Investigating the Media: from September 11 to September 21

It is no surprise to friends and colleagues that one of the books I read this summer was Beyond War: The Human Potential for Peace, by Douglas Fry (2009).  What does surprise some is the author’s thesis: For most of human history, humans have found ways to solve problems without war, through courage, conflict resolution, generosity, forgiveness, humor, and creativity. 

As an anthropologist, a student of humanity, Fry criticizes the tendency of many historians and anthropologists to over-emphasize war in the history of human behavior.  For the present and future, his research “suggests that humans have the capacity to replace the institution of war with international conflict resolution procedures to ensure justice, human rights, and security for the people of the world….”  In spite of the fact that many people think that peace building is impossible, Fry sees this potential for active peace building in human beings today, and he wants us to focus upon this positive view of human potential.  So do I.  

When I go looking for peace in the news, I can find it: people doing the impossible—using courage, conflict resolution, generosity, forgiveness, humor, and creativity.  The problem is: I have to look for peace news—it doesn’t seem to make the front page.  Our media seem to focus on the bad news instead, using the unfortunate motto: “If it bleeds, it leads.” 

That’s one reason the United Nations declared September 21 the International Day of Peace “devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples.”  It is hoped that we can take one day, at least, to focus on the promise of peace.

Investigating the media: September 11-21

During the month of September, in the days between September 11 and September 21, my students and I investigate the effects of the media on our perceptions and emotions.  The anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001 comes quickly during the opening days of school.  The tragedy offers a host of important learning opportunities for our students and our country.  Yet, this event is too often covered in the mainstream media with a harmful absence of critical thinking and background information.

In the May/June 2002 Columbia Journalism Review, journalist Russ Baker (2002) chastised fellow members of the press for “wrapping themselves in stars-and stripes graphics” rather than asking tough-minded questions about the attacks and the American response.  He continued with a helpful clarification that it is necessary to “distinguish between patriotism, love of one’s country, and nationalism—the exalting of one’s nation and its culture and interests above all others.  If patriotism is a kind of affection,” he writes, “nationalism is its dark side.”  Students are able to understand this distinction, and it helps them evaluate media coverage of such events as 9-11.

The Center for Media Literacy offers us five questions to help us analyze media:

1. Who created this message and why are they sending it?
2. What techniques are used to attract and hold attention?
3. What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in this message?
4. What is omitted from this message? Why do you think it was left out?
5. How might different people interpret this message?

My students and I also use the research of Robin H. Gurwitch, modifying ideas from her Building Strength through Knowledge lessons for our students. 

Students keep simple media logs in the days surrounding September 11^th.  They determine the emotional effects of specific media coverage in a category called “Promotes Healthy Mental Outlook vs. Hindrance to Healing.” Next, they tackle the category “Informational and Factual vs. Sensationalism.”  Some students are quite astute at seeing sensationalism for what it is. They appreciate historically comprehensive coverage while chastising channels for repetitive replaying of the burning Twin Towers, manipulation of images, and intrusive interviews, for example.  Finally, students determine whether coverage “Promotes Patriotism vs. Nationalism and Isolationism.”

Students build understanding of words that will help them analyze media coverage of 9-11: patriotism, nationalism, emotions, empathy, empowerment, resiliency, media, opinion, fact, sensationalism, manipulation, terrorism, and isolationism.  Family participation is key to a meaningful outcome. Indeed, in a letter home to families explaining our rationales, we strongly encourage adults to actively participate in the exercises, to discuss their own understandings and feelings with their children, and to listen to their children’s responses. We assure families that we are not asking them to immerse themselves in media coverage of 9-11, but that we want students to evaluate the effects of the various media upon them. 

We move from investigation of media coverage of 9-11-related events to local and global peacebuilding efforts.   

If the only knowledge students (and sometimes parents) have comes from superficial news coverage, teachers have to work extremely hard to bring historical perspective, controversies, and multiple sources of information into the classroom. And students appreciate it!  Further, if the only emphasis on current events is on negativity and violence, students do not appreciate the tenacity of local and global heroes working non-violently for justice and peace.

Returning to the same online and print news sources, we celebrate International Peace Day, September 21, with an analysis of neighborhood and international peace news.  

Before we can celebrate, however, students come to class complaining, “Mrs. Cannon, I can’t find anything positive in the news.”  Their complaints lead to discussion of why media focus on negativity and violence.  A perfect example is the fact that most of my students have heard of the Kony 2012 video that went viral in the spring.  It described the Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army’s war against the government and people of Uganda.  But most students never heard of the Ugandan peacebuilder, Betty Bigombe, Ugandan government minister and peace activist who has worked for peace in Uganda for decades.  She says, “When you bring a political solution to any kind of violent conflict, then all these other underlying causes are addressed, and therefore people can start living together in harmony.  Peace is absolutely possible….”   I introduce her to them through a short online video.

After we watch the video demonstrating Bigombe’s courage and creativity in working for peace, we bring the search for peace news closer to home.  We identify issues of social justice, human rights, global outreach, and environmental sustainability to help students see that there is good news to be found—if they look hard enough.  I model such discoveries often, sharing with them news of neighbors beginning food banks and urban gardens, children starting animal shelters, and courageous peacebuilders around the world creating frameworks of durable, active, peace.  We use these examples as models to emulate—beginning our efforts in the world of our classrooms and school, working to make them safe, respectful, and welcoming places for all.

From 9-11 to Peace Day, students appreciate the chance to interpret media influence on their lives.  We can inoculate students to resist the mind-numbing impact of media in their lives. By helping students develop tools with which to engage with various media, questions to ask about the origins and purpose, and opportunities to discuss their emotional and critical reactions with parents and teachers, we can introduce a lifelong habit of critical—versus thoughtless—media consumption to our students and families. 

Finally, with a practical optimism about humanity’s potential, we can also help students identify the peacebuilding work going on around them—on Peace Day and every day.  Surely, they will feel empowered to join the effort to build a peaceful future.

• Link to Douglas Fry’s Beyond War: The Human Potential for Peace
  http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Anthropology/SocialCultural/?view=usa&ci=9780195384611
• Link to the Center for Media Literacy: http://www.medialit.org/
• Link to Robin Gurwitch’s 9-11 as History: http://familiesandwork.org/site/work/youth/911ah/lp_6-8_rg.pdf
• Link to Teach for Peace: Media Literacy & Online News Sources: http://www.teachforpeace.org/think/Media-Literacy-and-Online-News-Sources
• Link to Betty Bigombe video—Building Peace in Uganda: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG7icDkOOHk
• Link to Peace One Day—Promoting Global Truce 2012: http://peaceoneday.org/
• Link to United Nations International Day of Peace: http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/
• Link to Peace Day Philly, with resources for teachers, students, and community members: http://www.peacedayphilly.org/

Stopping Thoughtless and Violent Responses 2012-Part 1:

In the days and weeks following the release of Invisible Children’s Kony 2012 video, many students asked me about the movie and the situation in Uganda.  “What can we do?  Have you seen the movie?  Can we buy an action kit?” 

Several teachers asked a more nuanced question, “What do you think?”  That’s the question we should be helping our students answer.

With the help of members of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, I offer several good resources to help ourselves and our students better analyze the Kony 2012 video and the aims of the organization that produced it.  More importantly, the information and links below propose nonviolent responses that (as history proves) will be much more likely to result in peacebuilding in Uganda. 

We and our students care about local and global injustice and violence.  However, “shoot from the hip” responses, as we too often see, do not yield lasting, peaceful and just outcomes.  Peacebuilder Betty Bigombe explains ongoing negotiations for peace in the video linked below. Project Plowshares advocates for stopping the weapons trade that fuels violent conflict.

After the dust settles, if you and your students are still interested, watch Bigombe’s short video together.  Or, have a class debate the pros and cons of various proposed responses.  Students could even discuss the pros and cons of distributing such a video to raise awareness of an important issue.  I am sure students will be engaged.  Resources include the following:

Project Ploughshares is an NGO that works “to advance policies and actions to prevent war and armed violence and build peace.” The response from Project Plowshares contains clear points and clear action alternatives to the video.  Excerpts are here and link to the full article is below:

1.       “The Kony 2012 video does not make clear that the LRA effectively stopped operating in Uganda in 2006. Kony and the LRA leadership originated in Northern Uganda, but have been roaming the inhospitable border zones of three neighbouring countries since 2008.

2.      Kony 2012 leaves the impression that sustaining the U.S. decision in October 2011 to assign 100 Special Operations military advisors to Uganda’s military is the key to arresting Kony in 2012. In fact, a military-led solution aided by the U.S. may not be the best option for stopping the LRA

3.      Finally, arresting Kony and others in the LRA leadership and handing them over to the International Criminal Court is not a panacea.

So what can we do?
Not mentioned in the video is the key role that the pervasive presence in East Africa of small arms and light weapons makes to sustaining the murderous rampage of the LRA and other marauding groups…..  [Show your] support from the grassroots up for a strong and effective Arms Trade Treaty, which aims to stop atrocities fueled by irresponsible arms transfers. You can help by adding your voice to the Speak Out campaign. And you can follow this link to learn about the World Council of Churches Arms Trade Treaty Campaign....”

Betty Bigombe, is a Ugandan government minister and peace activist who has worked for peace in Uganda for decades.  Watching her 4-minute video will give students a much more hopeful, peace-oriented understanding of the Ugandan situation than Kony 2012 does.  The link for Betty Bigombe’s video is below.   

The Africa Faith and Justice Network issued a statement on non-military solutions in Uganda, including this passage: "While we acknowledge and denounce the terrible destruction brought about by Joseph Kony and his militia, and deplore the heart-breaking suffering imposed on so many ordinary people, we stand opposed to the choice of the Obama administration to send further military assistance to the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and the Republic of South Sudan as of October 14th 2011. We do not see that further militarization will be in the best interest of the peoples of these countries in the long term; rather we advocate for non-military support to be sent to deal with the complex political issues....”  The link to the website and full statement is below.

Invisible Children, the organization responsible for the video and information campaign, has issued responses to questions raised about the video.  Discussing these responses with students may help them think critically about the aims of Invisible Children.  Many students, for example, think 100% of their dollars spent at the site go directly to helping Ugandan children, women, and men.  They are surprised to learn that only 37% of funds raised by Invisible Children go to humanitarian programs in Uganda, while the rest is used for developing films and other programming.  For other critiques, see journalist Michael Wilkerson’s posting in Foreign Policy, linked below. 

Links to articles and video:

• Project Plowshares article on Uganda and small arms treaty: http://www.ploughshares.ca/content/kony-2012-now-we-have-your-attention
• Betty Bigombe, Building Peace in Uganda: (4-minute video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG7icDkOOHk
• Africa Faith and Justice Network webpage and statement: http://afjn.org/focus-campaigns/militarization-us-africa-policy/133-latest-news/1028-urging-nonviolence-in-dealing-with-the-lords-resistance-army-.html
• Michael Wilkerson in Foreign Policy Blog: http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/07/guest_post_joseph_kony_is_not_in_uganda_and_other_complicated_things
• Invisible Children: http://www.invisiblechildren.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/critiques.html
• Peace and Justice Studies Association: http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/