Media in Peacebuilding
- NINT 5256 - Media in Peacebuilding (Fall 2008)
Why is media important to conflict prevention and post-conflict capacity and nation building? This course will address the role of media, both in the fomenting of violent conflict and the ways in which it may be used to facilitate its resolution. It will explain what is meant by the terms "peacebuilding/nation building/capacity building" broadly in a post-conflict environment and go in depth with respect to the role of the United Nations in such activities (DPKO and DPI, the new Peacebuilding Commission), and to the role of other important actors such as the EU, OSCE, NATO and other NGOs. It will address the challenges to public information in a post-conflict society, at an individual level - that is, to joe public who either distrusts the media as government propaganda or is a believing supporter of its incendiary messages - and at an institutional level - where media institutions must either be rebuilt after conflict or recreated virtually from scratch. The course will discuss the role of public information produced and disseminated by international actors; and the ways in which indigenous public broadcasters and "independent" media are built and supported. The instructors will discuss the tension between "censorship" and "freedom of expression" in a post-conflict society, and utilize their own experiences working with the media in conflict and post-conflict environments to elucidate various issues.
Concentrations:Conflict and Security, Media and Culture