Peacebuilding a shared Northern Irish society
The future of public service media in Northern Ireland and beyondby Allan LEONARD9 May 2025 Ulster University (UU) held an important discussion on the role and future of public service media. Key speakers included Phil Ramsey (lecturer in media studies (UU), Siobhan Walsh (director of content policy (Ofcom)), and Catherine Johnson (professor of media and... Continue Reading →
“Without the institutions of democracy, journalists are reduced to propagandists or entertainers.” From https://medium.com/p/e34649174166 via @readwise #journalism #democracy
Monitoring peace progress in Northern Ireland: a wellbeing frameworkby Allan LEONARD4 March 2025 While much of the media coverage of the launch of the Northern Ireland Executive’s latest Programme for Government (PfG) rightly focused on the specific, quantifiable targets (or lack thereof), a complementary “wellbeing framework”, with dozens of regularly updated metrics, has received little comment. The... Continue Reading →
Policing divided societies: Kosovo and Northern Irelandby Mihane HOXHA and Allan LEONARD29 November 2024 Would further exchanges between the police services of Kosovo and Northern Ireland be beneficial, or have recent challenges proved too great? Olga Stefanović is from the Serbian community, from the village of Lešak in the Leposavić municipality (in northern Kosovo). She... Continue Reading →
Impossible Peace: a conversation with Brian Rowan by Allan LEONARD 5 September 2024 In a room packed with dozens of guests at the newly established Black Mountain Shared Space, journalist Mervyn Jess facilitated a conversation with Brian Rowan about his Impossible Peace project, to marry old cassette tapes with a document archive to mark the... Continue Reading →
Free press crucial for transformative justice in Venezuela: a talk with Luis Carlos Díaz by Allan LEONARD 30 October 2023 Luis Carlos Díaz, an accomplished journalist from Venezuela and deemed a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, was a guest keynote speaker at an event organised by the International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) at Ulster... Continue Reading →
Constructive journalism is ‘pressing, urgent, and needed everywhere’: inaugural B° Future Festival by Allan LEONARD 15 September 2023 The Bonn Institute hosted an inaugural, two-day B° Future Festival for journalism and constructive dialogue, held in the city’s LVR LandesMuseum. The first day for registered delegates was conducted mainly in English and discussed various dimensions of... Continue Reading →
"Journalists set up their narratives as conflicts between two opposing people, views, or groups. They prefer stories of extreme poverty and billionaires to stories about the vast majority of people slowly dragging themselves toward better lives. Journalists are storytellers." #QOTD #journalism #factfulness
"Journalists set up their narratives as conflicts between two opposing people, views, or groups. They prefer stories of extreme poverty and billionaires to stories about the vast majority of people slowly dragging themselves toward better lives." #QOTD #journalism #factfulness
"Traditional journalism, with its inaccuracies, distortions, and occasionally inflammatory hate-mongering, proves the need for a more responsible approach that emphasizes context, perspective, and accuracy." @PeaceJournalism #journalism #peacejournalism
Media’s role in mediating our 'different psychic landscapes' by Allan LEONARD 18 October 2022 A set of current and former journalists shared their experiences and thoughts on the role of media and social debate across the island of Ireland. Hosted by the Irish Association, the event “Journalism without borders” attracted several dozen, including other journalists... Continue Reading →
Reporting the Troubles 2: An important storytelling contributionby Kellie BANCALARI and Allan LEONARD19 April 2022 Imagine getting a call in the middle of the night. It’s a source and they have a statement; they are going to execute two of your colleagues every week because they don’t agree with your workplace’s political leanings. Your name,... Continue Reading →