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Curbing Incitement –
Strategies and Lessons Learned
Presentation overview
1. Media in conflict through history
2. Media: possibilities and limitations
3. Peacebuilding media
4. Case Studies
Media in violent conflict
Spanish
American
war
Providing Pictures
Direct effects
Propaganda
WWI
WWII
Vietnam
era
Interethnic
conflicts
IRAQ I & II
“Watchdog” media
Propaganda revisited
Media embedding
Media work in concord with social institutions/policy
Media effects during conflict
Audience
Environment
Messages
“RTLM
did not independently
cause the violence,
a) messages inbut
supportrather
of
Selectively chooses media based
Uncertainty, insecurity, time of
own cause and b) messages
on their demographics and needs
– media consumption
served
as one of many stress
instruments
which
thisopponent’s
[MRND
against
cause and
increases
Inclined to listenelite
to information
government]
used to facilitate the killing
oncemessage
it was
Considerable
effects
corresponding to their beliefs
Conflict environment increases
– not as direct as “hypodermic
underway. RTLM engageddependency
in incitement
during
and the impact ofto genocide
needle”
media
Acquired information does not
increase cognitive
this period,
evidence
to
automaticallyhowever,
change behavior there is no compellingMessages
knowledge,
influence
attitudes,
Homogenous media environment
shape perceptions
of reality,
suggest
that
its
broadcasts
caused
a significant
number
of
silences
minority opinion
Increased need for information –
provide
models
for
behavior
makes audience more susceptible
random
toEnvironment
partake
in the killing.” Kirschke
to the mediaindividuals
impact
with homogenous
Audiences are impacted by
other people – opinion leaders
media content cultivates beliefs
more consistently
Media message set agenda:
conflict messages – conflict
agenda
Limitations: What media cannot do
 During violence media is a
casualty of conflict like other
social institution and processes
 More likely to perpetuate conflict than peace
 The evidence for media impact countering
dominant policy (conflict) is dubious
 Forces fueling the conflict better organized and
utilize media for their goals
 Unlikely to deliver significant change unless a
wider policy accompanies it in the same direction
Peacebuilding media
Peacebuilding media
Soft media intervention
Hard media intervention
Regulation of Conflict media:
Case Studies
Regulative Guidelines & Monitoring:
Cambodia
Bosnia & Kosovo
Iraq
Avoiding inflammatory language – “which encourages discrimination,
prejudice, or hatred, or which encourages violence, or contributes to the
creation of a climate in violence can occur”
Regulation of Conflict media:
Case Studies
Suppressing hate speech:
Rwanda
Restrictive
Columbia
Prescriptive
Kosovo
Sanctioning
Regulation of Conflict media:
Case Studies
Regulation by proxy:
USA
Northern
Ireland
Regulation of Conflict media:
Case Studies
Enforcing the regulation:
Bosnia: Capturing the transmitter
Iraq: Closing Al-Hawza newspaper
Kosovo: Closing Dita newspaper
Lessons Learned
• Violent conflict more conducive to hate speech &
propaganda than peacebuilding messages
• Peacebuilding media - multilayered approach:
- information, entertainment, marketing …
• Curbing hate speech: regulation, monitoring &
enforcement
Example: Conflict sensitive Journalism
Traditional reporting
• Skopje, UPI — Peace talks aimed at ending the conflict in Macedonia lay in ruins
last night after the massacre of eight policemen by Albanian rebels who mutilated
the bodies. The atrocity took place at the mountain village of Vecje, where a police
patrol was attacked with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, said a
spokesman. Six other men were wounded and three vehicles destroyed. The bodies
were cut with knives after they died, he said, and one man’s head had been
smashed in. The attack was believed to be the work of the National Liberal Army
terrorists from the hills near Tetevo. Ali Ahmeti, a political leader of the NLA, said
that his men may have fired “in self-defence.”…
Conflict sensitive reporting
• Skopje, UPI — There was condemnation across the political spectrum in
Macedonia after a police patrol suffered the loss of eight men. Both the main
parties representing the country’s minority Albanians distanced themselves from
the killings, believed to be the work of the self-styled National Liberation Army. Ali
Ahmeti, a political leader of the NLA, denied that his men had attacked the patrol,
saying they may have fired “in self-defence”. But the Macedonian government said
it had done nothing to provoke the machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades
which destroyed three trucks. A spokesman added that the bodies appeared to have
been cut with knives and one man’s skull caved in …
Example: peacebuilding entertainment
• Layalina video
Example: Social Marketing for Peace