Media and Conflict: An Assessment of the Evidence

This Evidence Briefing paper from the Justice and Security Research Programme (JSRP) - a Department of International Development (DFID)-funded international research consortium based at the London School of Economics (LSE) and Political Science - summarises a systematic evidence review of literature on media and conflict that was conducted in 2012.  A team of researchers at LSE reviewed and filtered the relevant literature and supplemented this with work recommended by experts in the field.  The JSRP developed a grading sheet to assess the literature pool according to a uniform set of criteria based on the level and quality of empirical data and the quality of analysis.  The JSRP worked with DFID to produce a summary briefing paper "Media and Conflict: an assessment of the evidence"  whilst lead authors, Emrys Schoemaker and Nicole Stremlau, developed other aspects of the systematic review into a journal article for Progress in Development Studies where the article is scheduled for publication in 2014.

Researchers scanned journals and filtered papers for review, supplemented by those recommended by experts in the field. "Evidence was then graded according to a uniform set of criteria, assessing the level and quality of empirical data and the quality of analysis." The document maps evidence and outlines themes.

Questions examined include:

1. Can the media influence and promote peaceful or violent behaviours?
2. Is there a correlation between free press and economic development?
3. Does public information/free press promote peace and democracy?
4. Can media and technology promote good governance and act as a liberating force?

Key findings include the following:

• "The evidence suggests the need for caution when planning interventions using media and technology for political change.
• Interventions using media and technology in fragile and conflict affected situations should be viewed as innovative rather than tried and tested.
• The media appears to play a different role in the developing world than is often assumed, and local realities are insufficiently explored and understood.
• Rigorous evaluations should be a key component of future media interventions."

Research gaps include a need for the following:

• "More local level empirical data to gather evidence of how media impacts affected communities.
• Larger, quantitative, comparative studies, mapping change over longer periods of time.
• Research in new contexts and countries.
• Greater examination of wider contextual factors, and the interplay between different forms of media and data.
• More transparent methodologies, particularly in qualitative research.
• More explicit theories of change, outlining assumptions.
• Evidence on the role that media and technology play in hybrid spaces of governance - where formal and informal governance interact and both play key roles.
• More engagement with existing academic literature; including literature from the media studies field around the role media plays in influencing behaviour, and the well - established body of literature on ICTs [information and communication technologies] in development."

Click here to access this 3-page briefing in PDF format.