The Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution presents:
How Does the Media Make Peace Visible in a World of Nonstop Conflict?
An panel discussion with:
Jamil Simon
Founder and Director
Making Peace Visible.org
Journalist and Podcast Producer
Making Peace Visible.org
Steven Youngblood
Associate Director
Professor of Journalism
Making Peace Visible.org
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm, ET (US and Canada)
Free and open to the public.
About the talk:
How can the media better report on peacebuilding efforts in a world of constant conflict? Making Peace Visible (MPV) focuses on investing in the media to elevate the public’s awareness and understanding of how peace gets made. Making Peace Visible believes this missing component is critical to improving today’s media coverage which too often focuses primarily on the conflict itself.
In their talk, the panelists and members of Making Peace Visible will first address the issues and approaches many journalists are currently using. The discussion will move to offering specific ways journalists can further improve coverage of negotiations, peace initiatives, and reconciliation efforts. Lastly, key takeaways will be shared using details from 40+ interviews with peacebuilders and journalists, including a few illustrative clips.
About the speaker:
Jamil Simon is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, communications expert and a lifelong peace activist; he was a conscientious objector in the Vietnam War. Through his media production and consulting firm, Spectrum Media, Simon has made documentary films about sustainable development, education, nutrition, and child health. In partnership with multilateral organizations like USAID and the World Bank, Simon has worked in Africa, Europe, Asia, and Latin America promoting social and environmental reform through documentary film and public awareness projects. Simon has promoted sustainable agriculture in Malawi, conflict resolution skills in Jordan, democracy in Mali, and water conservation in Tunisia. In 2017, he founded Making Peace Visible (originally called War Stories Peace Stories) and was later awarded the 2019 Luxembourg Peace Prize for his work promoting global awareness of peace efforts through the MPV initiative.
Andrea Muraskin is a freelance audio producer and writer with over a decade of experience in public radio and podcasting. She was a founding producer/reporter for Side Effects Public Media, a public health reporting collaborative based at WFYI Indianapolis, Indiana, and the founding producer for NEXT, a regional public radio show based at WNPR in Hartford, Connecticut. She currently writes the weekly newsletter for NPR’s health desk. Muraskin produces the biweekly WSPS podcast Making Peace Visible and writes for it’s Twitter account and newsletter. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political studies from Bard College and a certificate in radio documentary from the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies.
Steve Youngblood is founding director of the Center for Global Peace Journalism at Park University in Parkville, Missouri, where he is a communications and peace studies professor. He has organized and taught peace journalism seminars and workshops in 33 countries/territories, is a two-time Fulbright Scholar (Moldova 2001, Azerbaijan 2007) and has served as a U.S. State Department Senior Subject Specialist in Ethiopia (2018). Youngblood is the author of Peace Journalism Principles and Practices and Professor Komagum: Teaching Peace Journalism and Battling Insanity in Uganda. He edits The Peace Journalist magazine and writes and produces the Peace Journalism Insights blog. Youngblood has been recognized for his contributions to world peace by the U.S. State Department, Rotary International and the World Forum for Peace, which named him a Luxembourg Peace Prize laureate for 2020-21.
About the Herbert C. Kelman Seminar Series:
The Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict Analysis and Resolution series is sponsored by the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. The seminar considers ways to strengthen the capacity to prevent, resolve, and transform ethnonational conflicts.
For more information on the Kelman Seminar Series, contact Donna Hicks at dhicks@wcfia.harvard.edu.