In 2005, Watson Institute developed a new crosscutting research initiative, the Global Media Project (GMP). The project is built upon three core assertions:
- The media—from print and online journalism to cable and satellite news to cinematic film and video documentaries—have become increasingly interconnected and all the more powerful as global actors.
- Since 9/11 the media are a critical component of global terrorism and the war against it.
- In critical matters of war and peace there is an increased need not only to understand media in but also to create public media for international affairs.
The GMP is positioned to act on these assertions. As one of the world’s leading centers for research and teaching on international affairs, the Watson Institute can bring historical knowledge, regional expertise, and conceptual tools to film and other media. Moreover, through the GMP, the Institute is building on an established track record of using multiple media to disseminate policy-relevant knowledge.
The approach of the GMP is both to increase the media fluency of international studies scholars, who have considerable expertise on critical global issues; and to deepen the analysis and historical content available to journalists, broadcasters, and bloggers, who possess important technical, informational, political, and creative skills.
The goal of this dual approach is to understand as well as to produce seamless multiple media that can transform the white noise of global information into critical knowledge and meaningful narratives. By staging the convergence of these approaches, the Global Media Project is seeking to produce media with historical depth and political complexity that not only informs but engages the public in a global dialogue on critical issues of war and peace.
Accomplishments
• 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 course at Brown, "Global Media in War and Peace: History, Theory and Production", has been co-taught by Der Derian, Jarecki, and Santos. The course pioneers a new approach for teaching the connections between international studies and media analysis and production.