Journalist David Blevins to Discuss Peace Process in Northern Ireland
Blevins has an undergraduate Diploma in Journalism, a post-graduate Degree in Theology and a keen interest in the reporting of faith issues, particularly in places where religion has been an element of conflict.
On October 21 2015, David Blevins, Ireland Correspondent for Sky News, will speak on the role of the media in Northern Ireland’s peace process at New York City’s McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute (MPJI).
A reporter with the London-based rolling news network for 15 years, Blevins grew up in Northern Ireland during the conflict and witnessed first-hand the region’s inspirational journey from war to peace. Blevins reported the brokering of the historic Good Friday Agreement and was nominated the Royal Television Society Award for his coverage of the Omagh bombing, in which 29 people were killed.
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Naming his talk Making “Hope and History Rhyme”: Reporting the Northern Ireland Peace Process, Blevins says, “Professionally, I’ve reported the journey from history of conflict to hope of peace and how the political process brought those two things together… made them rhyme, so to speak. Personally, my history was journalism, my hope was my faith (and theology) and ultimately, I’ve been able to make those rhyme too!”
Blevins has an undergraduate Diploma in Journalism, a post-graduate Degree in Theology and a keen interest in the reporting of faith issues, particularly in places where religion has been an element of conflict.
In conjunction with a week-long gathering of global journalists at MPJI, this lecture expounding Northern Ireland’s tricky peace process remains relevant to many top news stories today.
“Warfare and strife has proved a fixture of the 21st Century in parts of Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the Americas and beyond. And tensions over borders and nation states abound in Spain, the UK and the former Soviet Union. It’s not easy to cover these stories as journalists,” says Paul Glader, director of MPJI at The King’s College. “David Blevins is a journalist who has lived through and reported on such wars and tensions in his homeland. His sharing about that process gives us a perspective on covering current conflicts in the world.”
Sign up for this free talk at The King’s College, City Room, 12pm here.