PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — For the 15th consecutive year, Philadelphia is observing the United Nations' International Day of Peace on Sept. 21 with a week's worth of speakers, concerts and performances organized by the nonprofit Peace Day Philly.
A discussion on peace journalism is among the activities and events planned as Philadelphia observes Peace Day.
Journalism can do more than deliver the who, what, where, when and why of a conflict. It can go deeper to promote peace, said Rev. David W. Brown, the executive director of Philadelphia's Civic Coalition to Save Lives.
"We tend to see a lot of what happens when incidents occur, but we don't see the aftermath," Brown told KYW Newsradio. "Beyond just the problem, let's look at what might be the solution."
Brown is co-hosting an online peace journalism discussion on Sept. 25 to wrap up a week of Peace Day Philly events, which surround the International Day of Peace.
"Peace journalism is actually something that is a form of journalism that seeks to focus on the solutions — nonviolent solutions — that exist to prevent conflict," Brown said.
"Peace journalism looks behind and deeper beyond the incident. So, looking at some of the people who may be victims or maybe even be perpetrators, these are still human beings. These are still people who have families who still have lives. And being able to understand some of the circumstances around which these things happen will enable us to be more proactive in terms of investing in things that will preclude these things from happening in the future."
That, Brown continued, requires a more rigorous exploration of the factors causing the conflict in the first place, such as a lack of job opportunities or housing.
"If we're trying to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted, we're going to have to go well beyond just reporting. We're going to have to be able to dive deeper to lead people to solutions that will lift society as a whole," said Brown, who also serves as the assistant dean for community and communications at the Klein College of Media Communications at Temple University.
Traditional media, Brown said, can practice peace journalism by pointing to podcasts or web stories that provide a richer context. "While we really appreciate what the traditional — what we call legacy media — telling these stories, we also want to supplement that with how things are told in different platforms, whether they're podcasts, whether they're online, social media, Brown said.
An example, he continued, is the Philadelphia Obituary Project, which tells the individual stories of homicide victims.
"Going deeper enables us to really not only humanize it but have a deeper understanding that when these situations occur, they have a ripple effect throughout the community," Brown said.