Peace Reporting vs War Reporting

By Natashia Hajee

Studying media sources and critically analyzing them has led me to see a great difference between peace journalism and war journalism. The news often dehumanizes people and generalizes people into certain categories that might not necessarily fit. Arabs are terrorists. Jews are greedy. Muslims are fanatics. The list goes on and on. These generalizations create fear and hate and do not help societies today, if reporters are reporting strictly negative events they are only darkening our viewpoints. Positive news pieces can be seen as fluffy or idealized however when discussing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict it is crucial to report on these positive events, in which there is a possibility for people to see that there is a possibility for change and that people on the ground are working towards positive outcomes. Perhaps an idealistic perspective will allow for the leaders and society to be encouraged to create solutions, not violence.

I might be living in a fantasy world, but it would be nice to imagine one day when you switch on your TV or open the newspaper you see something inspiring rather than depressing.