conflict & communication online, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2014
www.cco.regener-online.de
ISSN 1618-0747

Saumava Mitra
Re-thinking visuals: Understanding discursive reformulation of visuals to inform Peace Journalism

Current definitions of 'peace journalism' are inadequate to take on the full implication of the 'open' nature of visual content because normative discussions are restricted to explicit content of visuals while not underlining the importance of their implicit meaning. Analyzing a photo feature showing empowered Afghan women called 'Liberated in the Hindukush' published in the Foreign Policy magazine as a case study, the article identifies how the particular media product in question fits existing descriptions of (if only, 'accidental') peace journalism but its contextual re-deployment of meaning is contrary to its content. The article argues that the norms of peace journalism need to be revised to account for the subtlety of discursive re-appropriation and re-assimilation of media content, especially visuals.

The author:
Saumava Mitra holds a MA in Journalism and Media within Globalization specializing in conflict reporting (2010) from Swansea University, UK, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands and University of Aarhus, Denmark under the Erasmus Mundus Masters programme of the European Union. Before starting his PhD programme at the faculty of information and media studies at University of Western Ontario, he had worked as a journalist for international news organizations like Associated Press and Bloomberg and taught and researched at the Department of International Peace and Conflict Studies at United Nations mandated University for Peace. Most recently he was working as the Chief Editor of a newsweekly and as a communication consultant for a Dutch NGO working in strategic information intervention, in Tanzania.

Address: Faculty of Information and Media Studies, North Campus Building, Room 240, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, CANADA, N6A 5B7
eMail: smitra7@uwo.ca; mitrasaumava@gmail.com