a great time during the election period. I have always wanted to report from a conflict zone, it gave me a lot of experience that many people don’t get. I couldn’t communicate with anyone, I didn’t have a bed, but I had a good time. Professionally, I gained a lot of experience. If I could do it again, I would have been more ‘gutsy’ trying to get stories.

At first it was fun, but going home, the transport was bad. I felt sorry for those affected. I feel like I didn’t get the “right information” about the crisis; the international media wrongly portrayed the situation. I would try and be balanced if I could change what I did.

It was a treacherous moment for me: my family was separated. My wife and kids had no food. My mom decided to walk 4 kilometers to take them food. I witnessed someone being slashed, without any reason. They thought he was Kikuyu, so they killed him. After he died, they found out he was a Luo. I had several personal moments of joy. My colleagues were Kikuyu and were out with me. I helped them get through a checkpoint, and saved their lives. I enjoy ‘extreme’ situations so I had fun at times. If the press had kept some secrets, and had not reported everything, the violence wouldn’t have been as bad.

I was not very much affected. Psychologically, I was affected. I have family in Eldoret, so they were affected.

I had family living in Kisumu, and I never knew if my family had been hurt or killed.

My mom was in Kibera, and I was in Mombasa. It was hard to be separated from my family.

I lived in constant fear for my family; fear of eviction, people carrying pangas (even women). I had all the information, but couldn’t do anything to help people. Professionally, I was being told by my boss what to cover based on what party he belonged to.


Third Session: 2:45-5:45

1- Understanding and Analyzing Conflict

The facilitator drew something and put it up for all to see. He asked what it represented. Several answers included an upside down map of the world. One person said it was a leg. It was a map of the world. The participants were asked to identify South Africa by marking with a red marker. Everyone agreed on where it was. The United States, Europe and the Middle East were also easily identified. George Kut asked if it was conventionally wrong to hang a map upside down. One person said that we would have to refer to certain countries differently, such as South Africa, and North and South America. Someone else said that if you change the compass on a map, people would get lost because a real compass would point to the “new” South and indicate north. A map is only a piece of paper. If you change the way a map hangs, it does not change the world, only your

perception of the world. Some people are uncomfortable with having a map upside down, because “it’s not right”. The USA and Europe are “South”. After turning the map the right way, the third world countries were identified. The land of the third world countries, make up 2/3 of the world. What about in resources? Businesses? Europe and North America make up the majority of those sectors. When asked why this is, people said that this was because they have more knowledge, or they are using African, Asian and South American knowledge, or it is because of colonization, they have more/better technology, or they have democracy, or they are “above” the third world countries. Some people started debating colonialism. One person said that it was no longer the “white man’s” fault, now the third world has education and technology that they should take advantage of. Someone else said he was thankful for colonization, because it allowed him to have a good job, to live in a city instead of living in the bush. Someone else pointed out that he might enjoy hunting as much as he does his current job.

George Kut pointed out that it was turning into a “they” vs “we”. are “they” and who are “we”? It was obvious that “they” was the West, and “we” were Africans. We always see the world from our home, which is why it is an “us” and “them” world.

To come up with an African image of Africa, participants gave words such as “hunger, disease, conflict, unemployment, insecurity, school strikes, drugs…” Then, someone pointed out that there is another side: “tourism, wildlife, beauty, culture, values, and rich natural resources”. One person said that Africans have been wronged, and that they are seen very negatively. It is up to them to change this image, and journalists have the capacity to help change this image. Africans see themselves as inferior. If an African and a European are calling a taxi, the taxi will go to the white person. The facilitator gave a formula: the power of a/b= dependency of b/a. To reduce the power of the West over Africa, Africa must reduce its dependency. The question is: “What makes Africa so dependent?” The participants gave their answers, which included not believing in ourselves, poor governance, and we believe we can’t do it ourselves. Another question was asked: “What ways do you perceive the West to be making Africa dependent on them?” The answers were that ‘they’ restrict market access for locally produced goods, ‘they’ have and still do brainwash ‘us’. The most common beliefs are that the cause of violent conflicts in Africa started with Slave Trade, and then continued because of colonialism, neo-


colonialism, globalization, global warming, and now Western democracy. Since most of Africa knows why there are problems, why don’t they do something to change that? The next question that was raised was: “What can we do to change?” People said that we can start by appreciating ourselves and realize our potential. Someone said we can’t, because first, we need to solve our small problems first. Another answer was that we need to get rid of tribalism, and favoritism caused by tribalism.

Someone brought up the idea that Africa has small problems that they need to solve first, which led George Kut to talk about the Transcend method. In Africa, violence is manifested. To begin to change the image and reduce the dependence, we need to understand conflict very well. The word ‘conflict’ comes from the Latin “confli gere”, meaning “striking together”. The Chinese way of writing conflict is made up of two symbols; one meaning danger, the other meaning opportunity. This recognizes that conflict can be dangerous, but can also provide an opportunity to grow, to create new relationships. Whenever there is change, there is a conflict. There are several types of conflict. There is internal conflict, which includes intra-personal conflict (ie. Not behaving the way we want to). There are also external conflicts, which may occur at an inter-personal level (between two people), at an intra-group conflict level (incompatibilities among one group, for example a media house), at an inter-group level (between two groups, such as ethnic groups, states, intra-state…) or at an environmental level (destroying natural resources).

Conflict also comes in different forms. The interaction between goals and behavior can cause conflict, both internally and externally.

Interests/Goals

Compatible Incompatible

BehaviorCompatible No conflict Latent

Incompatible False Conflict Open/real conflict

He illustrated this concept with a story: “An old woman had three sons. When she was about to die, she wanted to divide her 17 cows between her sons, according to what they deserved. In her will, she wrote that her first son be given 1/9 of her 17 cows. Her second son should be given 1/3 of her 17 cows, and the third son ½ of the 17 cows. When she died, her sons tried to figure out what they each received. The first got 1.8 cows, the second got 5.6 and the third son got 8.5 cows. They could not decide how to divide the cows, and started fighting over it. One old wise man came to listen to them. He gave the 3 sons an additional cow to divide among them. They divided the herd of 18 cows: the eldest got 2 cows, the second 6, and the third got 9. However, 2+6+9=17. So they gave the last cow back to the wise man, and they were all happy.”

This story illustrates a false conflict

The conflict starts out as latent, and then it escalates into a crisis, and then descends again. However, there is always some form of conflict. Following is a diagram illustrating the continuity of violence.


2- Conflict occurs

Next, George Kut showed a picture, and asked people to say what they see. One person said he saw a swamp, developing into a river, and then distributaries. Another person saw a tree, a dry tree. Two other people agreed that they saw a dry, cracked piece of land. Two more people said that they didn’t know if their sight was bad, but they saw two small people under a tree. Another person said that they saw two faces. Everyone was surprised at first, then, after looking again, agreed with her. George said talked about other times he has showed the picture, when people refused to see two faces, and started arguing about it. This picture is used to have other people look at something through the lenses of someone else, to see something new. Different perceptions show different things. Conflict does not always have to be bad. Conflict has many functions, including positive ones. If you understand conflict, then you can see that it can be an opportunity to create new relationships.

The functions of conflict are:

1. Conflict helps establish our identity and independence. Conflicts, especially at earlier stages of your life help you assert your personal identity as separate from the aspirations, beliefs and behaviors of those around you.

2. Intensity of conflict demonstrates the closeness and importance of relationships. Intimate relationships require us to express opposing feelings such as love and anger. The coexistence of these emotions in a relationship create a sharpness when conflicts arise. While the intensity of emotions can threaten the relationship, if they are dealt with constructively, they also help us measure the depth and importance of the relationship.

1. Perceptions, Values, Beliefs

2. Conflict occurs

3. Response Can be negative Can be positive

4. ConsequencesIf negative response - negative consequenceIf positive response - positive consequence


3. Conflict can build new relationships. At times, conflict brings together people who did not have previous relationship. During the process of conflict and its resolution, these parties may find out that they have common interests and then work to maintain an ongoing relationship.

4. Conflict can create coalitions. Similar to building relationships, sometimes adversaries comes together to build coalitions to achieve common goals or fend off a common threat. During the conflict, previous antagonism is suppressed to work towards these greater goals.

5. Conflict helps parties assess each other’s power and can work to redistribute power in a system of conflict. Because there are few ways to truly measure the power of the other party, conflicts sometimes arise out and mobilize them to take action to allow parties to assess on another’s’ strength. In cases where there is an imbalance of power, a party may seek ways to increase its internal power. This process can often change the nature of power within the conflict system.

6. Conflict establishes and maintains group identities. Groups in conflict tend to create clear boundaries which help members determine who is part of the in-group and who is part of the out-group. In this way conflict can help individuals understand how they are part of a certain group and mobilize them to take action to defend the group’s interest.

7. Conflict creates or modifies rules, norms, laws and institutions. It is through the raising of issues that rules, norms, laws and institutions are changed or created. Problems or frustrations left unexpressed result in the maintaining of the status quo.

Several slides were then shown and read through. The information on these slides was as follows:

Basic conflict analysis

1- Identifies perspectives of all stakeholders2- Goes beyond obvious conflict symptoms to the issues3- Explores the sources and effects of the conflict4- Explains the historical and social context5- Examines the escalations or de-escalation of the conflict6- Examines stakeholders options and their implications7- Analyzes attempts to negotiate or bridge gaps8- Uses an effective style and medium for reports

What is a stakeholder? - Anyone with a stake in a given negotiation or conflict or its outcome- Anyone who is affected directly or indirectly by the conflict

What is a conflict party? - A person or group directly involved in the conflict

RelationshipsConsider: Relationships between individualsRelationships within and between groups, families, organizations, communitiesGender relations


Political relationships

Consider:Current relationshipsHistory of the relationships

Consider:Power dynamic in relationships

What is a conflict map?A tool for understanding relationships involved in a conflict

Why take time to create a conflict map?- Use to help identify all stakeholders- To assess stakeholders’ relationships- To assess power dynamics- To identify and assess alliances- To identify and carefully evaluate some possibility entry points for investigation or intervention- To assess intervener relationships with stakeholders- To assess your own positions regarding issues and actors

The following slide was the key to making a conflict map_________ connection direction of power or influence- - - - - - - - intermittent relationship======== alliance____||_____ broken relationship___/\/\/\/\___ discord.

A triangle signifies an issue, and circles represent each party.

The participants were then sent out to work on a group project:a) Pick a conflict that in your opinion has a potential for violence in this region and create a conflict map. b) In the map, mark the points where your media house could intervene and state how.

The participants split into two groups to discuss this exercise, and would report the following day, at 2PM. End of day 1.


DAY TWO: Saturday 26th of July, 2008

First Session: 8:30-10

Media and Conflict

The session was led by Christine Nguku, who explained that she would be going to starting with what she hadn’t been able to cover the previous day. She started by saying that conflict is unavoidable, and is always present. After World War 2, people said that they would never fight like this before. However, Christine Nguku quoted a documentary released this year (March 2008) “It’s stated that after WW2, the world has seen less than 40 days in which there was an absence of war” Several other quotes illustrating her point were: “War is the father of everything” Heraclitus, and “We are locked into war” Levinas There are different kinds of wars, the fighting wars, but also wars of perception: “war on drugs”, “war on terror”. Humans could be said to be war-mongering peace-lovers. When we are ill, we fight for our lives, for our health. That also is a form of conflict. Life is a permanent conflict. In conflict, people become creative. For example, if we did not fight disease, we would not come up with medicine. We grow because we are fighting with something. When a person is sick, that is a natural process. Can it be fair? It does not need to be fair. When you write a story about HIV-AIDS, is that fair? Is it balanced? For the journalist, the task of reporting on a disease, the goal is to report objectively. How objective can you be when you’re reporting a disease? You have to take a side, the disease or the person. When president Moi retired, and had a knee injury, it was covered extensively, without holding anything back. The conflict between the knee and the president was covered as much as a knee conflict can be covered. So if we can cover that kind of conflict, why can’t we cover a conflict between two people?

A health journalist would say that they’re being fair and objective, because they’re bringing all the sides, what the disease can do to the human, what can be done to fight the disease. If you replace the disease with violent conflict, the rules change. Why? Do they need to change? One person said it’s different, because a disease isn’t a person.

There are two ways of looking at conflict: you can focus on conflict, or on peaceful transformation. The “5W and H” can either be applied to conflict or to peace. Is there a chance that we could do both? Look at the case of December 27 and February 28 and say who the players were, and what each one of them did. Voters voted, candidates contested, the electoral commission oversaw the process, and the police protected us? Harassed us? There was some debate over what the police did. If everyone had done what they were supposed to do, the conflict wouldn’t have turned violent. Some people reacted, and said that people did do what they did. The electoral college didn’t do what they were supposed to do.

To see if process was watertight, a journalist made several mistakes on purpose: first of all, he voted at a poll away from his constituency, before the polls opened. To do this, he asked the official to show him how the voting process works, because he was making a documentary. The official took him through to the whole


process, to the end where he voted. At 10 am, he went to another polling station in a different constituency. There, he followed old lady who looked ignorant, and asked the officials what happens with people who don’t know what to do. They tell him one of them will go with her. The journalist offered to go with her. She told him who she wanted to vote for, but he convinced her that she wanted someone else. He asked for another ballot, because she had made a mistake. The officials gave it to him, but didn’t take the first one away. He voted again, folded his vote into the old woman’s, and she put both votes in the box. At almost 6 o’clock, (the polls closed at 5), he asked to vote, in another constituency, because he had been working all day covering the election. He pleaded his case. The official went through the register and picked the name of a person who hadn’t come to vote, and gave him his ballot. The journalist voted, again, and at the end, still didn’t dip his finger in the ink. This is evidence of people not doing what they were supposed to do. This is why it ended up with violence.

Christine Nguku asked who had ever watched Ben Hur. The story is basically lots of fighting until only one man is left, and that’s how journalists look at conflict. The model is military command- count losses, wounded, material damage. Winning is not everything, it’s the ONLY thing. That is how conflict is reported. She asked if we can have a conflict where there is a win-win situation. She reported on Sudan, and thought that no one would ever sign a peace accord. Then they signed an accord and everyone thought it was a win-win situation.

The high road is peace journalism. It focuses on conflict as transformation, as a way of communication. It doesn’t need to be a violent conflict. She asked if we can transform the conflict to have peace. Conflict should be seen as a challenge to the world.

Because of certain agreements, and to resolve conflict in certain ways, there is a place called Kenya. In 1975, Kenya was threatened by Uganda. Christine Nguku attended a demonstration, when she was just a small child. There were demonstrations all over Kenya which were very scary to her. In that time, all Kenyans were united as Kenyans, not Kikuyu, Luos… Kenyans become Kenyan when there are outside threats, but when there is internal conflict, everyone becomes Kikuyu, or Luo, or Luhya… When almost everything journalists report is a conflict, they need to look who is the winner, and why it is so important to win?

When journalists don’t have facts, they pick up certain things, and write half truths, portraying it as truth. If you write a half-true article, the parties involved suddenly tell the truth. Publishing half-truths is a way of discovering true facts.

Is conflict a way of life, and we must just deal with it? One person asked what the world would be like without conflict. The answer was that it would be very boring, and since conflict has brought out our creativity, and helped up invent many things, we would not have certain things we take for granted today (such as penicillin, or even houses).

There is an argument that violence should not be reported. However, when there is a war, or a violent conflict, the first victims are not humans; Peace is. Truth is the second victim. In conflict, people tend to look at it as “the good guys” and the “bad guys”. In Kenya, during the height of the post-election violence, many people died. Kikuyus died, Luos died, Kenyans died. When you cut someone, no matter what tribe, country or continent they come from, they bleed red blood. If someone says “five Kikuyus and three Luos died” it is the same things


as saying “eight people died”. People said that if you include the ethnicity in headlines (“15 people shot” or “6 Kikuyus hacked to death by Maasai”), it will be a much bigger story. The question was raised as to why it makes a difference. Editors don’t want to publish stories about tensions, where there are no numbers about injuries, deaths and damage to property. This is because people have been conditioned to expect reports of injury, deaths etc…

The group then engaged in an exercise. They were given a news story titled “Traditional Reporting, Eldoret-Friday”. The tribes were named in the story. Christine asked if there was any way of writing the story. One participant asked if the Kenyan media was any different than any other international media, because this story would be the same on BBC or CNN. If a Kenyan writes this story, however, he is thinking about his family, his friends and himself. A Kenyan writer is a stakeholder in the conflict, whereas a CNN writer knows nothing about the dynamics in Kenya, and is not involved. Christine passed out a different version of the story, titled “Conflict Sensitive Reporting, Eldoret-Friday”. Everyone said that the second version of the article, which did not talk about ethnic tribes, would be a page 6 story, whereas the first one would be in the first couple of pages.

In a violent conflict, all ethics are thrown out the window, and especially by journalists, because they want “the story”. One person said that CNN had done a documentary on Osama Bin Laden, showing that he was a nice person, a good friend and father. When CNN covers Iraq and Afghanistan, Bin Laden is referred to as a terrorist. Why don’t they show both sides of the story in that case?

Led by the group’s energizer, Benjamin, the group had a short exercise break.

Second Session: 10-11

Transformative Media

Following this break, Christine Nguku started the session called the Role of Media in Conflict. The media is supposed to report the fact, but not to intervene. They try to stay objective at all costs. When NGOs are running a campaign on Peace, the media sends an intern to cover the story, or asks for a press release. Journalists focus on what sells, and conflict sells. Co-operations, resolutions and peace do not sell. Editors say that conflict is interesting. Therefore, journalists exaggerate conflict to sell more. They look for extreme situations, and differences between parties. When looking at Raila and Kibaki, is there anything they have in common? Participants said yes, they both wanted power, they both felt pressure from their supporters, and they both wanted peace.

To the “5W+H”, C must be added. “C” stands for “Common Ground”. When looking at a conflict map, we see alliances forming. Those are never covered. “S” (Solutions) must also be added to the equation. What are the solutions to the conflict? Usually, the solutions are inside the differences. In the Kenya situation, who won, and who lost? ‘Raila and Kibaki won, and the Kenyan people lost’ was one answer. However, the media only covered the winners. One person said that something we need to borrow from the Americans is that they


care about one American life. For example, in Iraq, if one person dies, they will send more troops. This sparked some debate among the people. Christine turned the discussion back to the topic at hand, and said that the media only covered Raila and Kibaki, and did not cover themselves, the people. When you start describing the common ground and the solutions, you start to get closer to the real actors. Peace workers say that conflict prevention is about the head, but the conflict itself is about the heart. Therefore, when you write about conflict, you need to write from the heart, and make an impact on the head to spur on conflict prevention.

Christine Nguku drew a table, showing what the media focuses on and what it ignores.

Media Focus No Focus

Immediacy Specific actions and events. Processes, policies, dialogue, negotiations, mediations.

Drama Violence, crisis, extreme behavior, outrageous actions. Moderate people, mediators.

Simplicity Clear-cut opinions and positions, images, 2-sided conflict, personalities.

Explanations, complex opinions, institutions, root cause.

Ethnocentrism Our beliefs, our suffering, their brutality. Their beliefs, their suffering, our brutality.

The participants were silent as they looked at the table. One person said that it was a reality check. Does the second column make/sell any news? It’s easier to write about the first column, because it comes already packaged. So, the question is whether journalists are being lazy in only reporting the first column.

Third Session: 11:30-1:30

Recreating Reality

The participants were asked to take a piece of paper and draw a picture of conflict. Most pictures showed several people, or parties clashing.

Journalists are no longer the voice of the people, but of the elite. Sometimes, journalists should be mediators, listening to both sides. To be a journalist, one needs an open mind. When listening to the truths of either side, a journalist can come up with the solution. Journalists and mediators can have a strong influence on conflict. Pictures of hurt people can touch the heart of people, and lead some to revenge.

The media and conflict seem to go hand in hand. Journalists communicate what the different parties want to say. Journalists spend a lot of time describing and analyzing conflict, so they can be seen as experts on conflict. However, sometimes they don’t report very well. Is it possible for the media to play the role of the wise old man in the story about the three sons and the 17 cows? (see page 4). This would mean being a third party, helping to solve the conflict, without having any outside interest.


When journalists see smoke, they bring along wood and blow to make it grow into a bigger fire, then report it. Instead, they should report in such a way that the fire never starts. The media does not pay attention to the real issues at hand, and this is why the media is being accused of fueling the violence.

The facilitator asked if Kenyans would have fought if Raila had been announced the winner. A passionate debate ensued, with most people saying that yes, there would have been fighting. It concluded with Christine saying that the masses should realize that they have the power, as well as the media. For 2012, the media has already started to fuel the fire. Instead, they should work on putting it out.

The media house owners’ purpose is to make money regardless of what it takes. It’s up to the journalists to follow the code of conduct, to report ethically and to change the profession.

The paradigms ought to change; journalists ought to write about the masses first (us), and then the elite.

Fourth Session: 2-4 pm

Visionary Media and Peacebuilding

George Kut, the facilitator for this session started out with a short energizing game. Following that, the groups reported on the group work they had done the previous day. (Conflict mapping, p. 7-8)

GROUP 1: Land issues

Players: Landlords, POA (power of attorney), Tenants, Squatters, Government, Media. Alliances: Government and landlords, landlords and POA, tenants and media. Broken relationships: government and tenants. Discord: POA and tenants, landlords and tenants, government and media.

Journalists can express both sides of the situation. In Kibera, some journalists found out that one group was planning on attacking another. The journalists called up this group, and put them on the air, live to talk about it. The other group heard, and came to the station. They were put on the air as well. They both talked about their problems, and the attack didn’t happen.

ELITE

MIDDLE CLASS

MASSES


The role of the media is:- to recognize the problem, and expose it for everyone to know about it- to make sure that all parties concerned realize their role in the conflict - to become a positive link between all parties, as a mediator - to arm themselves with facts to tackle the problem - expose the weaknesses of all parties - to diffuse the conflict before it becomes violent- to keep the government accountable

Christine Nguku pointed out that this map made it seem like it was the government and landlords (bad guys) against the media and the tenants (good guys), which is exactly what the media should not be doing.

GROUP 2: Land Ownership on the Coast

Players: Government, Swale Ngurus, the Mazwis, outside communities with title deeds, Landless local communities, the mediaAlliances: Government and Swale Ngurus, Government and Mazwis, Swale Ngurus and MazwisIntermittent: Government and landless local communities, landless local communities and outside communities with title deedsBroken relationships: Swale Ngurus and outside communities with title deeds, Mazwis and outside communities with title deedsDiscord: Swale Ngurus and landless local communities, Mazwis and landless communities

Role of the Media: The media should:- push the government to pay attention to land issues, and to do something. Maybe taxation of unused

land- Investigate - Highlight issues without fear/favor

George Kut then brought the conversation back to a topic that had been mentioned the previous day: transcend philosophy. This time, he expanded, giving a quote from Johan Galtung:

“If we accept that a conflict may both be a source of destruction and a source of creation, then one approach to transformation of a conflict is to act so that the creative aspects dominate. This is more than steering the conflict away from violence.” Johan Galtung, Father of peace research

Violence of the three types can be reduced by:a- the promotion of alternative behaviors (direct violence)b- social reform (structural violence)c- education (cultural violence)


Three basic assumptions about conflict are:

1- People are better able to discuss root problems when they sense there is a solution to it. Truth can become unbearable if there is not hope for a resolution.

2- If we develop a perspective of transformation of the root conflict, then that opening may drain the negative energies in attitude and behavior such that inner and outer

3- The more alternatives to resolving a conflict, the less likely the violence.

What is transcendence? It is creating a new type of reality. Something that potentially was always there becomes empirical reality. To transform a conflict is to transplant it to that new reality. To transform a conflict would mean to transcend the goals of the conflict parties, defining some other goals, lifting a conflict out of the bed the parties have prepared for that conflict, including the discourses.

Transcend demands: empathy, creativity and nonviolence.

5 basic outcomes of conflict:

1 - Party A prevails2 - Party B prevails3 - Withdrawal4 - Compromise

Breaking the cycle of violence: Conflict is a cycle that can lead to refusal and denial, anger (Why me?) and then revenge leading to another cycle of conflict. However, make a conscious decision to break this cycle, and mourn, accept the losses, one can wonder ‘why them?’ forgive, rewrite history, establish justice and reconcile.

Early warning, early responseConflict early warning is one approach that helps people avoid the cycle of violence. Early warning involves gathering information, analyzing the information, sharing the information with stakeholders, giving recommendations to policy/decision makers and eliciting a rapid response.

Levels and Approaches to Peacebuilding The group looked at a handout analyzing the actors (Top Leadership, Middle Range Leaders and Grassroots leaders) and the approaches to building peace one can use when dealing with each of these actors.

Conflict transformation is another way to go about building peace. The group read through a handout describing Conflict Transformation in different types of conflict (Personal, Relational, Structural and Cultural) that was developed by John Paul Lederach. The last handout that the group received was a tool inviting reflection on ways to use conflict transformation. The group was told to look at that on their spare time.


Fifth Session: 4:30- 5:45 pm

Media as change agents

Christine Nguku was the facilitator for this session. She started off by saying that it had become apparent from the two days that peace does not sell. Then, she asked if Norway had newspapers. You don’t usually hear about conflict in Norway, so how do they sell newspapers?

The media is seen as the giver of information. They give information about everything, including the weather, and people listen. The important part however, is not providing the information, but interpreting it. Christine asked the group to describe “tension”. Though they tried, the group had a hard time defining it. The best they got was that it was a feeling. This shows that journalists sometimes even interpret people’s feelings. The media can also be seen as a watchdog. They see things, and give feedback to the public. Another way to see the media is as gatekeepers. People want to use the media to set their own agendas, and this should not be allowed.

This happened during the electoral period in Kenya, which led to a lot of violence. During interviews and live calls, the media needs to be responsible for what the people say, and if they say anything that is insulting, they need to cut him off, and clear their own name right away. A long discussion followed, about what to do when a guest says something insulting or inappropriate during the show, and whether he has the right to or not. Policymakers is another way the media is seen, by raising issues and giving suggestions, the media can really have an influence on policymakers. Journalists can also be diplomats because the media has access to almost everywhere. They can get information that the average person has access to. Both sides of a conflict can use the media to see how the other side is faring. The media can also promote peace. Journalists usually like to focus on violence, but they should not. Journalists should help build confidence among the people. By promoting positive relationships between opposing groups, journalists can build bridges. They can share the similarities between the two groups, in order to bring them together, and to bridge the gap.

To end the conference, Christine asked what journalism can do to move forward. The room was silent, and one person said they were still ‘digesting’ the information. She then handed out a book called “My Tribe is Journalism”, about Conflict sensitive journalism by Ross Howard.

Documents

Conflict Sensitive Journalism Report - NPI Africa