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As a result of technological innovation and worldwide expansion, multiple forms of media have become powerful agents of international affairs. In response, the Watson Institute has launched a cross-cutting initiative, the Global Media Project (GMP), to explore the significance of the new media landscape for major international issues.
On theater, television, computer, and even cell phone screens, we are witnessing new global media effects in international politics. Many of the most powerful and lasting have been the result of global conflicts. After the ‘CNN-effect’ of the first Gulf War (cable news), the ‘Al-Jazeera-effect’ of the Iraq war, (satellite phones and broadband networks), and the ‘Nokia-effect’ of the London 7/7 bomb attacks (cell phones and instant messaging), it is only a matter of time before the ‘iPod-effect’ enters the vernacular of international conflict.
The goal of the Global Media Project is to see what lies behind and beyond the screen, to study the expanding role of media in war and peace, and to produce new documentary media for human rights, cultural understanding, sustainable development, and global security. It does so by bringing under one roof academic researchers, policy practitioners, and media producers, who together can provide critical analytical tools for international media makers as well as create challenging global-interest media.
Recent Global Media Project News
Global Media in War and Peace: History, Theory and Production
December 11, 2008
Army Invades Second Life
May 10, 2008
'Virtual JFK' Opens Strong at Hot Docs
April 11, 2008
New Videos: 'Front Line, First Person: Iraq War Stories'
April 11, 2008
Blurring the Line between War and War Game
April 9, 2008
'Battle of Algiers' Resonates Today
March 31, 2008
World Premiere Set for 'Virtual JFK' Documentary
More News Items
Project Team
The GMP is now building a critical mass for studying, producing, and distributing public-interest media through multiple platforms, under the leadership of James Der Derian and John Phillip Santos as principal project co-investigators. Der Derian is director of the Watson Institute’s Global Security Program. Santos is a producer, writer, and journalist who has produced over 40 broadcast documentaries at CBS and PBS and was a program officer for the Media, Education and Culture Program at the Ford Foundation. He is among the prominent figures in the field who are part of the GMP team, including:
Robert Jensen. Jensen is developing a documentary as visiting associate professor at the Watson Institute and associate professor of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Geoffrey Kirkman. Associate director and fellow at the Watson Institute, Kirkman was previously managing director of the International Technologies Group at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. He produced the recently released The Republic of Baseball: Dominican Giants of the American Game.
Christopher Lydon. A well-known public radio personality, Lydon has launched a new nationally syndicated program, Open Source Radio, the first radio program truly fused to the Internet through blogging. Lydon has tapped Institute faculty, students and the Global Media Project as resources for the show’s international themes.
Deborah Scranton. Director and Producer Deborah Scranton made her feature film directorial debut with the award-winning documentary The War Tapes. Scranton is teaching an undergraduate seminar on documentary filmmaking and international affairs while also in production on "IRAQ - THE SURGE", a one hour film which will air in 2008 on WGBH Frontline.
Past Project Members
Eugene Jarecki. An acclaimed documentary filmmaker, Jarecki won the 2005 Sundance Grand Jury documentary prize for his film Why We Fight and is the founder of the educational program, the Eisenhower Project. The Global Media Project has produced a study guide for Why We Fight for high school teachers.
Productions
Early on, the Watson Institute recognized the increasing need in the information age to be able to disseminate knowledge to the public and policy-makers. Watson researchers use film, radio, and the Internet to complement more traditional means of distributing academic research. Numerous strands of research now take on the question of how media shapes international affairs. Media is both a subject of study in the classroom and a vital tool for teaching, and the Institute relies on multiple media to carry out its wide range of programmatic activities as well as to reach the widest possible public community. Key accomplishments include:
- The Information Technology, War, and Peace Project at the Institute laid the groundwork for the GMP with its early development of videoconferencing, web-based information interventions, discussion forums, MP3 file-sharing, and videostreaming of events.
- VirtualY2K and After 9/11, documentaries produced in collaboration with Amedia Productions, have been screened internationally and gained global audiences.
- The Fog of War, the Oscar-winning documentary directed by Errol Morris, was advised by Institute scholars Jim Blight and Janet Lang, and was based on previous Watson research and critical oral history projects involving Robert McNamara. The Institute's Choices for the 21st Century Education Program partnered with Sony Picture Classics to produce a study guide for The Fog of War that was distributed free with the documentary to over 100,000 teachers in U.S. high schools.
- The Global Media Project launch in June 2005 brought some of the best producers, directors, organizers, and story-tellers of independent public media together for a workshop at the Watson Institute.
- A new course at Brown, "Global Media in War and Peace: History, Theory and Production", was co-taught by Der Derian, Jarecki, and Santos. To be taught again next year, the course pioneers a new approach for teaching the connections between international studies and media analysis and production.
Future Work
Going forward, research has begun and funding is being sought to create more high-quality documentaries on critical global issues, beginning with terrorist use of media, the changing nature of warfare, and women's health in developing countries. Our goal is to open up the categories of peace and security beyond narrow national interests, and to include competing concerns of individuals, gender, and cultural groups. Research and production of documentaries will be supported by other Global Media Project events organized to provide a robust intellectual and creative environment as well as to establish partnerships for joint productions and wider dissemination.
Read the full project description here.