The stories we tell

By Marianne Cederberg

I first came across the concept of Peace Journalism in Kosovo. I had studied peacebuilding before, but I had never heard about using journalism to build and protect peace. It was a journalist from the critical media platform Kosovo 2.0 who was the first person to use the term for describing her work. This was a turning point for my research during the trip and Peace Journalism soon became the focal point and guiding principle of my personal inquiries in Pristina.

The concept of Peace Journalism was first introduced by the Norwegian academic Johan Galtung in the 70s, presenting the link between media and peacebuilding to the field of peace studies. It is a method of journalistic reporting about conflict-torn or unstable areas. In contrast to its counterpart, War Journalism, Peace Journalism aims at mitigating social divisions and fostering stability and peace. 

Peace Journalism consists of four principles: unbiased reporting, shared vulnerability, human-centered approach, and proactivity. Such reporting covers both sides of the conflict, avoiding the often-used good-guy and bad-guy frames. It draws attention to those suffering from the conflict, highlighting the fact that victims are victims no matter whose side they are on. Peace journalism not only focuses on high-profile actors such as politicians and elites, but also lifts the voices of ordinary people and minorities. Lastly, peace journalism focuses on the actual solutions for accommodating peace.

While conducting research for our project--which focused on the role of media in peacebuilding--I was not just investigating media, but I had to take on the role of a journalist. There was this meta level to doing the project: we were collecting interviews on the topic of media to produce a piece of media. We were not just chatting about what should change in the media but we had to apply the advice we were receiving into our own work.

“We are all storytellers,” was the advice we got from Elizabeth Gowing, author and co-founder of The Ideas Partnership. In 2021 Kosovan Prime Minister Albin Kurti appinted her to his cabinet as adviser on community affairs. “We have to be responsible for the stories we tell,” she said, because “the angles you take have repercussions bigger than you.”

This is something I have thought about a lot since--the power of storytelling--not only in the media but also “at the bar or around a dinner table,” as Elizabeth put it. The way we talk about a certain issue, a certain place, shapes the perceptions those listening to us have. The words we employ influence understanding and, in turn, shape reality. In this way, the stories we tell reverberate in others.

This principled level of ethical storytelling was something I tried to adopt into my ways of framing Kosovo. I did this not only in our final project that we did in the form of a podcast, but also in the ways I talked about the country to my friends after Peace Lab. I did not want to repeat the single story so many had of Kosovo, that of political struggles and violence. I did not want to reiterate those images of Kosovo. Instead, I wanted to tell about the people of Kosovo, its rich culture, and astonishing nature. I wanted to talk about the kindness of Kosovars, their determination, and their spirit--because this was what was missing in the media.

We need new stories of Kosovo. We need success stories, inspirational stories, and love stories. We need stories of the experiences of people, their struggles and aspirations. This is what is at the core for our podcast Pressing for Peace. You can find it here.