Manila, Philippines –  True journalists stand for peace, democracy and human rights.

This was the challenge of Julius Mucunguzi, an Ugandan journalist now working as assistant spokesperson for Africa of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Communications and Public Affairs Division, posed to 22 journalists from 15 countries who participated in the 27-day Summer Academy on Media Freedom and Responsibility in Hamburg, Germany.

He cited the crucial role of media in firing up and de-escalating conflict among people, communities as well as states.

Mucunguzi, who was into sensitive conflict reporting when he was working with Uganda’s main newspapers prior to his current post, stressed that journalists could play a meaningful role in resolving conflict.

But, nowadays, most of media outfits – be it print, radio and television present conflict situation as a “soap opera”— overemphasizing differences to fit the story line.

He lamented that stories on peace don’t sell, but war stories sell most. It is unfortunate that some mediamen have become part of the conflict.

In the 1994 Rwanda genocide, the media played a role in fueling the conflict that led to the death of 800,000 people. In December, 2005, the world also saw the role of media and other forms of communication like text messaging in the hostilities between some members of the local Anglo-Australian community and Middle Eastern people at Cronulla Beach in Sydney, Australia.

Mucunguzi cautioned the Summer Academy participants to refrain from being used as “conduits” of parties to or those involved in conflicts.

“Don’t be seen as a conduit of conflict,” he said.

He also warned young journalists to be wary of getting exclusive stories or writing about hate campaign speeches because they might be used by some people whose personal motive is to advance their personal or political interests that would further contribute to the conflict.

“I myself had been used many times,” he said.

While, other media outfits have fueled conflict in their respective communities, some have managed to sow peace and to promote the welfare of marginalized sectors affected by conflicts, Mucunguzi said, citing the Commonwealth Secretariat’s 96-page Civil Paths to Peace report published in 2007.

The Commonwealth Secretariat report noted the joint initiative of the editors of a Catholic nationalist newspaper and a Protestant unionist newspaper just before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Island.

“They asked the readers to ‘Call this number if you say, Yes to Peace.’ The fact that the two main newspapers on opposite sides of the divide ran the same text with the same notice was very powerful. A total of 145,000 calls were made, and with a local population of only 1.5 million people, this amounted to a significant one-in-ten response rate,” the report said.

When covering conflict, Mucunguzi said journalists should not overlook the welfare of vulnerable groups, including women, and children, taking into account the important role of these ‘smaller sources’ in framing our story.

“There should always be a human face” to stories, he said.

Instead of interviewing and writing stories about the bombing victims, journalists tend to go after the authorities investigating the incident as well as top government officials and politicians who have been addicted from media mileage due to personal and political reasons, he said.

“Don’t simply rely on elites for sources,” he said.