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Associate Professor and Director Jake Lynch

Jake Lynch

PhD (City University, London)

Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies

Secretary General, International Peace Research Association

Room 120 Mackie Building K01
phone: +61 2 9351 5440
fax: +61 2 9660 0862
email:

Biography

Associate Professor Jake Lynch, PhD (City University, London) is Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) at the University of Sydney, an Executive Member of the Sydney Peace Foundation and newly elected Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association, having hosted its Sydney conference in July 2010.

Jake has spent the past 13 years researching, developing, teaching and training in peace journalism – and practising it, as an experienced international reporter in television and newspapers. He was an on-air presenter, anchoring over a thousand half-hour news bulletins for BBC World TV. Before that, he was the Sydney Correspondent for the London Independent newspaper, and a Political Correspondent for Sky News.

Since 1999 up to the present day, Jake has led training workshops in peace journalism for professional editors and reporters, and in media skills for peace workers, in many countries including Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Cyprus, Armenia, Georgia, Norway and the UK. Clients have included the British Council, Council of Europe, DANIDA, GTZ, SIDA, NORAD, the Olof Palme Memorial Fund and the Australian Commonwealth government.

Publications include several books and many book chapters and refereed articles on peace and peace journalism. In 2008, Jake was guest editor of a special edition of the Routledge scholarly journal, Global Change, Peace and Security, with contributions based on presentations to a major conference he organized at the University of Sydney.

He is also the author of several think-tank reports and innumerable articles in public media including the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian and the Canberra Times. He writes a column, combining commentary on world affairs with media analysis and literacy issues, for the TRANSCEND Media Service website. He is a regular contributor to radio and television. Jake has senior production credits on three documentary films, including the multi-award winning Soldiers of Peace, narrated by the Hollywood actor, Michael Douglas.

In 2009, he won a prestigious competitive grant, worth half a million dollars, from the Australian Research Council, to investigate prospects for devising a Global Standard for reporting conflict, in partnership with the International Federation of Journalists and the aid agency, Act for Peace.


Click here for more information about Peace Journalism.

Teaching interests

Jake contributes teaching to a broad cross-section of study modules, at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate level, in the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney. Among the units Jake coordinates:

  • Key Issues in Peace and Conflict Studies (core unit);
  • Human Rights, Peace and Justice;
  • Political Economy of Conflict and Peace;
  • Conflict-resolving Media.

The last of these is now being split into two, with a second unit, Information Interventions in Conflict, now due to be offered in 2011, coordinated by Jake with colleagues from the Department of Media and Communications and contributions from practitioners in related fields.

Among the units to which Jake has contributed teaching:

  • Nonviolence and social change;
  • The UN and International Conflict Resolution;
  • Peace and the Environment;
  • Religion, War and Peace;
  • Dissertation Part 1;
  • History and Politics of War and Peace (Undergraduate).

Academic career and qualifications

2010: Elected Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association.
2009-2012: Chief Investigator, Australian Research Council Linkage Project, A Global Standard for Reporting Conflict.
2008-2010: Chair of Organising Committee, International Peace Research Association biennial conference, Sydney 2010.
2009: Appointed to Executive Committee of the Sydney Peace Foundation.
2007: PhD, City University, London.
2007-2008: Convener of Peace Journalism Commission, International Peace Research Association.
2006: Appointed Associate Professor and Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney.
2005-2006: Co-Chief Investigator, Peace Journalism international research project, Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research.
2005: Appointed to the International Advisory Council of the Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research.
2002-present: Part time course coordinator, Transcend Peace University.
2002-2006: Casual lecturer and supervisor, universities of Sydney and Queensland, Australia; Cardiff, UK; Orebro, Sweden; Oslo University College, Norway and European Peace University, Stadtschlaining, Austria.
1989: Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism Studies (Distinction), Cardiff University.
1988: BA English (First Class Honours), Cardiff University.

Invited keynote lectures

Point of Peace (Nobel Peace Laureates conference), Stavanger, 2008;
Communication is Peace (World Association for Christian Communication), Cape Town, 2008;
‘Promoting Dissent, Reviving Democracy’, Sydney Peace Foundation Tenth Anniversary Lecture, Sydney, 2007;
International Peace Research Association, global conference, Calgary, 2006.

Journalism Career (highlights)

2001-2006: On-screen presenter (anchor) and reporter, BBC Television News, London.
1997-8 and 1999-2001: Political Correspondent, Sky News, London.
1998-1999: Sydney Correspondent, London Independent.
2001-2005: Director, Reporting the World, journalism think-tank, London (funding from Department for International Development, UK Government).
1999-present: Freelance professional trainer in peace journalism and in media skills for peace NGOs.

Books

2010: Reporting Conflict: New Directions in Peace Journalism, University of Queensland Press, with Johan Galtung.
2008: Debates in Peace Journalism, Sydney University Press, Sydney.
2006: Reporteando Conflictos, Montiel & Soriano Editores, Mexico City, with Johan Galtung and Annabel McGoldrick.
2005: Peace Journalism, with Annabel McGoldrick, Hawthorn Press, Stroud.
2002: Reporting the World, Conflict and Peace Forums, Taplow.

Book chapters

2010: ‘Propaganda, War, Peace and the Media’ in Richard Keeble, John Tulloch and Florian Zollmann (eds), Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution. London: Peter Lang Inc.
2010: ‘A Global Standard for Reporting Conflict and Peace’ (with Annabel McGoldrick) in Richard Keeble, John Tulloch and Florian Zollmann (eds), Peace Journalism, War and Conflict Resolution. London: Peter Lang Inc.
2010: ‘Peace Journalism’, in Stuart Allan (ed), Routledge Companion to News and Journalism Studies, Routledge, Oxford.
2010: ‘How to improve reporting of the war in Afghanistan: feminize it!’, with Annabel McGoldrick and Indra Adnan, in John Mair and Richard Keeble (eds), Afghanistan, War and the Media: Deadlines and Frontlines, Bury St Edmunds: Arima Publishers.
2010: ‘The “Asia Pacific”: cooperation or a new cold war?’ in (eds) Susan Wareham and Michelle Fahy, Options 2030, Medical Action to Prevent War, Melbourne.
2010: ‘Peace journalism: variations on a theme by Johan Galtung’, in Jorgen Johansen (ed), Experiments with Peace: a Festschrift for Johan Galtung, Transcend University Press (in press).
2009: ‘Coalition of the unwilling: the phenomenology and political economy of US militarism’, in Lynda Blanchard and Leah Chan (eds) Ending War, Building Peace, Sydney University Press, Sydney.
2009: ‘International Law and Israel’s Assault on Gaza’ in Luc Reychler, Julianne Funk Deckard and Kevin HR Villanueva (eds), Building Sustainable Futures: Enacting Peace and Development, University of Deusto Press, Bilbao.
2008: ‘Peace Journalism and its discontents’, in Wilhelm Kempf (ed) The Peace Journalism Controversy, Regener, Berlin.
2007: ‘Peace Journalism’, with Annabel McGoldrick, in Johan Galtung and Charles Webel (eds), Routledge Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies, Routledge, Oxford.
2007: ‘A course in Peace Journalism’, in Dov Shinar and Wilhelm Kempf (eds) Peace Journalism – The State of the Art, Regener, Berlin.
2005: ‘Peace Journalism - A Global Dialog for Democracy and Democratic Media’, with Annabel McGoldrick, in Robert A Hackett and Yuezhi Zhao (eds), Democratizing Global Media, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham.
2004: ‘Reporting the World: an ethical challenge to international news’ in Media in Security and Governance, editor Maria Caparini, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden.
2004: ‘Peace Journalism in Indonesia’, with Annabel McGoldrick, in Agents of Peace – Public Communication and Conflict Resolution in an Asian Setting, editors Thomas Hanitzsch, Martin Loffelholz and Ronny Mustamu, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Jakarta.
2004: ‘Reporting the World’ in International News in the 21st Century editors Chris Paterson and Annabelle Sreberny, John Libbey, Eastleigh.
2003: ‘Tips for Covering Conflict’, with Annabel McGoldrick, in Media Wars – News at a time of terror, editor Danny Schechter, Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham.
2000: The Media in Conflicts – Accomplices or Mediators? Chapter by Jake Lynch, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Berlin.
1999: The Kosovo News & Propaganda War, Chapter by Jake Lynch, International Press Institute, Vienna.

Think-tank reports

2010: Becoming Media-Savvy – a guide for social movements, with Annabel McGoldrick, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney.
2007: Promoting Dissent, Reviving Democracy, Sydney Peace Foundation Tenth Anniversary Lecture, Occasional Paper 1/2007, CPACS, University of Sydney.
2007: Blundering In – the Australia-Indonesia security treaty and the humanitarian crisis in West Papua, with Jim Elmslie and Peter King, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Sydney.
2001: Jurnalisme Damai – Bagaimana Melakukannya?, with Annabel McGoldrick, British Council, Jakarta (Bahasa Indonesia version of Peace Journalism: How to do it?).
2001: Reporting the World concept document, Conflict & Peace Forums.
1999: PJO 2 – What Are Journalists For? Conflict & Peace Forums.
1998: The Peace Journalism Option, Conflict & Peace Forums.

Articles in refereed journals

2010: ‘Defending John Pilger’s journalism on Israel and Palestine’, Ethical Space, Autumn edition.
2008: ‘Active and passive peace journalism in reporting of the ‘War on Terrorism’ in The Philippines’, Peace and Policy, vol 13.
2008: ‘Modernisation or participatory development: the emerging divide in journalist training for conflict-affected societies’, Global Change, Peace and Security, vol 20 no 3.
2008: ‘What works – and what doesn’t. New directions in conflict intervention’, Global Change, Peace and Security, vol 20 no 3.
2007: ‘Peace Journalism and its discontents’, Conflict and Communication Online, vol 6 no 2.
2007: ‘A reply to the replies’, Conflict and Communication Online, vol 6 no 2.
2006: ‘War and Peace Journalism in the Holy Land’ Social Alternatives, vol 24 no 1.
2006: ‘What’s so great about Peace Journalism?’, Global Media Journal, Spring edition.
2005: ‘War and Peace Journalism in the Holy Land’ Social Alternatives, vol 24 no 1.
2004: ‘Reporting Iraq – what went right? What went wrong’ in Mediactive Issue 3, Mediawar editor Anita Biressi, Barefoot Publications, London.
2002: Conflict, Security & Development Group Bulletin, King’s College, London, Issue Number 14: ‘Journalist Ethics and Reporting Terrorism’.

Book reviews in scholarly journals

2009: Virtuous War by James Der Derian (for War and the Media Network).
2009: The Responsibility to Protect by Alex Bellamy (for the Australian Journal of International Affairs).
2009: The Responsibility to Protect by Gareth Evans (for the Australian Journal of Political Science).
2009: Stealth Conflicts by Virgil Hawkins (for the Journal of Peace Education)
2007: Language Wars by Jeff Lewis (for Social Semiotics).

Documentary films

2008: (credited as Script Development and Peace Consultant and co-camera operator) Soldiers of Peace, One Tree Films, directed by Tim Wise and narrated by Michael Douglas, and winner of five international film festival awards: ‘The World Shift’ Award at Cannes Film Festival 2009; Golden Ace Award at Las Vegas International Film Festival 2009; Best Documentary, Monaco International Film Festival 2008; ‘Best Political Documentary’ and ‘Best Cinematography for a Documentary’, Aon Film Festival, Pasadena, 2009.
2007: Peace Journalism in the Philippines, by Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick, Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, University of Technology, Sydney.
2004: News from the Holy Land - Peace Journalism, theory and practice 50 mins with 40 pp teaching notes, by Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick, Hawthorn Press, Stroud, UK and Films for the Humanities, Princeton, NJ.

Contributions to Public Media

2011
  1. September 15, An Inquiry Should Get The Facts Straight
  2. August 4, Crikey, War Crimes in Sri Lanka and Political Options for Australia
  3. July 20, New Matilda, What Did The Gaza Flotilla Achieve?
  4. May 7, Sydney Morning Herald News Review, Answer to the Question: should local councils get involved in foreign policy?
  5. April 7, Crikey, Chewing up the Greens over BDS
  6. April 3 Galus Australis, Time to shine a light on Israel and Palestine
  7. March 21, News Goo, Vodcast offering critical analysis of Australian TV news and current affairs, with guests John Pilger, Hannah Middleton and Antony Loewenstein, in partnership with New Matilda
  8. March 16, New Matilda, Arbib Keeps on Keeping On
  9. February 14, New Matilda, Home Truths About Rudd
  10. February 8, New Matilda, Toeing the Lobby Line
2010
  1. October, The Walkley, ‘Beyond Dualism’
  2. October, Australian letter on Sri Lanka
  3. September, PeaceWrites 2/2010, ‘Responses to the IPRA conference’
  4. September, Crikey, ‘What Australia can learn from Sri Lanka about security’
  5. August, Generation C magazine, ‘What is Peace Journalism?’
  6. July, ‘Communicating Peace’, in IPRA conference brochure
  7. July, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘The world’s first demonstration for peace journalism’
  8. May, New Matilda, ‘The ABC self-censors over Israel’
  9. May, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Peace research and peace activism’
  10. May, Crikey ‘Memo, Cockroach Kev: show some leadership on asylum’
  11. May, Australian Associated Press, Sri Lanka press release, picked up by Sydney Morning Herald, Seven, NineMSN, SBS, ABC
  12. April, Australian Development Gateway, ‘Questions and answers on media, conflict and fragility’
  13. April, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Blatant Victimisation’
  14. April, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Apartheid is alive and well’
  15. April, PeaceWrites 1/2010, ‘IPRA: Communicating Peace to the world’
  16. April, Letter in Australian, on conditions in Sri Lanka
  17. March, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘The war on terrorism and the struggle for context’
  18. March, Media Development 2010/1 (quarterly magazine of the World Association for Christian Communication) ‘Feminising reporting of the war in Afghanistan’
  19. February, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Between Iraq and a hard place’
  20. February, Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend book section, review of Civilising Globalisation by David Kinley
  21. January, Sri Lanka campaign, ‘Peace and justice for the Tamils’
2009
  1. December Open Democracy, ‘Sri Lanka: what happens next?’
  2. December, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Agency and intervention’
  3. November, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Back to basics for Palestinian struggle’
  4. November, New Matilda, ‘Our foreign minister can’t handle the truth’
  5. October, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Updates and Progress’
  6. October, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Arguments against the war in Afghanistan: and a pathway to peace’
  7. October, Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Politicide or politic: Gillard and the Gaza muzzle’
  8. October, Crikey, ‘Time to stand up for human rights in Sri Lanka – at last’
  9. September, PeaceWrites 2/2009, ‘A new cultural diversity policy for Australia’
  10. September, New Matilda, ‘Do you ever feel like the walls are closing in’
  11. September, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Who’s being naïve in Afghanistan’
  12. September, New Matilda, ‘Next time, check the facts, Philip’
  13. August, Pressenza international press agency, ‘What goes around, comes around’
  14. August, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Peace journalism for journalists’
  15. August, Pressenza international press agency, ‘Australia’s ABC attempts to justify rise above inflation of military spending’
  16. July, short (seven-minute) film on Peace Convergence for Talisman Sabre ‘war games’
  17. June, Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend book section, ‘Dark dawn’, Review of Plutonium: a history of the world’s most dangerous element, by Jeremy Bernstein and In mortal hands: a cautionary history of the nuclear age, by Stephanie Cooke
  18. June, ABC Unleashed, ‘Up close and spineless’
  19. June Sydney Morning Herald, ‘How America is constantly at war’
  20. June, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘More on the boycott’
  21. May, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Outrage or opposition?’
  22. May, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Civilian populations’
  23. May, Ramallah Online, ‘Why I’m joining the academic boycott of Israel’
  24. May, Online Opinion, ‘Papua’s Plight’
  25. May, Online Opinion, ‘Sri Lanka: reliable accounts’
  26. May, Online Opinion, ‘Humanitarian intervention’
  27. April, PeaceWrites 1/2009, ‘The spread of peace journalism’
  28. April, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘The many and the fugue’
  29. April, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Women’s business?’
  30. March, Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend book section, ‘Two views of the Middle East’, review of Innocent Abroad, by Martin Indyk and Arabian Plights, by Peter Rodgers
  31. March, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘The end of neo-liberalism?’
  32. March, TRANSCEND Media Service, Piercing the Carapace
  33. February, Seikyo Shimbun, ‘Humanitarian competition – a guiding light for our times’
  34. February, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Bringing it home’
  35. February, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘A liberal democracy?’
  36. February, Australian anti-bases campaign coalition, ‘How the special relationship works’
  37. February TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Peace with Justice for Burma’
  38. January, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Symptoms and causes’
  39. January, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Operation cast lead: militarism against human rights and the rule of law’
2008
  1. December, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘Inequality: the new (old) dynamic of conflict’
  2. November, TRANSCEND Media Service, ‘How real is real’
  3. November, Spectrezine, ‘Somalia: Intervention or Complicity?’
  4. October 10, University News magazine, ‘Journalists can give peace a chance’
  5. September, PeaceWrites 2/2008, ‘Review of Invisible Balance of Power, by Sajjad Shaukat’
  6. August, Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Our turn to be heard on arms spending’
  7. August, Australian Options magazine, ‘The Phantom Menace – Labor’s Defence Review a blast from the past’
  8. June, Transnational Foundation for Peace and Futures Research, Sweden, ‘Coalition of the Unwilling’
  9. April, PeaceWrites 1/2008, ‘Coalition of the Unwilling’
  10. January, ABC Unleashed, ‘Questions of Peace in War’
2007
  1. October, Canberra Times, ‘Enough of all the way with USA’
  2. September, PeaceWrites 2/2007, ‘Director’s Review’
  3. September, PeaceWrites 2/2007, ‘Review of The Media and the Rwandan Genocide, edited by Allan Thompson’
  4. August, Canberra Times, ‘West Papua – a missed opportunity for diplomacy’
  5. August, Media Development, ‘Issues in the media coverage of terrorism’
  6. July, Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Hope rings out in voices of protest’
  7. April, PeaceWrites 1/2007, ‘Director’s message’
  8. April Apna Watan Vani, (India) ‘Peace Journalism’
  9. February, Canberra Times, ‘Defining independence is critical to new statehood’
  10. January, Australian, ‘Tread warily with Manila’