OPINION: Resolutions of the UCAP Workshop on "The Role of the Media in Peace Building, Conflict Resolution and Good Governance."

Introduction

Under the theme, "The Role of Catholic Media in Peace Building, Conflict Resolution and Good Governance," UCAP organized a four-day media workshop from July 22-25, 2012 in Mombasa, Kenya.

The workshop was attended by about 100 participants, mainly Catholic communication practitioners and academics, from a variety of African nations including Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, in addition to special representatives from the Vatican, Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), Catholic News Service (CNS) USA and the Catholic Media Council (CAMECO) Germany.

The Workshop was open by His Grace Archbishop Boniface Lele of Mombasa Archdiocese. In his speech, appealed to Catholic journalists to always endeavour to reflect Christian values in their professional work and, in particular, to avail of the wider reach of new media to proclaim the Gospel.

During the workshop, papers were presented by media academics and communication practitioners, which dwelt on the role of the media in peace building, conflict resolution and good governance, the challenges faced by the media in bringing about good governance and peace, the role of SECAM in promoting justice, peace and reconciliation, and media convergence and the future of democracy.
After several sessions of discussions and reflections on the papers and issues, it was generally agreed that:

• the media remain a very powerful tool of social change due to their potency to influence policy, set development agenda and avert conflict.
• in order to enhance their role in peace building, conflict resolution and good governance, African journalists need to be encouraged to avail of opportunities to improve their professional capabilities.
• Catholic journalists must put the interests of the people first by writing stories that highlight their needs, as well as by setting the agenda for governments and development agencies to act on such needs.
• The Catholic journalists’ common vision towards promoting respect for basic human rights, peace, justice and social welfare needs to be translated into feasible and tangible projects.

There is need for collaboration among Catholic communication practitioners and media establishments towards finding alternative means of giving voice to the voiceless and exposing corruption.

Recommendations

Following from these observations, the following recommendations were made:
• In union with the Catholic Church UCAP should pursue the establishment of linkages with national and international organizations for the purposes of capacity building for African Catholic journalists.
• Catholic journalists must always refer to the Post Synodal Exhortation entitled Africae Munus as a basic guide in the promotion of justice, peace, reconciliation and human dignity, especially among women and other minorities.
• To that end, journalists should endeavour to use social media and new means of communication to trigger the change expected in the Exhortation.
• The church needs to employ professional journalists who can simplify the language used in their pastoral documents.
• Further studies must be conducted in order to improve the existing codes of ethics in the communication field.
• Journalists must strive to project the variety of views on issues of public interest regardless of social political or economic statuses of news subjects, and to this end, Catholic journalists need to design and package stories if possible in local languages.
• Catholic journalists must provide enlightenment on issues of public interest, with a view to enabling the people to make informed decisions on matters affecting their lives, especially in political representation and economic entrepreneurship.
• It is a moral responsibility of Catholic journalists to use creative means of investigative journalism in addition to new media to uphold transparency and accountability of public officials and credible elections
Catholic journalists must give more space to stories that promote peace rather than giving undue coverage to conflicts and sensationalism.

As a means of realizing these recommendations, national chapters of UCAP are exhorted to envision and implement appropriate follow-up programmes and projects on a regular basis.

Finally, with profound gratitude to God for the success of the Workshop, UCAP commends the role of the Catholic Bishop's Conferences of Africa in promoting peace, justice and reconciliation. UCAP also expresses deep appreciation to SECAM, the US Catholic Bishops' Conference, CNS, CAMECO, Bayard Presse, AMECEA and the Episcopal Conference of Kenya for their generous financial and moral support, and the Local Organizing Committee for their efforts towards the successful hosting of the Workshop.