Introduction

When the United States dropped its first bombs on Baghdad in 1991, a single western network was present to record the carnage. CNN cameras witnessed what they could from the windows of the Al Rashid Hotel, and brought to America the first images of that war. Night vision enhanced the anti-aircraft shells, firing blindly in rapid succession at the wraiths of liberation miles above. The faint glitter of distant explosions dazzled an American public with popcorn in their laps, watching war during the commercial breaks of Beverly Hills 90210. Unbelievably, this methodology was inaugurated into the limelight of legitimacy.

Yet millions are discovering an alternative to this paradigm. Independent media is expanding exponentially as people begin to understand that perception of truth is subjective. We are learning that sending a reporter to a war zone for 48 hours, hoping he or she will objectively capture the essence of the conflict makes little sense. Why would we trust this person more than the one living the experience? It is a question of status quo, and whether or not we have the courage to change it.

The Loss of Empathy

Understanding geo-political and ethnic conflict can be a daunting task. Those who feel compelled may read the international news section of a local or national newspaper. The ambitious may supplement their understanding with the broadcasts of news agencies such as CNN, MSNBC, FOX or even the BBC. Yet despite good intentions, little is provided save statistics of the number dead and wounded, broken record sound bites from faceless politicians and the searing images of violence and bloodshed. Added to this are the impacts of slant and bias, which many consumers of news media are not able to identify. It can be much to assimilate, and the effort is often mentally and emotionally draining. Slight new understanding is achieved beyond the perception that a region is in chaos and that hate boils between juxtaposed peoples. Eventually, interest dwindles and conflicts abroad drop out of our minds and hearts, while continuing to rage ahead with the support of American policy, funding and weapons.

To work effectively toward peace, we must investigate in earnest the mechanisms that perpetuate conflict. What are the historical, religious and cultural foundations that drive people to war? How do US economic interests affect our foreign policy, and to what extent are we supporting, funding and arming one people against another? How do corporate media representations of conflict influence our understanding of the realities on the ground? What is gained by taking an interest in real, sustainable peace and the well being of others?

It’s time to start learning about whose lives are being lost and why. We need to explore our culpability in the emergence of strife and terror, and to begin to understand the pain, joy, fears and dreams of those impacted by our tax dollars at work abroad.

 

A New Direction

The Research Journalism Initiative (RJI) seeks to resurrect the lost art of understanding by sharing the experience of those who live in turmoil. To do this, our activists must become a part of the communities they research. We will live, love, suffer, laugh, struggle and succeed alongside those we seek to listen to. Only then will we tangibly experience their stories, and imprtantly, ontly then can we earn the trust of those who will share with us their truths. We will put aside politics and stigma and replace them with compassion and open minds. We will hold true to the practices of non-violence in our pursuit of civil and human rights. With courage, we can overcome the yoke of corporate media and begin forging a new path toward learning about each other.

Vision for the Future

Critical to the objectives of the Research Journalism Initiative are longevity and consistency. The production of honest and trustworthy media is a process subject to long-term evolution. Our journalists must not be limited to short stays in regions of conflict. Rather, RJI must establish permanent regional offices that are able to offer continuity to the program. Having such offices will enable our teams to collaborate with each other worldwide, integrate global political analysis, share strategies, learn from the mistakes that are made and work in tandem to continually improve our methodology. With this global network of research and experience, RJI will evolve into an organization capable of serving as both educator and human rights advocate. As we strive to better understand the influence of foreign policy abroad, the RJI network will be a reliable and valuable source of knowledge about the cultures we impact.

 

Lessons Learned

During the prototype period (September 2002 -November 2003), several key points were brought to light that will be imperative for success in future RJI applications.

• Legitimate media must be multimedia.

Due to the long developed biases of traditional corporate news media, a story is only as provable as it can be experienced. The written word offers a single perspective, a picture is worth a thousand words, a sound is worth double that, and in the minds of the majority, their combination equates legitimacy. The dangers of slant and bias certainly remain, yet the basic point is clear enough: people need to see and hear what you yourself have seen and heard. 

• The RJI approach grants unprecedented access

Living in the West Bank, you learn the difference between locals and tourists quickly. A local lives in a refugee camp. He has friends, knows the shop owners, gets invited to weddings, plays with the children, cries with loss, and celebrates in success. A tourist drives an armored Land Rover, wears a flak jacket and a helmet, tapes the letters T V over all he owns, runs from gunfire, lives at the hotel and is forgotten quickly. If you want to understand a place, you must first let go of your fear of it.

• Access comes only with trust.

A major flaw of the western corporate media model is that its journalists fly half way around the world to a region of conflict, spend a few short days looking for the best photo ops, wait for the glitter of a distant explosion, then package a report with graphics and a soundtrack. America is expected to believe this represents the truth of the situation; corporate media calls it objective reporting, an attempt to bring nothing of itself to the story and present only the so-called facts. The RJI approach understands that in order to listen to a truth, the teller must be willing to share it. This is derived not from a field trip, but through sharing the experiences of a community. CNN strives to remain separate from the story; we will pride ourselves on our intimate understanding of the community that lives it. Bias is pervasive and unavoidable. Objectivity is an illusion; the personal and subjective journalist experience is legitimate only when it is transparent and the tools to evaluate such bias are provided.

Objectives  (Palestine Launch Project)

1. Create a series of documentary newsreels detailing the activities of international human rights activists in the West Bank and Gaza, Palestine.
2. Create a website that allows the RJI field team to upload daily multimedia incident reports, political correspondence and analysis in tandem with incumbent newswire services (see IMEMC Collaboration), promotional material for RJI newsreels and documentary, other RJI projects, and the struggle for civil and human rights in the focus region.
3. Expand the website to include representation of the cultural character of the focus region, foster better understanding of the impact of war on society and the human experience of conflict. Develop our abilities to feature real time, video conferencing via internet streaming to classrooms in the US studying foreign conflict issues to give students an experiential and interactive tool to communicate with people abroad living amidst geo-political-ethnic conflict.

Guidelines 

• Field teams will reside in the focus region for rotating periods of 85 days. This time will be spent developing the necessary relationships to achieve our goals while creatively and logistically adapting as is required by the evolving situation.
• The field team will participate in non-violent direct action in conjunction with incumbent human rights organizations yet remain independent in title and association.
• As determined appropriate, the field team will stand in solidarity with the civilian population in pursuit of human and civil rights, supporting its initiatives in accordance with the principles of non-violent direct action.

 

Methodology(RJI Palestine Specific)

In the Palestinian Territories, international privilege grants a relative level of autonomy from the military restrictions put in place by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). [*Considerations] This ‘special’ treatment is useful in maintaining safety in situations of direct interaction between soldiers and civilians during military incursions, operations, clashes and closures, and provides an opportunity to initiate dialogue and negotiation with the IOF in ways not available to Palestinians.  In tandem with non-violent direct action civil rights organizations, the environment also offers opportunities for media production unique to internationals serving in this capacity. A few specific scenarios can shed greater light on this concept:

• In the early hours on August 17, 2003, the IOF arrived in Balata Refugee Camp to demolish the house of Abu Saleem, (father to Amjed Abu Saleem who was killed while trying to infiltrate and attack an illegal Israeli settlement near Qalqiliah.) International activists from RJI and the ISM were sleeping inside the house when soldiers demanded entry, in an attempt to thwart this illegal practice of collective punishment. RJI was able to secretly record the intrusion and destruction of the home with a hidden digital video camera.
• RJI and the ISM gained entry to a home in the Old City of Nablus, secretly occupied by IOF soldiers the night before. The activists were led into the home and detained at gunpoint in two rooms with 17 Palestinian civilians and a number of soldiers using the home as a temporary strategic location for staging covert operations within the city. Over the 10-hour detention, the activists were able to reach contacts on the outside via cell phones and text messaging without the soldiers knowing. RJI was able to record audio during the detention.
• During the August 2003 IOF invasion of Nablus, RJI and ISM activists were resting in the Al Yasmeen Hotel in the Old City of Nablus. Twenty soldiers flooded into the lobby, fired automatic rounds into the ceiling and demanded that everyone lay face down on the floor. The internationals were held at gunpoint in the management office, where they succeeded in covertly sending updates to contacts on the outside. RJI was able to record audio during the assault.
• In October of 2003, two human rights activists were shot in the legs by the IOF with M16 assault rifles. The same night, IOF Special Forces raided the hospital in an attempt to arrest suspected militants. RJI recorded the raid with a hidden video camera.

  RJI’s affiliation with incumbent human rights organizations has afforded the Initiative unprecedented access to the daily struggles of Palestinians. RJI is not only present as an eyewitness during these events, but in turn contributing to the betterment of the situation. This has helped to develop valuable relationships with the community while actively pursuing the fundamental ideals of the RJI process and its goals of assisting peaceful conflict resolution.

  By actively working to ensure the enforcement of international human rights law, RJI forges imperative relations with communities that are underrepresented in western media. Using human rights activism as a platform for education, we will connect students in the US to kids their own age in the Middle East using live Internet video conferencing.  They will direct their own learning by telling teams of activists what they want to see and by talking directly to Palestinian teens about life as refugees.

  *Considerations

  Human rights activism in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is essentially dangerous. While international status affords a certain level of privilege, including relative freedom of movement, scores of activists have been injured by the IOF while working in the region. International activists are frequently confronted with beatings, rubber-coated metal bullets, stun grenades, tear gas, chemical agents, illegal toxic and radioactive weapons, detention, arrest and deportation. Citizens from Japan, the UK, Australia, Ireland and the United States (to name only a few) have been seriously wounded by live ammunition fired by the IOF, while two within the ISM alone (UK,US) have been intentionally assassinated by the Israeli military. As such, it is imperative not to overestimate the safety level afforded by international status.

  Requirements

  Product Philosophy:

  RJI is not a typical news agency in respect to adhering to the norms and practices of mainstream news media. It is not our intent to be first on scene with the gruesome pictures and a body count to be premiered by the highest bidder. In this realm, news gets old fast, and old news is no news. RJI will not have television broadcast ability in its preliminary stages. (These partnerships will develop for freelance revenue opportunities with organizations equipped locally to broadcast on local, regional and international levels.) Rather, our initial focus will be on the production of ‘evergreen’ feature packages (for print and video broadcasts) not bound so restrictively by distribution time constraints. The focus will be on issue analysis, which contributes greater overall contextualization of conflict and its mechanisms. We are not attempting to duplicate the traditional corporate broadcast model; we are looking deeper. In the second-by-second world of news reporting, our approach affords a relatively longer production cycle. The development of broadcast capabilities in lieu of strategic partnerships that offer such opportunities is an issue of long term development, company sustainability and higher return on investment. Audio newsreel packages for radio and Internet broadcasts are more easily and quickly produced, and will naturally be less bound by time restraints. As such, audio newsreel packages containing time-sensitive material can be produced and will contribute to a more comprehensive and well-rounded product line.

  Participating Schools

  The Research Journalism Initiative is dedicated to changing the way students learn about socio-economic, religious and geopolitical conflict by providing students a direct link to regions of conflict abroad. Using non-violent human rights activism, RJI teams living in the Middle East, Latin America, and Europe gain access to the lives of the communities they seek to learn from. Students then speak directly to kids their own age abroad via live, Internet video conferencing. Teachers and students can direct the content of what they choose to learn about by communicating their needs to the RJI activist teams. The experience is interactive, engaging, raw and real, free of the filters and agendas of the mainstream media. Students can explore issues and realities of life in regions of conflict through the eyes of those actually living these experiences. RJI also provides a library of archived information, video and audio content, web logs, reports and resources that students and teachers can access at any time.RJI Personnel

  RJI International

  Production: Client producers will be responsible for post-production of Television Feature Programming and distribution. Production will be guided by the direction and vision of RJI to ensure a consistent style, character and message congruent with RJI’s mission.

  RJI field teams will consist of three activists, including a two-person film crew that will work under an activist/support, tech-operator model. The field office producer will be responsible for content cataloguing, arrangement, duplication and transportation to a safe location for posting to RJI National, as well as collection of supplemental material from associated journalists, agencies and activists, field web publishing, and copy editing.

  The RJI International field editor is responsible for content direction and final edits including due diligence. The field editor is also responsible for networking related to production for local (regional) broadcast markets including television, radio and web broadcasts, and for developing strategic partnerships with incumbent newswire agencies.

  RJI technical operators are responsible for equipment use and field production including videography, sound and photography as well as equipment security, and activist safety, medical, arrest and legal support.

  RJI National

  RJI’s national editor (Stateside) will be responsible for direction and production in association with client producers and web publishers.