TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsMedia may resolve, exacerbate conflicts
The media can play a mediating role during times of conflict but can also trigger and perpetuate violence, a symposium heard Wednesday
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
The media can play a mediating role during times of conflict but can also trigger and perpetuate violence, a symposium heard Wednesday.
"The role of the media in conflict is extremely challenging and controversial. It has been blamed for bringing about more negative than positive impacts through consolidating, promoting, and sharing the core values of the conflict," Claude Bruderlein, Program Director on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research at Harvard University, said.
Media, Bruderlein said, was not only a tool of information, but also an agent of influence and transformation, offering opportunities for strengthening peace.
The symposium, titled "The Role of Media in Conflict in Indonesia", was hosted by Paramadina University and examined the role of print and electronic media in resolving conflicts.
Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono attended the forum addressed by Media Indonesia's news director Saur Hutabarat and Paramadina lecturer Bima Arya Sugiarto.
Bima said print media had a greater capacity to promote peace than electronic media because it covered both sides of the debate.
"Electronic media must race against time in order to broadcast their news before their competitors," he said.
Reporting partially on only one aspect of a conflict is dangerous, he said, as the damage could be inflicted before a clarifying piece was published.
"Partiality misleads the public," said Bima.
Saur said it was not easy to promote peace through journalism because bad news, such as high death tolls and conflict, has high media value.
"The media should not exclusively focus on conflicting parties in a dispute, but also how the conflict is impacting on the victims and, most importantly, the reconciliation process," he said.
He suggested that the media pay attention to news content and packaging.
"It is important for the public to understand the background and meaning behind the conflict. The media could resolve conflicts through intellectual and elegant coverage." (pmf)
