The Problem

Media coverage of international conflicts is largely driven by what peace scholar Johan Galtung (1965) calls “war journalism”. This form of journalism emphasizes violence and sensationalism, relies heavily on elite voices and propaganda and highlights victory framing. Traditional peace journalism, by contract, proposes focusing on non-violence (vs violence), ordinary people (vs elites), the truth (vs propaganda), and solutions (vs victory framing). Traditional media coverage of conflicts can exacerbate conflicts and hurt peace processes (Gilboa 2004). However, traditional peace journalism has often been impractical in a commercial setting due to low audience interest or shifted too close to advocacy.