In hopes of learning from the past and In light of US missile strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and subsequent retaliation in an escalating regional conflict, we're revisiting one of our best episodes on how Western media covers war.

Guest Bette Dam is a Dutch journalist who covered the war in Afghanistan for 15 years. She began her coverage in 2006, embedded with the Dutch military. She’s the author of two books: Looking for the Enemy, Mullah Omar and the Unknown Taliban, and A Man in a Motorcycle, How Hamid Karzai Came to Power.

In the course of her reporting Dam realized that most Western journalists were providing a distorted view of the war. It left out the perspective of the Afghan people, and made the country appear more dangerous than it really was. And Dam says the press missed opportunities to hold the U.S. and NATO to account for major blunders – including largely overlooking the fact that the Taliban surrendered in December 2001.

This interview was recorded in October 2023.

In 2024, Dam completed a PhD at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels on the role of Western media in conflict, where she now serves on the faculty. In February 2025 she launched UNHEARD in partnership with the Tow Center at the Columbia School of Journalism, a project that aims to help news organizations reveal potentially overlooked narratives by using AI to audit who is quoted in their articles.

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MORE FROM BETTE DAM

TEDx talk: The shortcomings of war reporting

Follow Bette on X (formerly Twitter)

Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Zero V, and Doyeq.

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The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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In the United States, about one sixth of the federal budget goes to defense. Why are many Americans so passive in the face of the massive expenditures for defense that crowd out spending on human needs like education, healthcare and infrastructure? Why does much of the media accept the status quo? And is all of this spending making Americans and the world any safer?

Our guest helping tackle these questions is anthropologist Stephanie Savell. Savell is the Co-Director of Costs of War at Brown University, an interdisciplinary research project focused on the impact of the post 9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond; the U.S. global military footprint; and the domestic effects of US military spending. Savell's own research highlights US military involvement around the world, most notably in Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. In many of these places, American assistance has served to fuel existing conflicts, and provided governments with tools and justification to target Muslim populations. But, Savell says, it doesn’t have to be this way.

This episide was originally published in December 2023.

MORE FROM COSTS OF WAR

Stephanie Savell’s map of US counterterrorism operations 2021-2023

The Costs of United States’ Post-9/11 “Security Assistance”: How Counterterrorism Intensified Conflict in Burkina Faso and Around the World by Stephanie Savell

Why Media Conflation of Activism with Terrorism Has Dire Consequences: The Case of Cop City by Deepa Kumar

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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“Humans are not rational beings with emotions. In fact, we're just the opposite. We're emotionally based beings who can only think rationally when we feel that our identities, as we see them, are understood and valued by others.”

Those words from neuroscientist Bob Deutch triggered a lightbulb moment in the mind of Tim Phillips, a veteran peacebuilder and educator. Over the past twelve years, Phillips has worked with neuroscientists and psychologists to integrate brain science into research and practice at Beyond Conflict, the peacebuilding organization that he founded in 1991 and where he serves as CEO.

In this conversation, we focus on Beyond Conflict’s research on dehumanization. If you perceive another person or group as less than human, it’s much easier to justify violence against that group or person. Dehumanizing rhetoric – like describing people as animals or vermin – is often a precursor to violence.

But Phillips says if we can identify signs of dehumanization early on, we can make changes to decrease the likelihood of violent conflict. Phillips and host Jamil Simon also discuss the difference between fear and disgust – both motivators of conflict that are each processed differently in the brain and require different interventions. Plus, how Beyond Conflict has applied this research to create media interventions in Nigeria and the United States. And, how journalists can utilize knowledge of how the brain works to reach more people and avoid incitement.

This episode was originally published in April 2024.

LEARN MORE

Watch the video “America’s Divided Mind” by Beyond Conflict

Read key takeaways from Beyond Conflict’s research on dehumanization

Read Beyond Conflict’s Decoding Dehumanization policy brief

Listen to our episode with psychologist Donna Hicks: “Dignity: A new way to look at conflict”

Watch “How to Grow Peace Journalism” webinars from the George Washington University Media and Peacebuilding Project. Presentations from Making Peace Visible host Jamil Simon, education director Steven Youngblood, and producer Andrea Muraskin in this video.

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ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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Support for Donald Trump is slipping lately, at least in part because of the President’s violations of democratic rules and norms. In a New York Times/ Sienna College poll, a majority of respondents disapproved of Trump’s recent actions, including moves to eliminate government programs enacted by Congress, deport legal immigrants who have protested Israel, and ignore Supreme Court rulings.

And yet, Democrats’ alarm-sounding about the Trump threat to democracy clearly wasn’t enough to get Kamala Harris elected.

This episode we’re joined by Suzette Brooks Masters, a thought leader, political strategist and Senior Fellow at the Democracy Funders Network. She says that for American democracy to thrive, it's not enough to defend the existing system against attack, because the system doesn’t work well for most people.

She’s been researching ways to invigorate democratic practice, including citizen’s assemblies and participatory budgeting – frameworks that give ordinary people a bigger say in government. And she advocates for storytelling that envisions positive, possible futures.

00:00 Introduction and Current Political Climate

00:40 First 100 Days of the New Administration

01:35 Guest Introduction: Suzette Brooks Masters

02:08 Imagining Better Futures for American Democracy

03:36 Challenges and Opportunities in Democracy

05:57 Why the Right Sees Democracy as Under Attack

11:31 Bridge Building and Civic Engagement

16:44 Innovations in Democratic Processes

22:59 Telling a Different Story About the Future

30:57 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

LEARN MORE

Suzette Brooks Masters’ articles for The Fulcrum

Imagining Better Futures for American Democracy report

Becoming Futures Ready: How Philanthropy Can Leverage Strategic Foresight For Democracy report

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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Brazil’s Arariboia Indigenous Territory is a green island that spans more than 413,000 hectares (1.02 million acres) in a sea of deforestation. Though the territory is protected by law, it’s become the site of incursions by loggers and cattle ranchers.

In a five-year investigative series for the environmental news outlet Mongabay, reporter Karla Mendes exposed environmental crimes in Arariboia and other protected areas of the Amazon, including palm oil production, logging, and cattle ranching. She also investigated the murder of Paulo Paulino Guajajara, an indigenous Forest Guardian who was ambushed by loggers. He was one of more than 50 indigenous Guajajara individuals killed in the last 20 years. Mendes’ reporting is helping to bring justice to these remote areas where impunity has been the norm.

Her investigation was part of a Pulitzer Center Rainforest Investigations fellowship. She says as the climate changes, Brazilians are showing increased interest in journalism like hers that highlights the importance of protecting the rainforest.

LEARN MORE

Read Karla Mendes’ report: Revealed: Illegal cattle ranching booms in Arariboia territory during deadly year for Indigenous Guajajara.

Learn more about the impact of the investigation.

Watch a short documentary film about the Guardians of the Forest and the search for justice for Paulo Paulino Guajajara.

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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Connect on social:

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What's it like to lead without a military? This episode, from our friends at Disrupting Peace, focuses on Costa Rica, and explores what happens when a country abolishes its military, Costa Rica’s approach to domestic security, and the ways that having a military can increase violence and instability in a country.

Carlos Alvarado Quesada served as President of Costa Rica from 2018 to 2022. While president, he focused on combating climate change, defending human rights, democracy, and multilateralism, which is when countries cooperate to solve problems. Carlos currently teaches graduate courses on leadership at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, where the World Peace Foundation is based. Follow Carlos on Instagram @carlosalvq.

Jorge Vargas is Director of the State of the Nation Program in Costa Rica. As an academic researcher, he focuses on state reform and democracy in Central America. Find out more about Jorge’s work at estadonacion.or.cr.

Disrupting Peace is a podcast about why peace hasn't worked, and how it still could, from the World Peace Foundation. It's hosted by Bridget Conley, and produced by Bridget Conley and Emily Shaw. Engineering by Jacob Winik and Aja Simpson.

Additional music in this episode by Kevin MacLeod and Xylo-Ziko.

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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Connect on social:

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Venezuela is a tough place to be a journalist. Our guest this episode, Tony Frangie Mawad wrote last year about the possibility of an opposition victory that would upend the regime of President Nicolás Maduro in the country's July elections. But even though the opposition candidate won the vote, Maduro held on to power, and this year has cracked down further on his opponents and an already-weakened media.

Frangie Mawad is an independent journalist and political analyst, based in Caracas, Venezuela. He writes the Substack Venezuela Weekly, where he keeps a close eye on developments both at home, and in the Venezuelan diaspora. He’s written for international news outlets including Bloomberg, The Economist, and Americas Quarterly, and was an editor for the Caracas Chronicles.

Making Peace Visible producer Andrea Muraskin spoke with Tony about what it’s like to work in an authoritarian context, where journalists are often censored and threatened, and sometimes arrested. As you’ll hear, it helps to have a sense of humor, and a long view of history.

This interview was recorded on March 24. Things may have shifted in Venezuela by the time you hear it.

LEARN MORE

tonyfrangie.com

Venezuela Weekly (English edition)

El Chiguire Bipolar - "The Bipolar Capybara" Venezuelan satire website

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

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After the end of the Cold War, many academics and policymakers believed that a global state of peace was achievable. People talked about a “peace dividend”: A long-term benefit. as budgets for military spending would be redirected to social programs or returned to citizens in the form of lower taxes.

Our guest this episode, Bridget Conley, started her career in peacebuilding in the 1990s. At that time, Western academics and politicians spelled out a formula for creating peaceful nations. You would hold elections, convert the economy to a free market, pursue human rights, and prosecute bad actors. But the post 9/11 years showed that the militarized world order was not going away.

There’s been a push in recent years to localize peace efforts – meaning fund them and run them based on direction from people in the effected countries. But to a considerable extent, peacebuilding still revolves around that formula from the 1990s.

That’s why Conley launched Disrupting Peace, a podcast that explores why peace hasn’t worked, and how it could.

Bridget is the research director at the World Peace Foundation, a research organization affiliated with Tufts University. Her research is currently focused on mass incarceration in the United States, and she teaches college classes inside the prison system in Massachusetts as part of the Tufts University Prison Initiative. For Conley, prison abolition and international peacebuilding are all about creating societies that solve problems through debate and discussion, not through coercion.

ABOUT THE SHOW

The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at makingpeacevisible.org

Support our work

Connect on social:

Instagram @makingpeacevisible

LinkedIn @makingpeacevisible

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We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show!