In the panel organized by the Journalism Department of the Near East University Faculty of Communication, "peace journalism" in the context of the "Russia-Ukraine War" was discussed by academics and journalists. It was moderated by Near East University Faculty of Communication Journalism Department Lecturer Asst. Assoc. Dr. Ibrahim Özejder's online panel, academician Prof. Dr. Sevda Alankuş and journalists Hakan Aksay, Işın Elçin and Cenk Mutluyakalı attended as speakers.
In the panel, peace journalism was discussed with its theoretical and practical examples, while the subject was exemplified in the Russia-Ukraine war. Moderator Assist. Assoc. Dr. In the opening speech of the panel, Özejder emphasized that three months have passed since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war and the war still continues. Pointing out that wars continue in the world despite everyone saying that they are against war, Assist. Assoc. Dr. At this point, Özejder said that social institutions, including the media, should be critically evaluated; therefore, they wanted to discuss peace journalism, which tends to take a critical view of journalism.
prof. Dr. Sevda Alankuş: “Actually, we have become the media ourselves”
One of the leading academics in the field of peace journalism, Prof. Dr. Sevda Alankuş started her speech by reminding the French academician Mark Deuze's metaphor “Actually, we live in the media”. Explaining that with the developing media technology, people no longer follow the media and take on another role. Dr. Alankuş said, "Actually, we have become the media ourselves." prof. Dr. For this reason, Alankuş stated that while people were in the position of watching the events in the past wars, with the current metaverse technology, individuals could be positioned in the position of experiencing the war themselves.
Evaluating the Russia-Ukraine War and the role of the media, Prof. Dr. Sevda Alankuş stated that propaganda in wars is the same as before, but the way it is done and its sphere of influence have expanded. Stating that both Ukraine and Russia use propaganda methods in the best way, Prof. Dr. Alankuş emphasized that propaganda also includes disinformation. prof. Dr. Saying that doing peace journalism in such an environment has a heavy price, Alankuş said that despite the difficult conditions, alternative journalists in Russia Youtube He stated that he was doing journalism in favor of peace. Touching on the theoretical approaches to the definition of peace journalism, Prof. Dr. Alankuş said that her approach deals with peace journalism from a feminist perspective. prof. Dr. Sevda Alankuş said that peace journalism would be possible with a gender-focused, women-oriented journalism.
Hakan Aksay: “Many anti-war media outlets were shut down in Russia”
Journalist Hakan Aksay, who knows Russia and the Russian media well, focused on the Russia-Ukraine War and the media connection in his speech. He emphasized that the Russian-Ukrainian War, which is about to expire in three months, differs from the wars in the past in many respects. He stated that the world is in danger of extinction as a war that talks about the possibility of using nuclear weapons. Emphasizing that the peoples of Russia and Ukraine, the closest peoples among the Soviet peoples, faced this war, Aksay stated that this war also includes differences in this respect.
Talking about the difficulties of reporting on the Russia-Ukraine War, Aksay said that in this period when both sides were making propaganda, it was extremely difficult to reach the right information, different figures were given in terms of both the number of dead and wounded and the number of people who migrated from the country, and that it was difficult to reach accurate information from among the sources. said that. Aksay stated that many anti-war media outlets were closed in Russia and talked about the situation of journalists. Aksay “Echo of Moscow radio has been shut down. It was a very important platform. Opposition television channels were shut down. Many Russian journalists left the country. There are also those who are in prison. Some of them came to Turkey. Later, these Russian journalists are broadcasting from Georgia, the Baltic countries and Israel. Pressure on journalists has increased in Russia. It is forbidden to say 'war'. If you say war and comment on it, prison sentences of up to 15 years may be waiting for you.”
Işın Elinç: “The news of Barış journalists cannot get ahead of Influencers”
Journalist Işın Elinç emphasized that in order to understand the Russia-Ukraine War, it is necessary to look at the point of the media. Stating that people no longer receive information from television, but via social media, Elinç noted that in this information bombardment, the concerns of giving faster and more news came to the fore. Stating that research shows that being exposed to information bombardment paralyzes people's reasoning skills, Elinç said that paralyzed people become much more open to manipulation.
Elinç said, “In this extraordinary environment, what the media can do is limited. There is also such a problem for people who want to do peace journalism. How will the news that I produce, out of all the news, reach the buyer? Think about it, you need to produce headlines according to algorithms in order to attract attention in the social media era. How will I get news in front of an influencer?” He talked about the difficulties faced by journalism. Explaining that journalists have difficulties in accessing information in the current environment, Elinç said that there are also difficulties in verifying the information.
Cenk Mutluyakalı: "Peace journalism is important to bring humanity together with the truth"
Speaking at the "Russia-Ukraine War and Peace Journalism" panel, Cenk Mutluyakalı stated that they are working with the claim of being a peace journalism in Yenidüzen Newspaper, where he is the general manager and editor-in-chief. Emphasizing that peace journalism is a field that constantly develops and updates itself, Mutluyakalı said, "Peace journalism is important to bring humanity together with the truth." Stating that the world still cannot make a full definition of what happened between Russia and Ukraine, Mutluyakalı said that the world could not give a clear name as to whether this was an invasion, war or an intervention.
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