conflict & communication online, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009
www.cco.regener-online.de
ISSN 1618-0747

Burkhard Bläsi
Implementing peace journalism: The role of conflict stages

Efforts to put the ideas of peace journalism into practice have so far largely neglected the role of the different stages of conflicts. With reference to an empirically-based model of six factors that influence the production of conflict coverage, this article examines how the preconditions of news production differ in three different stages of conflict: (1) nonviolent conflict, (2) violent conflict, (3) aftermath of violent conflict. The author shows how the differing preconditions of news production impact the chances for realising peace journalism.
In the light of findings that suggest that peace journalism is harder to realise in wartime and if the journalists' own country is involved, the author argues in favour of changing the focus of implementation towards nonviolent stages of conflict. The ideas of peace journalism must be anchored within a society in peacetime; only then will they have a chance of sustainable realisation in wartime.