Posted: 17 November, 2010
Region: Middle East and Worldwide
UNESCO and the UNESCO Centre of Catalonia (UNESCOCAT) launched Arab New Media for Peace and Dialogue, a best practice guide and pedagogical toolkit, which has been produced as an outcome of the Arab New Media Summit for Peace and Dialogue.
A joint initiative of the two organizations, the Summit took place last February in Amman, Jordan.
The book, edited and coordinated by Rut Gomez Sobrino, is an unprecedented work of cooperation among new media reporters from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Occupied Palestinian Territories and Iraq, brought together by the Summit.
It consists of a description of the new media landscapes in the mentioned countries, as well as of a list of challenges and recommendations given by the authors for each country.
Among the main suggestions made by the contributors, a series of common challenges for peace and dialogue has been identified, including the separation of the political power from the exercise of journalism, the introduction of web-journalism in the university curricula, universal access and affordability of Internet, the promotion of peace initiatives and the need to establish linkages with civil society organizations.
Besides these common challenges, every country has particular issues to solve.
One of the most urgent ones, to which UNESCO has given much attention, is the safety of journalists, mentioned in the chapter about Iraq.
The book also includes a pedagogical toolkit produced by experts from the American University of Lebanon, Cairo University, University of Jordan and other international schools.
UNESCO is strongly committed to the development of new media as a tool to foster participation and democratic processes around the world and has implemented a wide rank of projects in this field.
Created in 1984, UNESCOCAT is committed to such essential values as human rights, culture of peace, cultural plurality and dialogue between cultures.
It strives to build bridges and break boundaries through innovative, interdisciplinary action based on the principles of sustainable development, social cohesion, national identity and democracy.
Click here to read Arab New Media for Peace and Dialogue report
Courtesy of Creative Commons