To promote conflict sensitive journalism (CSJ) and prepare researchers for an upcoming international academic conference in Davao City, a writing workshop was held yesterday at Holy Cross of Davao College.

The Kick-Off Writeshop “How to capture attention and content with your research abstract” focused on the need for more critical writing that goes “beyond positions.”

According to SunStar journalist Karlon M. Rama, 99.9% of stories in the media are about conflict yet journalists are not taught to critically write about conflict.

“Media can see and sense it, but is it connecting the dots? Does it point out the people in conflict?” he said.

He added that news should go beyond the “he said, she said” format and be able to point out key factors that can influence how conflict evolves and how the public wants it resolved.

Aside from CSJ, the workshop also tackled abstract writing to encourage more research in Mindanao.

For criminologist Maria Rosalie Maglana, the event gave her insights as she is planning to study for a master’s degree.

“Although dili communication akong profession, na open ko sa topic kay kung mo ingon man gud kag research, daghan kag ma learn nga ideas,” she said.

[Although my profession is not communication, my mind was opened to different topics because when it comes to research, there are many ideas to be discovered.]

Maglana sees herself joining the international academic conference on February 10-11.

The upcoming conference “On Conflict-Sensitive Journalism – An International Academic Conference” is open to all and will be held in Ateneo de Davao University. The early bird (Sept. 1, 2019) registration fee is P5, 500 while the regular (Nov. 15, 2019) fee is P8, 000.

If approved, researches presented during the conference will be published internationally.

The conference is a joint initiative of PECOJON – the Peace and Conflict Journalist Network-Philippines, Media Educators of Mindanao (MEM) Inc. and forumZFD, in partnership with Asia Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) and the Asian Institute for Journalism and Communication (AIJC).

More information for the event can be found at conflictsensitivejournalism.info.