Impact on Peace and Conflict: What journalists and peacebuilding practitioners need to know about it

The media is increasingly being used in areas of violent conflict as a significant partner in peacebuilding and particularly the implementation of peace agreements. However, the theoretical argument for the media's impact on peace is underdeveloped, the practical projects are vastly scattered, and systematic analysis of such practice is missing.

USIP has commissioned a research project that will result in a book to be published by USIP Press and authored by Vladimir Bratic, Lisa Schirch and Ian Larsen. The book is set to deal with three important issues of today's peacebuilding practice and theory:

Expanding analytical insights and develop common conceptual frameworks and discourse;
Identifying best practices to include in peacebuilding projects;
Enhancing understanding of the most feasible media and peacebuilding projects that deserve funding.

In addition, special emphasis is to be devoted towards development of a metrics tool to be used for measuring the impact of peace-oriented media. To date, there is little agreement on how this can be done. Some groups measure media ratings and others measure attitude change. Yet the field of peacebuilding is developing a wide range of indicators of social capital. We will identify a methodological construct or a set of key "performance" indicators (KPIs) that will constitute the metrics.

Our research has begun to answer some of the most acute questions facing the practice: How can media help prevent violent conflict? Can media contribute to peace in the same way it can contribute to conflict? What are the best media strategies to positively impact violent conflict? What media channels are most effective in impacting audiences? What do journalists need to know about how their work impacts conflict and peace? What do peacebuilding practitioners need to know about how to use the media in their work?

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