PHOTOJOURNALISM HIGHLIGTHED
In this week’s four day session on Peace Journalism with Afghan editors and journalists, the highlight was Thursday, when we had invited Dr. Saumava Mitra from Dublin University as well as director of Afghanistan Photographers Association .
Farzana Wahidy. Mitra has done his PhD on research of Afghan photojournalists, and presented the results from this study, while Farzana spoke of her career, and in particular about her project photographing Afghan women. These presentations were followed by a lively discussion. Both speakers mentioned the particular risks involved with being a photojournalist in a conservative society, which had not seen peace for four decades.
Previously, professors Rune Ottosen lectured on the challenges of PSYOPS in war journalism, while Professor Elisabeth Eide gave an account on the history of conflict coverage, linked to theories and practices of Othering. Furthermore, the participants had delivered opinion pieces about the ongoing peace negotiations, and one day was mainly dedicated to these contributions, reflecting the very complex situation in Doha, Qatar, where the two parties (Taliban and the Afghan government) have so far failed to agree fully on the platform for negotiations.