About me

Dr. Vladimir Bratic is assistant professor of media and communications at Hollins University. He is the author of several journal articles, professional publications and reports on the role of the media in conflict and peace. Dr. Bratic teaches and lectures about media’s capacity to promote the peaceful transformation of violent conflict across the world. He is a co-author of the upcoming book on media strategy for peacebuilding and conflict prevention to be published by the United States Institute of Peace Press in 2009.  

Prior to coming to the United States, Dr. Bratic graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy and Philosophy at the Palacky University, Czech Republic. He is originally from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina where he conducted extensive research on the role of the media in the reconciliation of the Bosnian conflict. He obtained a Master’s degree in International Relations and a PhD in Mass Communication from Ohio University. He can be reached at: vbratic@hollins.edu;

 

Here is some of the research, lectures and media appearance on the topic:

 

Examining Peace-Oriented Media in Areas of Violent Conflict
Vladimir Bratic

International Communication Gazette. 2008. 70: 487-503

http://gaz.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/70/6/487

 

Bosnia’s Open Broadcast Network: A brief but illustrative foray into peace journalism practice.

Vladimir Bratic, Susan Dante Ross and Hyeonjin Kang-Graham.

Global Media Journal Volume 7, Issue 13   |   Fall 2008  

http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/fa08/gmj-fa08-bratic-ross-graham.htm

 

Media effects during violent conflict: Evaluating media contributions to peace building

Vladimir Bratic

conflict & communication online, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005

http://www.cco.regener-online.de/2006_1/abstr_engl/bratic_abstr_engl.htm

 

Why and When to Use Media for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding.

Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict. Issue paper. 2007.

Vladimir Bratic and Lisa Schirch

http://www.gppac.net/uploads/File/Programmes/Awareness%20Raising/Issue%20paper%20Media%20and%20Conflict%20Prevention%20-%20final%20version.pdf

 

Peace Journalism. The other side of objectivity.

Vladimir Bratic

The Pulse of Democracy. Issue 3. 2006.  

http://www.pulsdemokratije.net/index.php?&l=en&id=274

 

USIPeace Briefing: Media, Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding: Mapping the Edges.

Seminar brief. Summer 2008.  http://www.usip.org/pubs/usipeace_briefings/2008/1008_media_prevention_peacebuilding.html

 

Media in Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention

Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum, 2-4 June, 2008, Bonn, Germany

Interview with Dr. Vladimir Bratic

http://dw-gmf.de/1111.php

 

NPR Interview: Brian Lehrer Show: Speaking of Peace

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2006/12/12/segments/70253

 

About me:  

In May of 1992, I was 17 years old and the war in my native Bosnia was only in its beginnings. I remember those first two months of war not because I want to, but because the fear attached to those memories is too intense to be erased.  A few scenes remain deeply imbedded in my mind; one is the night I helped my father block the door of our Sarajevo apartment with the kitchen table and barricade ourselves in from what we feared was coming from outside. At the time, we could not see or hear what was happening outside, but we were responding to a particularly dramatic television broadcast that suggested that hordes of armed men were converging on our city. That night we stayed awake, partly because of the uncomfortable floor we were sleeping on, partly because of grenade attacks, but mostly because we were glued to the radio, expecting information about the battle ahead of us. After I left Bosnia, I often recalled the times when such information was more important than some of our most vital needs. Often times any information about my family members, developments in the conflict or peace negotiations was as important as our own security. Most of the time, such information was supplied by mass media (mostly battery-powered radio) because the movement of people was highly restricted, and electricity and phones were cut off in the early stage of the conflict. Accurate information was often the scarcest commodity of invaluable importance. Because of this experience, I came to realize the importance of media in the formation of the environment that led to all of the Balkan conflicts. Mass media were on the forefront of the dispute; as they reported on the hostilities, they became hostile tools that spread opposing ideologies.This is when I decided to examine the role of media in the reconciliation processes of post-Cold War conflicts. It was logical to me to turn to my native Bosnia for an examination of post-conflict media, specifically looking for examples where media may have helped people move beyond violence into reconciliation. I was very happy to find out that not only were there such examples but that there were many of them across the country. Some people hypothesized that if media played a part in the formation of a conflict, they should effectively contribute towards the creation of peace. Media projects designed to promote reconciliation emerged all over Bosnia. In 2000, I was lucky to become a part of a major project OBN, a new television channel set up by the international community to convey the benefits of the Dayton Peace Agreement from 1995 to Bosnian audiences.  This experience helped me realize the potential of media to contribute toward peace in the region. At that time, I heard about the radio project Studio Ijambo, a radio studio that was employing and reconciling Tutsis and Hutus in post-war Rwanda. Shortly after, I learned about the Sesame Street project in Israel/Palestine that attempted to promote tolerance and understanding among Israeli and Palestinian children. What was happening was a very unusual and rare combination of circumstances. These were events that were developing in extraordinary conditions: the creation of new mass communication projects intended to address the tumultuous consequences of violent conflict. At that moment, my passion for the subject became the subject of my academic inquiry.