Handbook to look at coverage of forced displacement



The Colombia group Medios para la Paz (MPP), or “Media for Peace,” is preparing a manual for journalists who cover issues of forced displacement.

The manual is based on a series of workshops in Colombia on the subject. Forced displacement is the abandoning of lands and homes by people or communities, under threat of internal conflict. Colombia’s displaced population is the world’s third-largest.

MPP and its team of instructors are writing the handbook as a tool for journalists, unions, universities or students. The MPP says the manual will be ready in the first quarter of 2005.

MPP has so far conducted 61 information and sensitivity workshops on Colombian armed conflict to improve the quality of information on forced displacement and child combatants. The group offers training and professional support for responsible news coverage.

Details on publication and distribution dates will be available soon on the MPP Web site. MPP, based in Bogotá, is a nonprofit group whose objective is to foster responsible news coverage of war and of peace and negotiation efforts.

For more information (in Spanish): http://www.mediosparalapaz.org/?idcategoria=1776