There is a "real" reality and there is a virtual reality, and the latter has gained in relative importance over the last few decades.

Most citizens have to base their opinions about world affairs and conflicts on images conveyed through radio, television and dailies.

There is much war reporting but little conflict and peace journalism. TFF takes a critical stance with regards to much of the mainstream press but also seeks to highlight quality reporting and illustrate what the media could do to increase global understanding.

We do not argue that the media must contribute to peace; on the other hand, they also should not - directly or indirectly - make wars and other violence natural and peace by peaceful means "unrealistic."

The Internet makes it possible for anyone who so wishes to collect facts and perspectives from many corners of the world. We no longer need to base our opinions on the local newspaper or one or two news bureaus.

Thus, we have created TNN - The TFF News Navigator. It is a unique collection of over 300 media groups worldwide, mainstream as well as alternative at one place, at your fingertips. It makes it easier for you to be better informed and see more perspectives - and that is extremely relevant in a globalising world where the bigger and more powerful increasingly try to make us believe that there is only one truth - their own.

The Internet permits us to get a global rather than national focus on what happens. You can now study the media anywhere in the world and avoid the biases of the powerful Western media conglomerates.

 

TFF Video Channel on YouTube
Videos on media, peace and war

2008

Jan Oberg - February 20, 2008
Our experiment with the media on Kosovo's secession

2007

Jørgen Johansen, Journalisten, 14. oktober 2007
Ytringsfriheten i den globale landsbyen
Å ta hensyn til det mangfold av tradisjoner, kulturer og religioner som finnes i ”den globale landsbyen” burde vel være like selv følgelig som de hensyn som vi i dag forventer at medier tar til den nationale konteksten...

Jørgen Johansen, 14:e juli 2007
Journalister i fångenskap
Det er skillnad på journalist och journalist i medierna. Johansen jämför mediebevakningen av Sami al-Haj i Guantanamo och BBC-journalisten Alan Johnston.

Sören Sommelius, 12: juli 2007
Recension av Robert Fisks "Det stora kriget för mänskligheten"
Det här är en av de viktigaste böcker jag läst på flera år, i några av samtidens avgörande och mest komplexa frågor Och en frän, övertygande kritik av mediebevakningen.

Jan Öberg, 8:e maj 2007
Kommentar till Sveriges Televisions "Aktuellt" inslag om domarna mot serbiska krigsförbrytare
Risken att legitimera krig när det saknas en bredare ram och källkritik. Brevet har aldrig besvarats av Aktuellt.

 

2006

Annabel McGoldrick, December 29, 2006
Can peace work? Can the media help? And what's it got to do with me anyway?
To me, peace is the cutting edge of change, it's exciting, creative, a totally new way of looking at things. Welcome to the dynamic field of conflict transformation - a transformation that takes place from the personal to the political - and begins inside the heart of each of us.

Jake Lynch, December 1, 2006
Iran in British media - a peace journalism perspective
The left-of-centre Guardian, for instance, comes out as markedly more War Journalistic - more likely to reproduce dominant readings of war propaganda - than some of its rivals. The right-wing Spectator shows a far higher proportion of Peace Journalism than its left-wing counterpart, the New Statesman. Peace Journalism, it is argued, produces findings of material relevance to conflict understanding as well as highlights appropriate steps editors and reporters could take to ensure accuracy and balance in their coverage.

Annabel McGoldrick, November 27, 2006
Philippines Mining
A ten-minute investigation by McGolrick into the activities of Australian and other international mining companies on the southern island of Mindanao, and their influence on the conflict there. It's followed by an interview the programme has filmed with the chief executive of one of the firms involved. It's on Australian TV, Sunday, Channel Nine's flagship current affairs show.

Jake Lynch
Think-tank reports The Peace Journalism Option (1998); What Are Journalists For? (1999); Reporting the World - a practical checklist for the ethical reporting of conflicts in the 21st century (2002) and the TRANSCEND manual, Peace Journalism - What is it? How to do it?

Per Gahrton, 16 augusti, 2006
Arabisk press efter Libanon-kriget
En mycket informativ genomgång av olika medier i regionen: Det känns befriande att läsa en artikel i al-Hayat som frågar: Vem är det som dödar araber och muslimer - och judar? Svar: De kristna i väst. Och så har det varit i tusen år minst, heter det, med början i korstågen. Olmert och Netanyahu, Nasrallah och Mubarak, Hamas-ledarna, de iranska mullorna och de saudiska prinsarna, arm i arm mot den gemensamma fienden i USA och EU! Nog är det en uppfriskande tanke. Nog skulle det skapa ett verkligt nytt Mellanöstern i alla fall! 

Sören Sommelius, 29:e april 2006
Hopp och lugn i Bolivia - Peru mot vänster?
Kulturskribenten har rest i Sydamerika. Här är hans fascinerande ögonblicksbilder - människorna, samhället och politiken - från Bolivia och Peru. Ska människornas dröm efter demokrati och välstånd äntligen bli verklighet? Kommer USA än en gång att intervenera? Illustrerad med författarens egna bilder.

Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick
The 2005 book "Peace Journalism"
This book is published by Hawthorn Press. Jake is a BBC television news anchor and reporter, a former Political Correspondent for Sky News and Sydney Correspondent for the Independent newspaper.
Annabel is an experienced reporter and producer in radio and television, having covered conflicts in Indonesia, Thailand and Burma. She produced the BBC documentary, Against the War, with Harold Pinter, during the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia.

Sören Sommelius, 18 december, 2005
Samtal med Orhan Pamuk
Den turkiske författaren Orhan Pamuk är just nu en bricka i spelet om Turkiets medlemskap i den europeiska gemenskapen. På Bokmässan i Göteborg drog han stora skaror med anledning av romanen "Snö". Sören Sommelius har träffat honom över en kopp te.

Annabel McGoldrick, Jake Lynch and Jan Oberg contribute to a book resulting from a Toda Institute project
Democratising Global Media
Rowman and Littlefield, 2005.