Why I’m in Uganda.

For those of you who don’t know why I’m in Uganda (or even that I’m in Uganda) allow me to explain. From July 8 to the 25 I’ll be here as part of a study abroad program with fellow Park University student Andria (Andi) Enns, and we’ll be taking part in two Peace Journalism Seminars. During the seminars Andi and I will be giving lesson and working with the participants – local journalists – as they produce news stories. We will also be producing blogs, pod casts, video, and written stories separate from the seminars as part of our study abroad requirents.

Park University Professor Steve Youngblood is organizing the seminars, and he’ll be in Uganda for the next 11 months to teach Peace Journalism to local journalist and radio broadcasters. He picked Uganda because of the presidential election taking place at the beginning of next year. The hope is that the practice of peace journalism will help prevent violence during the election cycle.

I won’t go into the details of Peace Journalism here because there is already detailed information at the Peace Journalism website, so you can go look there for more information. But just to give a basic idea here is the definition of Peace Journalism from the website:

Peace Journalism is when editors and reporters make choices that improve the prospects for peace. These choices also promote the positive development of societies recovering from war. These choices – which stories to report and how they are reported, among others – create an atmosphere conducive to peace and supportive of peace initiatives and peacemakers, without compromising the principles of good journalism.

For more information about Peace Journalism, and to keep up with our daily activities, check out the Peace Journalism website, our Facebook page, and Professor Youngblood’s blog.