USIPeace Briefing: Media, Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding: Mapping the Edges

From the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) website:
"On June 25–26, 2008, USIP... convened... media and conflict experts to review a comprehensive strategic framework to aid in the design of practical peacebuilding media. The framework was developed and presented by Vlado Bratic, Ian Larsen and Lisa Schirch in collaboration with USIP. While the framework still requires further development, the experts agreed on many of its propositions. This USIPeace Briefing contains their significant points of agreement but also raises points of debate or ambiguity, all of which are critical considerations when planning a media project."

The document contains the following topics:

* Media, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding - "...Recognizing the media’s reach is but a first step in harnessing its power as a potential peacebuilder..."


* Strategic framework for peacebuilding media - "Thesis 1 states that a media project’s impact is proportional to the number of media strategies it uses. Maximum media impact on conflict prevention and peacebuilding will occur when all five of the following strategies are employed:

1. Conflict-sensitive and peace journalism
2. Peace-promoting citizen media
3. Peace-promoting entertainment media
4. Advertising or social marketing for conflict prevention and peacebuilding
5. Media regulation to prevent incitement of violence...

Thesis 2 proposes that a media project's impact corresponds with its integration into conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts. Media will have maximum impact when it is fully integrated into the overall conflict management strategy, which will use media to assist in areas such as enabling refugee return, promoting human rights, addressing past abuses, etc."

* Conflict-sensitive and peace journalism - "Basic journalism, teaching accurate, impartial and responsible reporting training, remains a core component of media development. Conflict-sensitive journalism goes beyond this by encouraging journalists to be aware of what effects their language and reporting can have on the conflict—as well as how they may become victims of the violence."


* Peace-promoting citizen media - "The experts agreed that citizen media largely falls into two sub-categories: community media and user-generated content emerging from new technologies. Community media operates on a local level through traditional platforms such as television, radio and print....User-generated new tech media begins with more independent, individualistic production of blogs, text messages, wikis, etc., but take their power from the social networking capabilities of these new technologies....The experts group observed that the power of citizen media lies in its grassroots, bottom-up authenticity and spontaneity. Leveraging its potential therefore will come less from trying to "organize it" than from showing citizens, through training, how to use new tech media or how to counter hate media when it arises in community outlets."


* Social Marketing - entertainment, advertising, and use of other typically "commercial" media strategies to promote peace - "This media leverages many distribution channels and formats, ranging from soap operas to public service announcements (PSAs), to street theater and concerts. Its dramatic, often fictional formats offer the advantage of being able to tackle contentious and divisive issues that might be too inflammatory to discuss in "real" life.... PSAs, on the other hand, such as those produced to "sell" the Good Friday Peace agreement in Northern Ireland ("It's Your Decision") and the "Respect" campaign in Bosnia-Herzegovina in support of new property rights laws send more explicit messages and aim to have a more direct effect on the conflict."


* Media regulation to prevent incitement of violence - "Media regulation, encompassing both codes of conduct and ownership issues, is the necessary "rule of law" component of every comprehensive media development project. While the previously discussed strategies create and encourage open media through production, regulation is a parallel effort to ensure that what is produced and aired is not inflammatory or contrary to the public's interest in peace. When done well, the peacebuilding benefits are substantial."


* Integration into overall conflict prevention and peacebuilding strategy - "An assessment of the broader media and conflict management environment was recommended at the outset of any media initiative to ensure optimal use of media dollars and avoid duplication of effort. A comprehensive assessment will also permit the program's developers to design appropriate evaluation criteria and protocols."


* Conclusion - "The framework on media and peacebuilding considered by the experts group received strong endorsement and a number of recommendations, including:

1. Increased attention to participatory, user-generated citizen media. Although there was widespread agreement on the primacy of traditional media (TV, radio, print) in today's conflict zones, digital content and new technologies have changed the media landscape so profoundly that the group recommended more expansive consideration within the framework.
2. Increased attention to impact evaluation. Participants observed the importance of such evaluation to drive forward the use of media in public health campaigns and recommended that the framework draw upon lessons learned in that field.
3. Increased consideration to "incentives" in recognition of market forces governing both distribution outlets and production. "If it bleeds it leads" journalism, reality TV, etc. are functions of these market forces. Any framework for developing more pro-social peacebuilding media must incorporate these realities."