CIME Board Member Advocates for Cosmopolitanism

CIME staff

CIME Director with CFOM conference participants, including CIME Advisory Board Member Dr. Stephen J. Ward.

CIME was invited to speak at the Center for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) conference on media coverage of genocide and mass violence, held June 8-9 2009 at the University of Sheffield (UK). Speakers included Kevin Marsh of the BBC and CIME advisory board member Dr. Stephen J. Ward from the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Adding a truly international dimension, Dr. Miladi Nourredine discussed his experience researching Al-Jazeera, and Dr. Winston Mano spoke about the media in his native Zimbabwe. Particular attention was given to the question of how to portray the collective memory of genocide in journalistic work, with examples drawn from the Rwandan conflict and the Holocaust.

Dr. Ward's emphasis on the concept of cosmopolitanism as a key to furthering ethical standards in media was a highlight of the discussions. He underlined the fact that journalists can inform their news reporting with a global awareness of the Other, while still honoring and remaining anchored in the specificity of their local cultural and political context. As a "world citizen", the journalist is in a better position to ensure objectivity and impartiality in portraying the facts about politics and society to his or her community.