Media and Communication in Conflict Prevention and Peace Building

Author's Abstract

The dissertation provides an integrated model for the analysis and design of media interventions in peace-building, conflict transformation and prevention. It offers a model to adapt media interventions to the phases of conflict and another for using content and various genres to move from conflict through reconciliation to conflict transformation. It identifies different areas of intervention as part of international efforts to prevent conflicts and build peace, such as content, media structure, capacity-building and ethics of journalism. The UN [United Nations] Secretariat but also national donors, governments, and international non-governmental organisations are analysed to identify their capacity to use media and communication to support peace. The dissertation shows how media and communication strategies must be based on thorough analysis to target both root and dynamic causes of conflict, and encompass short- and long-term perspectives. Methodologically, the functional approach of this dissertation combines the practical management of conflict with the theoretical understanding of the phenomena of conflict, media and psychological perceptions within the population, combining dynamic and structural conflict prevention.

Chapter 2 draws on conflict resolution, communication and social psychological research to develop a theoretical framework for understanding media and communication as part of peace-building efforts. Chapter 3 analyses the Yugoslav conflict and the Rwandan genocide and shows how public and private media played significant roles in inciting hatred and creating moral panic.

Chapter 4 identifies the possible areas of intervention as media structure, legislation, content, journalists' capacity and ethical standards; the chapter further identifies the possible phases for media intervention as ranging from the distant pre-conflict to the post-conflict transformation of society, as well as different media defined according to their de-escalating values of diversity and impartiality. Chapter 5 develops a model for supporting and designing media content, which is tested through focus group interviews across the countries of former Yugoslavia; the chapter further discusses the role of journalists in conflict reporting. Chapter 6 identifies the fields of structural media intervention, relates them to types of conflicts and prioritises the post-conflict targets as the regulation of content, licensing mechanisms and public service broadcasting. Chapter 7 analyses the UN as a key actor for using media in conflict prevention and peace-building. The chapter concludes that in order to react rapidly with a long-term strategy, the organisation should involve other UN organisations, international donors and media NGOs [non-governmental organisations].

The author argues that the strategies developed for internal conflicts are useful in designing answers also to international conflicts, the fostering of terrorists and use of media and communication in social change.