Infodialogue

Media committed to combating radicalisation in Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast has been affected by a worrying phenomenon of radicalisation in recent years. CFI is convinced that the media can contribute, through professional news coverage, to reducing the risks that this threat poses to social cohesion and inter-community relations, and has set up the InfoDialogue project to help curb this phenomenon.

Calendrier

November 2022 - December 2023

Budget global

105 K€

Democratic governance Misinformation

In the north of the country, 32 journalists from the Al-Bayane radio and television group, a Muslim media group that claims to be moderate Islam, are committed to fighting radicalisation. They have all been taking part in InfoDialogue since November 2022, a project that has enabled them to benefit from a cycle of three training courses given by journalists from RFI and France 24. CFI is once again working with its partners to promote peace and social cohesion:

The first course, focusing on terrorism-related news coverage, taught the skills needed to recognise the propaganda tools used by various terrorist organisations, as well as identifying the weak signals of radicalisation and checking the content circulating on social media.
The second course aimed to improve the technical quality of reports broadcast on the group’s radio and television channels.
Finally, the third course, aimed specifically at web editors, provided an opportunity to work on diversifying the content published on digital platforms in order to make them more attractive, particularly to young people.

Integrating the “do no harm” approach into editorial policy

Thanks to the InfoDialogue project, ten of RFI’s radio partners in the northern and central regions of Ivory Coast have also been trained in the “do no harm” approach usually used by civil society organisations working on conflict prevention and reduction.

Applied to the media sector, this approach equips journalists with behavioural reflexes adapted to working in sensitive areas. The aim is to ensure that their coverage does not aggravate conflict situations or endanger their safety or that of their sources of information. It encourages them, for example, to find innovative ways of talking about gender-based violence that do not rely on invasive interviews likely to create further trauma for the victims. In the years to come, their challenge will be to diversify their approach to journalism in order to deliver the most relevant and attractive information possible, always in the service of freedom of expression, and always in the fight against radicalisation.

A project