The challenge
Distrust, deference to authority and intergroup prejudice after the 1994 genocide.
The case
In 2004 the Dutch NGO Radio La Benevolencija began broadcasting 'Musekeweya' (New Dawn), a Romeo-and-Juliet-style soap opera about two communities in conflict. Over a year, researcher Elizabeth Levy Paluck randomly assigned groups in 14 sites, including genocide survivor, Twa, prison and general communities, to listen to it or to a health drama. The program did little to change listeners' personal beliefs. But it shifted their sense of social norms and their behavior on intermarriage, open dissent, trust, empathy and cooperation. In public discussions, more than 60% of the health group's comments denied that mistrust existed, against under 20% of the reconciliation group's, and reconciliation listeners pushed back against handing a shared radio to local officials.
Why it worked
Media can rebuild cohesion by changing what people think others accept, even when private beliefs move little.
Sources
- Paluck, E. L. (2009). Reducing intergroup prejudice and conflict using the media: A field experiment in Rwanda. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
- Paluck, E. L. & Green, D. P. (2009). Deference, Dissent, and Dispute Resolution. American Political Science Review.
- J-PAL. Using Media to Change Norms and Behaviors in Post-Genocide Rwanda.
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