Communicating in Conflict

By Zack Baddorf

In conflict and post-conflict environments, international organization staff work and communicate with a variety of stakeholders: governments, militaries, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), media, local nationals, and other audiences. Each of these stakeholders make decisions on, for example, provision of aid, military attacks, political demonstrations, and kidnappings. Effective communication on these issues and others can mean the difference between life and death for hundreds of thousands of people.

Communicators working in challenging environments must be properly trained and prepared prior to their arrival. They also need to know how to protect themselves and their colleagues from physical risk.

This book presents best practices learned by these professionals with decades of experience in the field and provides contemporary case studies of communication in current conflicts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 15, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329556652

Book preview

Communicating in Conflict

communicating

in

conflict

by

Zack Baddorf

Copyright © 2015 by Zack Baddorf

All Rights Reserved

       Published online

www.baddorf.com

Baddorf, Zack.

communicating in conflict – ebook ed.

ISBN 978-1-329-55665-2

Printed in the United States of America via Lulu.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

First Edition

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Qualitative and Quantitative  Research     Methodology

Chapter 1: Protecting People from Attack through Information Security

Chapter 2: Establishing and Maintaining Credibility in Conflict

Chapter 3: Understanding Local Context and Culture in Tough Environments

Chapter 4: Fighting the Fog of War

Recommendations and Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendix

Abstract

This book identifies best practices for communicators working for international organizations in conflict and post-conflict environments and makes recommendations on further research necessary in this field.

In these insecure environments, international organization staff work and communicate with a variety of stakeholders: governments, militaries, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), media, local nationals, and other audiences. These different stakeholders make decisions on, for example, provision of aid, military attacks, political demonstrations, and kidnappings. Effective communication on these issues and others can mean the difference between life and death for hundreds of thousands of people. 

In order to ensure their organizations’ messages are effectively communicated in these sensitive situations, communicators working in these austere environments must be properly trained and prepared prior to their arrival. They also need to know how to protect themselves and their colleagues from physical risk. Yet I discovered no previously conducted research or written work that captures the scope of the challenge or presents best practices that communicators can implement in the field. I also learned that communicators working in these environments want more training and a manual of best practices to help them better complete their jobs.

Working to identify and fill that critical vacuum, I drew from my own extensive experiences in communications in the field and starts an examination of these complex issues. Based on extensive qualitative interviews with professionals who have worked in conflict and post-conflict environments for decades, I present in this book best practices learned by these professionals and provides contemporary case studies of communication in current conflicts. Communicators working for international organizations like the International Rescue Committee, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch (HRW), U.S. Agency of International Development and others can learn from this research and implement these best practices when they deploy to the field.

However, additional research is required to more fully develop and determine best practices for communications professionals working in these tough environments. I provide recommendations on steps to take for future research and training in this area. This community of communications professionals would be well served to build on the basic insights gathered in this book.

Introduction

I’ve worked for more than a decade in conflict and post-conflict environments including in Iraq, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, rebel-held Sri Lanka, Pakistan, rebel-held Burma, Palestine, and elsewhere. I worked internationally for the U.S. military as a civilian and as an enlisted member, for the U.S. Peace Corps, for an INGO doing media development, and for international media outlets. I found a lack of training and preparation by some of these organizations and others in preparing me and my contemporaries for working in these challenging environments. While some training does exist, I found that communicators in the field would sometimes have to start from scratch when they arrived in the field, especially when there wasn’t a proper turnover. This is wasteful and can put lives in jeopardy, when the situation is dire.

Especially in this age of constantly flowing information through social media and other digital platforms, communicators must be able to rapidly respond to changing situations on the ground. They must be able to get their organizations’ message out quickly in the appropriate manner and through the appropriate medium. This information must also be carefully reviewed so it doesn’t jeopardize the security of local and international personnel as well as the local people quoted in released information. Communicators in these environments constantly face these issues and others, which are not common in public relations offices in Washington, London or Hong Kong.

So, I decided to look into discovering communications challenges and best practices in work presented by other communicators working in conflict and post-conflict environments. Yet, after an extensive literature review, I found no specific research that focuses on presenting best practices by communicators working for international organizations in conflict and post-conflict environments.

Literature Review

While I did not find specific previous research conducted to identify best practices in communications in conflict and post-conflict environments, a number of books do explore how communications by the media can affect conflict. Philip M. Seib’s War and Conflict Communication, for example, looks at the role of violence being incited by radio in places like Rwanda (2010, p. 201). Other publications explore the use of media by international actors, like UNESCO, as part of development strategies. Daniel Stauffacher writes that UNESCO has "long supported the development of local independent film, radio, television and internet-based media in development and transitional countries, including in conflict