conflict & communication online, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2007
www.cco.regener-online.de
ISSN 1618-0747

Rune Ottosen
Emphasising Images in Peace Journalism: Theory and Practice in the Case of Norway's Biggest Newspaper

This article suggests that more emphasis should be placed on visual aspects in the concept of peace journalism. The author argues, through theoretical and practical examples, that visual aspects of journalism are underestimated when it comes to analysing how the human brain deals with textual and visual impulses. Examples such as the controversy around Jyllands-Posten's publication of the Mohammed cartoons proves the power of the image in a digital and global media environment. Using as a case study the coverage by Norway's biggest newspaper, Verdens Gang (VG), of, respectively, Colin Powell's presentation to the UN Security Council before the Iraq War in 2003, and the attack on the Iraqi town of Fallujah by US and Iraqi forces in November 2004, the author argues that by placing more emphasis on visual elements like graphics and photographs, peace journalism can be an ever stronger instrument for developing a critical journalism during wars and conflicts. By contrasting VG's coverage in Fallujah with the powerful and emphatic coverage of the Asian tsunami a month later, the author suggests that new digital media can be a powerful tool for journalists with ambitions to promote peace journalism.