Open any newspaper, watch any TV channel, and stories of War and Conflict tumble from page and screen…

But can we trust what we read and see? Even when journalists work hard to separate facts from propaganda, how often do they report ‘selected’ or ‘chosen’ facts? Can they be accused of ‘selling’ War, albeit unwittingly?

Some argue that what is needed is a different form of journalism: in this case, Peace Journalism. Among advocates are Professor Jake Lynch, Director of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia; freelance journalist Myriam Francois-Cerrah, who describes herself as ‘a feminist and a Muslim’; and journalist and broadcaster Peter Hitchens.

Edward Canfor-Dumas invites all three to make their case – which also includes a plea to the public to be less in thrall to a celebrity culture – and then puts to them that all forms of journalism put profit and ratings before truth and ethics, and that Peace Journalism can only ever be naive, simplistic, and for the credulous…

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