conflict & communication online, Vol. 18, No. 2, 2019
www.cco.regener-online.de
ISSN 1618-0747

Wilhelm Kempf
Concepts and conceptions of peace journalism

The aim of this essay is to clarify the basic concepts and critically contrast the quite different conceptions of peace journalism on the side of Kempf (1996) and Galtung (1998). As will be shown, the models of Galtung and Kempf are not only based on different concepts of peace, but rather the authors also differ in their understanding of violence and non-violence, as well as in the theoretical foundations of their models of peace journalism. Based on a discussion of Lynch & McGoldrick’s (2005) reception of peace journalism, Loyn’s (2008) and Hanitzsch’s (2004, 2008) criticism is examined, and the compatibility of Kempf’s central concept of misperceptions with the social construction of reality is examined and clarified. The conclusion of the essay is a summary of the main results of previous and the most urgent tasks of future basic research on peace journalism.

The author:
Wilhelm Kempf is Professor emeritus of Psychological Methodology and Peace Research at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Since 2002 he is the editor of conflict & communication online (www.cco.regener-online.de). His fields of research include quantitative and qualitative research methodology, nonviolent conflict resolution, peace journalism and the construction of social reality by the mass media. He currently works on a research project on “Criticizing Israel, coming to terms with German history and differentiating aspects of modern anti-Semitism”.
eMail: cco@regener-online.de, Website: http://www.pfkn.regener-online.de/