From Incitement to Violence to Conflict Mitigation

Please join The Elliott School’s International Development Studies Program and Internews, the international media development NGO, for a panel discussion to consider the role of media in conflict:

• How do we know when atrocities are imminent for a country facing conflict?
• Does media have the potential to provide early warning of mass violence?
• Are there media interventions that can work to prevent violence?

Speakers include:

Alison Campbell, Internews Humanitarian Communications Partnership Manager and former Country Director for Burma
Ida Jooste, Internews Country Director for Kenya
Will Ferroggiaro, Internews Project Director – Conflict and Media
Mark Walsh, Internews Country Director for Kyrgyzstan
Discussant: Matthew Levinger, Visiting Professor of International Affairs, The Elliott School

Participant Biographies:

Alison Campbell is the former Internews Country Director for Burma. With a background in both journalism and humanitarian relief, she specializes in the design and troubleshooting of media projects in conflict, post-conflict, peace-building and other transitional environments. Alison has worked in various capacities for Internews over the last 15 years including as Regional Manager for Africa Programs overseeing projects in Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and South Sudan. She established the Internews program at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in 1998.

Will Ferroggiaro directs Internews’ Project on Conflict and Media, which focuses on developing guidance for USAID on the role of media in inciting or mitigating violence. Ferroggiaro has worked for nearly twenty years in policy analysis, training and communications in the areas of national security and freedom of expression.

Ida Jooste is the Country Director for Internews Kenya, a documentary maker, multiple award winning television, radio and print journalist, and news and media development manager. As journalist, Ms. Jooste’s work spanned African politics, social development, science and health journalism, elections programming and investigative documentary production. In addition to her work at Internews, she has played a leading role in political and social development journalism and news management for the past 23 years, in various capacities at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), as a journalism coach, and university guest lecturer.

Matthew Levinger is Visiting Professor of International Affairs and Director of the National Security Studies Program, an executive education program serving the U.S. Department of Defense and other federal agencies. Before joining GW, he was Senior Program Officer at the United States Institute of Peace, where he developed and taught executive education programs on international conflict analysis and prevention for foreign policy professionals from the United States and overseas. From 2005 to 2007, Levinger was Founding Director of the Academy for Genocide Prevention at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 2003-2004, he was a William C. Foster Fellow at the U.S. Department of State. Levinger is the author of Enlightened Nationalism: The Transformation of Prussian Political Culture, 1806-1848 (Oxford, 2000) and Conflict Analysis: Understanding Causes, Unlocking Solutions (U.S. Institute of Peace Press, 2013), and co-author of The Revolutionary Era, 1789-1850 (Norton, 2002).

Mark Walsh is Internews Deputy Regional Director for Central Asia and Country Director for Kyrgyzstan. He has over 20 years of project management and media expertise in the Former Soviet Union and Asia including eight years with Doctors Without Borders in conflict, transitional, and post-conflict environments.