Hezbollah supporters carry Lebanese, Palestinian and Hezbollah yellow flags during a rally. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
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Social Media for Social Change
By Rachel Williams
Blogging allows information to spread quickly and invites people previously uninvolved in the media process to participate. As a result, blogging is quickly becoming a tool for empowering people in the media process and spreading awareness of issues facing groups that the mainstream media may ignore. It is giving people a feeling of ownership of their media.
Organizations like Social Media Exchange realize the potential of this new media. Through a series of workshops, it trains individuals and civil groups in Lebanon on the use of social media for networking volunteers, organizing events, promoting causes, and effectively managing their organizations.
Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, left, wishes peace and friendship between the two countries while his Turkish counterpart Ismail Cem looks on. Turkey and Greece are taking cautious steps to overcome decades of mistrust just four years after the two NATO allies almost went to war over a small, barren island inhabited by goats. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)
Giving Peace Coverage a Fighting Chance
By Cassandra Grob
Our mass media system is flawed through the disproportionate way that war coverage is circulated over peace coverage. How can this imbalance be corrected? Scholars and NGOs agree that journalist education is crucial. Over a three-year span, students from the main universities in Greece and Turkey participated in journalism training workshops with the goal being to increase journalists’ knowledge of how best to cover the “other” — without reverting to binary oppositions. Success was seen after the workshops ended, as students’ articles effectively employed their new skills and did not revert to oppositional reporting of the “other.”
Women collect water from a pit in make-shift containers in a village in Niger. Drought has left some 3.6 million people in Niger facing severe food shortages. Jedidiah Clothing contributes to a World Vision water restoration project there. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
Is Jedidiah the Style of the Future?
By Nina Fogle
In all aspects Jedidiah Clothing looks like a hot and hip brand for young adults, but in reality it holds a much deeper purpose. Jedidiah is a pioneer for anti-violence campaigns and humanitarian causes. It is the founder of an organization called 1% for Humanity. Through this organization Jedidiah partners with various companies including 612 Realty, Blue Threads, and Bull Runs Roasting Company that all give one percent of their yearly profits to humanitarian causes. Jedidiah dedicates lines of clothing to support select causes, which they promote through an interactive, blog-oriented website.
A senior-women's group calling themselves Raging Grannies sing a song during a protest in downtown Palo Alto, Calif., over President Bush's inauguration for a second term. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Performing Arts for Peace: Raging Grannies
By Kuan-Hung “Eleven” Liu
The peace group Raging Grannies sings aloud songs they’ve made this year: Gaggle Against Coal, White Privilege, and Just Say No to War while protesting on streets. The organization was founded in 1986 in Victoria, B.C., when a group of motivated elder women came up with the idea of using arts to promote peace. Since then, Raging Grannies have been mobilizing other "grannies" in cities throughout North America to sing, dance, and march for peace. Besides the energized songs they perform, they adapt a performance strategy of wearing colorful straw hats, bright clothing, and flower leis to help them attract media attention.