Reducing intergroup prejudice and conflict using the media: a field experiment in Rwanda
Paluck, E. L. 2009. Journal of personality and social psychology, 96(3), 574.
This field study utilises explores the use of para-social contact, the use of communications media to build seemingly-intimate personal connections between users and performers, to bring together communities in post-genocide Rwanda. The study involved the creation of a radio-based play in which Tutsi and Hutu characters interacted with one another in a positive manner, with the production then being disseminated to groups from both sides of conflict. It showed that individuals who had been exposed to the plays had a correspondingly positive view of out-group members in comparison to the control group, and the the study highlighted the importance of media narratives in bringing together individuals within fragile post-conflict societies.
Link: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2009-02415-005