“Do Media Have the Power to Make Peace?” Drawing from her 25-year-long interest in this question, including from her vantage point as a media and conflict management practitioner and professor advancing the subdiscipline she has coined as, “Peace Communication;” Dr. Yael Warshel answers, “Not Necessarily.” She discusses the evidence that led her to this conclusion. She emphasizes her assessment and evaluation research of Israeli and Palestinian versions of Sesame Street, which tried to manage conflict between Israeli and Palestinian children. She concludes by advocating for the creation of an organization that will partner practitioners and scholars to generate the evidence and evidence-based practice necessary to procure a more conclusive answer to this question. Ultimately that answer, Dr. Warshel says, will instruct us about whether peace media interventions are a waste of money; or alternatively, effective, and when, how, and for whom, their outcomes can be ethically improved.
Dr. Yael Warshel is an award-winning scholar and media and conflict management practitioner who works at the intersection between international media, child, and conflict zones analyses, practice and policy. She specializes in the scholarly subdiscipline she has coined as, “peace communication,” dedicated to assessing and evaluating the efficacy of efforts to use communication (especially media) to build, make, and sustain peace. She critically consults media and political leaders about the effectiveness of such efforts. At Pennsylvania State University, she serves as an Assistant Professor of Telecommunications and Research Associate of the Rock Ethics Institute. She leads a research initiative there about Children, Youth, and Media in International and Global Conflict Zones. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx