The envisioning of the Young Journalists’ project was grounded on the assumption that the media on both sides of the divided island could play a more constructive role towards reconciliation and resolution of the Cyprus problem. A number of peace activists from both sides of Cyprus aspired to make an intervention in the media landscape of the island.  Most of them were also members of the Bicommunal Conflict Ewsolution Trainers Group,which in the years between 1994-1997 used Interactive Management (now known as Structured Democratic Dialogue) to identify the root obstacles towards a solution and explore options for their resolution. During these years, they came up with detailed influencemaps which served their later peace work. The interested scholar may download the “Report of Design Workshops held during Fall 1994 and Spring of 1995 with Conflict Resolution Trainers and Project Leaders” here. One key finding was that the “Existence of an adversarial culture proliferated by the mass media” was a root cause. In 2002, they collaborated with HasNa  Inc (www.HasNa.org) who agreed to fund and implement the Young Journalists Project. The project gave ten young journalists from Cyprus the opportunity to visit Washington, DC for training that focused on ethics in reporting, objectivity in analyzing statistical information and discussions on moving away from biased reporting methods. Cypriots from both sides of the island were able to interact with each other during the program and develop a more objective journalistic stance on the issue of bi-communality. The aim of the program was not only to facilitate the creation of acqaintenances and friendships, but also to reach the next generation of journalists on the island and provide them with the tools to broaden the perspective of their respective communities, with the vision to create a more balanced journalism on the island of Cyprus.

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