Curbing Incitement – Strategies and Lessons Learned

Presentation overview

1. Media in conflict through history1. Media in conflict through history

2. Media: possibilities and limitations2. Media: possibilities and limitations

3. Peacebuilding media3. Peacebuilding media

4. Case Studies 4. Case Studies

Vietnam era

Inter-ethnic conflicts

IRAQ I & II

Media work in concord with social institutions/policy

WWI

WWII

Spanish American war

Providing PicturesDirect effects

Propaganda

“Watchdog” media

Propaganda revisited

Media embedding

Media in violent conflict

AudienceAudience

Selectively chooses media based on their demographics and needs

Inclined to listen to information corresponding to their beliefs

Audiences are impacted by other people – opinion leaders

Increased need for information – makes audience more susceptible to the media impact

Acquired information does not automatically change behavior

EnvironmentEnvironment MessagesMessages

Media effects during conflict

a) messages in support of own cause and b) messages against opponent’s cause

Considerable message effects – not as direct as “hypodermic needle”

Messages increase cognitive knowledge, influence attitudes, shape perceptions of reality, provide models for behavior

Media message set agenda: conflict messages – conflict agenda

Uncertainty, insecurity, time of stress – media consumption increases

Homogenous media environment silences minority opinion

Environment with homogenous media content cultivates beliefs more consistently

Conflict environment increases dependency and the impact of media

“RTLM did not independently cause the violence, but rather served as one of many instruments which this [MRND and government] elite used to facilitate the killing once it was

underway. RTLM engaged in incitement to genocide during this period, however, there is no compelling evidence to

suggest that its broadcasts caused a significant number of random individuals to partake in the killing.” Kirschke

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 mediaPeacebuilding media

Peace/Conflict Sensitive Journalism

and information programming

Social marketing

in support of peacePeacebuilding Entertainment

Regulation of media

inciting conflict

Peacebuilding mediaPeacebuilding media

Peace/Conflict Sensitive Journalism

and information programming

Social marketing

in support of peacePeacebuilding Entertainment

Regulation of media

inciting conflict

Hard media interventionHard media intervention

Soft media interventionSoft media intervention

Regulation of Conflict media: Regulation of Conflict media: Case StudiesCase Studies

Regulative Guidelines & Monitoring: Regulative Guidelines & Monitoring:

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”

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”

CambodiaCambodia Bosnia & Kosovo Bosnia & Kosovo IraqIraq

Regulation of Conflict media: Regulation of Conflict media: Case StudiesCase Studies

Suppressing hate speech:Suppressing hate speech:

Rwanda Rwanda ColumbiaColumbia Kosovo Kosovo

Restrictive Restrictive Prescriptive Prescriptive Sanctioning Sanctioning

Regulation of Conflict media: Regulation of Conflict media: Case StudiesCase Studies

Regulation by proxy:Regulation by proxy:

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

USAUSAUSAUSA

Regulation of Conflict media: Regulation of Conflict media: Case StudiesCase Studies

Enforcing the regulation:Enforcing the regulation:

Kosovo: Closing Dita newspaperKosovo: Closing Dita newspaper

Bosnia: Capturing the transmitter Bosnia: Capturing the transmitter

Iraq: Closing Al-Hawza newspaper Iraq: Closing Al-Hawza 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 JournalismTraditional 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