Media, Peace and Conflict Studies

This Master of Arts Degree programme in Media, Peace and Conflict Studies is designed to enable participants coming from diverse cultures and academic backgrounds to develop the skills necessary to manage the many complex ways in which media interact with conflict, peace and security. The new thinking about media coverage of conflict on international and local level is also studied and participants are encouraged to develop critical thinking around issues such as objectivity and ethics in news reporting and news gathering. In this programme participants also discuss how free, responsible media can help prevent conflict and build peaceful societies – and in so doing, provide the international community and employers with informed individuals. Key questions are addressed: “can the media be a tool for peace? What kind of role the media can play in an escalating conflict, in preventing any greater explosion, in helping in peacekeeping or peace building situations?�

Participants enrolling in this programme are expected to have some professional experience in media and related matters, because the MA programme provides them with limited practical journalism training.  The courses provide participants with a critical focus on media and its role in the areas of peace, conflict and security; therefore, though a first degree in any discipline is acceptable, a degree in the social sciences or humanities is an advantage.

Few programs in the world are fully dedicated to explore the young and vibrant academic field of Media, Peace and Conflict Studies, like this 42-credit MA programme does. The participants will be exposed to the history and the current realities of the complex and changing world of the media-traditional ones, like newspapers, radio and TV, but also the new media, the internet and the huge impact new technologies are having on the modern media landscape. The courses will look at the theories and the debates about both how media influences conflict and how the media are affected by armed conflict.

The different roles media play in the different phases of a conflict situation; the power of the media to disseminate hatred, as in Rwanda in 1994 or in Yugoslavia in the early 90s; their role in peace building and conflict prevention and their influence in foreign policy; gender and new media in the Arab world: these are other topics that will be addressed in the ten months the participants will devote to the program. An intellectual, academic journey that will end up in the field: the last course of the program—“Working in Conflicting Areas�—will be a highly demanding field-training experience to be carried out in a special security forces location, away from the classroom, when theory and practice should come together.

The required courses are:

• PCS 6000 Foundation Course in Peace and Conflict Studies (3 Credits) –  UPEACE Resident Faculty
• MPS 6010 The Role of the Media in Conflict -Prevention and Peace Building- Introduction (3 Credits) –  Prof. Alvaro Sierra
• MPS 6016 Research Methods (3 Credits) –  Prof. Amr Abdalla and Prof. Alvaro Sierra
• MPS 6022 Ethical Media Production and Peace (3 Credits) –  Prof. Daniela Ingruber
• MPS 6060 Media and Ethno-Cultural Conflict (3 Credits) –  Prof. Clyde Sanger
• ELECTIVES (3 Credits) Participants can choose an elective course offered by the UPEACE Institute  –  UPEACE Resident Faculty and Visiting Faculty
• MPS 6018 Gender and New Media in the Arab World (3 Credits) –  Prof. Mona Eltahawy
• MPS 6030 The Role of the Media in the Rwandan Genocide (2 Credits) –        Prof. Gerald Caplan
• MPS 6025 Communications and Media Strategies  (2 Credits) – Prof. Frances Fortune
• MPS 6040 Media, Terrorism and Insurgency (3 Credits) –  Prof.  Victoria Fontan
• MPS 6014 Working in Conflict Areas – Field Training (3 Credits) –  Prof. Alvaro Sierra
• MPS 6013 Practicum (3 Credits) –  Prof. Alvaro Sierra
• MPS 7000 Graduation Project (8 Credits)

For complete course description, course calendar and information about the professors, please follow the link http://www.upeace.org/academic/calendar/

Participants who have successfully completed the programme will have acquired wide, systematic knowledge of the field of Media, Peace and Conflict Studies, its main theories and debates and the many ways in which media interacts with peace, conflict and security. They will have a firm grasp of the different roles the media play in different conflict situations. They are likely to work in information, communication, post-conflict assistance, or peacebuilding with international organizations such as the UN, national governments, media organizations, or academia. They will also have the skills to work in media monitoring and content analysis as journalists or editors, and designing and implementing media interventions in the field.

Here are some examples of the professional involvement of our MPCS graduates:

• An alumnus from Kenya is working as a Program Coordinator for Pact, Kenya.  Cross Border Areas of Northern Kenya. He coordinates program work in North Western Kenya, South Omo zone of Ethiopia, Eastern Equitoria state in Sudan and North Eastern Uganda.
• A graduate from Canada is a Communications Officer for the United Nations Development Programme in Namibia, Southern Africa.
• A graduate from Cameroon, founded Fonlon Pictures which is a film production house.  He is the managing director.