Researching conflict and public opinion in Darfur

In crisis areas, those who control the media hold a keen advantage in terms of disseminating ideas, strategically supplying information, and apportioning blame. Through the analysis of the case of the Darfur conflict, Iginio Gagliardone and Lauren Kogen will illustrate on the one hand how the Sudanese government has tried to use the local media to re-frame the image of the West from provider of help to corruptor of local values before the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces, and on the other how different quantitative and qualitative research methods can be used in repressive situations to understand how messages regarding the conflict are received and interpreted by the population in Darfur. Paper prepared for the Fifth Anniversary Conference of the Department of Media and Communications, ‘Media, Communication & Humanity’, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, 21-23 September 2008.