Indian, Pakistani journalists talk objectivity, challenging officials
There were several loose ends and leftover questions from last week’s peace journalism seminars for 80 engaged Indian and Pakistani journalists. (See previous post, below).

Q: One journalist said his family was murdered in Kashmir, and noted that it would be hard to bury his own emotions were he to report on this incident. Can this be reported objectively?

A: No one would expect objectivity under these circumstances. Objectivity is a goal that is worth striving for, though 100% objectivity isn’t realistically attainable. We all have biases. The best we can do as journalists is to be aware of our biases, and try to mitigate them. In this instance, I would ask to be excused from reporting about Kashmir, or for that matter, anything like this that is deeply personal. Any good editor would understand. If there was no choice but for me to report something that personally involved me (or in which I had a conflict of interest), then I would at least make my editor aware of the situation, and my biases, so that she could edit my story accordingly so as to remove the bias.

Q: In many countries, journalists fear the consequences of challenging official government narratives and officials. This wariness often leads to self-censorship. Given this understandable fear, how can we implement some of the changes that peace journalism recommends?

A: This is a problem in many places around the world, at least the ones I’ve worked in. The answer from my colleague Stephen Franklin is perfect. He says the key is “taking small steps to see how far you can go, and slowly test the pushback from editors, politicians, and government officials. That's how I've seen journalists in similar places try to work things out - although I've also seen them lose their jobs and their publications shut down.”

These small steps, in my experience, are almost always possible, even in state owned or controlled media outlets. For example, I visited a state TV and radio outlet in Hawassa, Ethiopia in 2018, and was pleased to discover that peace journalism was possible even there. I wrote, “It’s clear at least some of the (state TV and radio) journalists feel frustrated and stifled, though it also evident from the discussion that they believe that at least some elements of PJ can be implemented at the state media in Hawassa. These PJ elements include giving a voice of the voiceless; responsible refugee and IDP reporting; media as reconciliation tool; and avoiding inflammatory reporting.” (http://stevenyoungblood.blogspot.com/2018/03/is-pj-possible-on-state-run-radio-and_27.html)

I’ve seen the “small steps” method work in places as diverse as Uganda (where politicians own many media outlets) and Yemen (with strict government censorship and licensing). The key, as articulated by my Pakistani and Indian colleagues last week, is to begin by reporting stories about what governments might see as non-controversial topics like climate, water, trade, agriculture, and Covid-19.