Mass Media, Behaviour Change, and Peacebuilding
Bothen, Ariel, et al. 2022. London: Behavioural Insights Team.
This source is a discussion paper published by the Behavioural Insights Team, a UK-based consulting firm that is the direct descendant of a Cabinet Office organisation known as the ‘Nudge Unit’, formed in 2010 to apply behavioural science to government policymaking. The piece focuses specifically on the employment of mass media technology, ranging from the Internet to radio stations, to influence the behaviour of target audiences in contemporary peacebuilding efforts. Mass media can reach individuals more widely than any other tool available to government or civilian organisations and, within the context of peacebuilding, offers an invaluable avenue for the representation and dissemination of stories of marginalised groups. The BIT’s research is centred on the impact of storytelling, a primary way in which people create and exchange meaning’. Contemporary technological advancements now mean that these narratives can be transported into the homes and smartphones of individuals across the world, thereby enabling mass media to serve as a vital bridge between conflicted groups. Equally important, however, is the need to remember that media alone is insufficient to fundamentally alter an individual or group’s core beliefs. This article emphasises that mass media campaigns are not to be considered panacea for all instances of intergroup conflict; the assumption that these interventions are capable of unilaterally altering beliefs is flawed, with behavioural changes generally stemming from modified perceptions of one’s social environment. Efforts to address structural violence in Uganda, for instance, employed edutainment videos regarding domestic abuse to increase community willingness to report incidents to local authorities. Such shifts were not due to changes in beliefs regarding the acceptability of violence against women but, instead, from an understanding that, as shown in the videos, reports of abusive behaviour would inevitably trigger intervention. The source, thus, offers a comprehensive and balanced examination of mass media’s utility as a central component in contemporary and future peacebuilding efforts and urges prudence regarding its capabilities, and shortfalls, that are oftentimes ignored in efforts to confront today’s most pernicious problems.
Link: https://www.bi.team/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/211124_MassMedia_EvidenceReview-1-updated-2.pdf