Communicating efforts for peace

Communicating efforts for peace

An independent media is essential to the prevention of war.
But in Indonesia, with no broadcasting bill and a weak press law,
there are many instances where journalists' newfound freedoms
have been exercised without any accompanying sense of
responsibility.

In some cases, intense media competition has led journalists
to respond with provocative reporting to create sensational
headlines; in others, a lack of training has led to articles
being published, or information being passed on in a form which
has had an inflammatory effect in some of the conflict stricken
provinces.

Rumour can tear through a community and speed up the cycle of
violence by increasing people's fear. Take the recent house-
burnings on the island of Morotai, in North Maluku. Information
filtered out through rumor; for 350 islands in the province,
there is only one daily paper, along with 10 weekly tabloids and
10 radio stations, almost all located and circulated in Ternate.

Even telephone connections are not available in many areas, so
people from Malifut or Sahu have to travel for hours to reach the
nearest communications stall in Jailolo.

So when rumors about the situation reach, for example, the
thousands of refugees from North Maluku who still live in camps
in Manado, they have no way to assess accurately the conditions
in their old homeland and, therefore, to reach an informed
decision about the advisability of returning there.

Fear and suspicion prevail -- people assume that, for
everything they do get to hear about, many other things will
happen that they don't hear about. They tend to exaggerate the
dangers in their minds.

What is being done? To improve the reliability,
professionalism and sense of responsibility of the conflict
reporting reaching Indonesian readers and audiences, the British
Council has backed three peace journalism training programs here,
working with some of the leading media organizations such as
Antara, Kompas, Jawa Pos, RCTI and SCTV.

Internews, the international media NGO which supports over 40
radio stations in the country, not only supplies its own balanced
news service but also sponsors its own "Reporting for Peace".

Then there is Communicating for Humanity training, supported
by USAID and based on the premise that we are all communicating,
all the time, and we all have a share of the responsibility to
communicate messages based on peace and mutual understanding.

Musa Kiye, a religious leader from Obi island, made a wall
magazine after the training where he put his poems and talks
attached in front of the local Mosque.

Parada, a community leader from Parigi, central Sulawesi, held
a modero, a traditional dance, which involved 5,000 people,
lasted a whole night until 7 a.m. the next morning, and contained
various peace messages within the dancing itself.

Annabel McGoldrick and Aya Muchtar