conflict & communication online, Vol. 17, No. 1, 2018
www.cco.regener-online.de
ISSN 1618-0747

 

 


Editorial

 

 

 

In Volume 15, No. 2 (2016) conflict & communication online published an essay on “Dangers of Peace Journalism” which discussed on the basis of two (at the time) current and topical incidents the deficiencies of peace journalistic theory construction and thematized the loss of credibility that can result from overstepping the boundaries separating peace journalism from activism. Thereby the credibility of the peace journalistic project is clearly put at risk, and this all the more so, if its academic representatives let themselves be seduced to engage in unconsidered actions and/or forget what they know as scholars when they slip into the role of activist. Jake Lynch, who felt himself personally attacked by this essay, answers this in the present issue with an essay in which he clarifies his attitude to peace journalism and the academic boycott of Israel. We are publishing the essay here, because we regard it as every author’s right to defend himself against (supposed) personal attacks.
Freedom is always the freedom of those who think differently, and insofar Lynch’s essay also falls under the general topic of this issue, which on the basis of two studies deals with the problem of freedom of opinion in conflict situations. Tirşe Erbaysal Filibeli & Yasemin İnceoğlu report on a study in which on the basis of interviews with Turkish journalists they examine the question of whether peace journalism can be implemented in Turkey, and Wilhelm Kempf explores the communication barriers that obstruct constructive discussion between supporters and critics of Israeli Palestine policy.
In the section on “Documentation” we provide links to the Amnesty International Campaign for Freedom of Opinion in Turkey, as well as to the Press Freedom Barometer and the World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, in which between 2015 and 2017 Turkey sank by six positions (among 180 states surveyed: from position 149 to position 155).

Berlin, April 2018

Wilhelm Kempf


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