Best Making Peace Visible Inc Podcasts (2025)

1
Can democracy take us into the future? 31:44

6d ago31:44

31:44

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…

1
In the Brazilian Amazon, environmental reporting is dangerous business 26:46

23d ago26:46

26:46

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 Me…

1
Disrupting Peace: How to be president if you don't have a military 25:33

1M ago25:33

25:33

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 P…

1
Journalism under authoritarianism: An indie reporter persists in Venezuela 36:17

2M ago36:17

36:17

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 do…

1
What does ending mass incarceration have to do with peace? 34:57

2M ago34:57

34:57

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 …

1
A nuanced conversation about USAID 33:10

3M ago33:10

33:10

When the Trump administration slashed the budget and suspended most of the staff of the United States Agency for International Development last month, their representatives said the agency was using taxpayer dollars to fund a radical, “woke” agenda around the world. Criticism coming from the Left since the founding of USAID in 1961 has characterize…

1
"The Fight for Haiti" tells the story of a people's movement against corruption 28:16

3M ago28:16

28:16

Often the news covers crises without context. That's especially true when it comes to coverage of the Global South in international media. Our guest this episode, journalist and documentary filmmaker Etant Dupain, gives us a behind-the-headlines look at events in Haiti, his home country. Dupain says that the gangs who control much of the country no…

1
Could the Israel/Hamas ceasefire lead to lasting peace? 34:10

4M ago34:10

34:10

Israel and Hamas are just over two weeks into a ceasefire agreement, after fifteen months of fighting. This is a paradoxical moment to talk about long term peace. The horrific October 7th attacks and the near - destruction of Gaza that followed, served to amplify already high levels of distrust, hate, and trauma. At the same time, the war has demon…

1
Fact checking from your phone 24:04

4M ago24:04

24:04

Imagine you’re living through a crisis in your part of the world. It could be a natural disaster, a contentious election, or even a coup d’etat. Rumors are swirling on social media, on television, and even your family group chat. Events are unfolding rapidly, and you don’t know what to believe. What if, just by sending a text message, you could rea…

1
A Syrian journalist in exile looks towards home 33:26

5M ago33:26

33:26

This is a pivotal moment in Syria, the abrupt end of a brutal dictatorship that killed and tortured thousands and terrorized Syrian society. The Assad regime also suppressed speech, and we’re now seeing a surge in independent reports on the news and social media. The big question is what happens next? And what does this change mean to the region? I…

1
Have we lost the moral common ground? 35:22

5M ago35:22

35:22

Please consider supporting our work at the intersection of peace, conflict, and the media! Make a tax-deductible contribution today at makingpeacevisible.org. Thank you! When you look at the online reactions to major events, or watch news footage of political rallies, you might conclude that people on the political Left have a completely different …

1
From Ukraine, war reporting that feels personal 32:56

6M ago32:56

32:56

Support this podcast with a tax-deductible donation. Photographer Anastasia Taylor-Lind and writer Alisa Sopova create intimate, accessible portraits of Ukrainian civilians living close to the frontlines of the Russian invasion. Sometimes their subjects are picnicking in a park or tending a garden. Other times, they’re repairing a ceiling damaged b…

1
In America, a braver way to talk about politics 30:17

6M ago30:17

30:17

In the 2024 election, it was clearer than ever that Americans are “watching different movies,” as political analyst Van Jones put it. Essentially, we’re living inside different narratives that aren’t of our own making. During this campaign season more than ever before, the presidential and VP candidates appeared on sympathetic podcasts as a way to …

1
Tired of polarization? Time to detox 32:50

7M ago32:50

32:50

If you’re listening to this podcast, you’re probably concerned by the level of polarization we’re seeing in societies around the world. We can point fingers at social media, the news media, political parties, fear mongering leaders, poor education, broken political systems… the list is long. The divides can seem so vast, the problems so huge. It’s …

1
Rethinking international peacebuilding in Muslim countries 36:59

7M ago36:59

36:59

Our guest in this episode is a scholar and peacebuilder who knows the world of peacebuilding intimately, and offers a critique from the inside. Qamar-ul Huda is the author of Reenvisioning Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution in Islam, published in April 2024. He’s worked for major players like the US Institute of Peace and the UN Development Prog…

1
Cross-border environmentalism in the Middle East 32:06

8M ago32:06

32:06

"Nature knows no political borders. " - David Lehrer On a small desert campus, students from Israel, Palestine, and other parts of the Middle East take classes in ecology, earth sciences and renewable energy. They also debate the hot button issues: history, politics, religion, war, occupation, terrorism, while learning to listen actively, and livin…

1
Amidst war, a Palestinian nonviolence movement grows 39:08

8M ago39:08

39:08

Ali Abu Awwad is hard to summarize. He grew up with a mother in the PLO, and served jail time for his role in the resistance during the First Palestinian Intifada. In an Israeli prison, Ali learned the power of nonviolence when he and his mother went on hunger strike to see each other. After his brother was killed by Israeli soldiers, his family me…

1
How do we make peacebuilding mainstream? 36:53

8M ago36:53

36:53

Most people feel that peacebuilding – resolving conflicts and decreasing violence – is a positive thing. But as we've said many times on this podcast, peacebuilding is virtually invisible in the world. Today’s guest, veteran mediator and peacebuilder Mark Gerzon, says to strengthen peace and reconciliation efforts, we need to make peacebuilding mai…

1
John Marks, pioneering the use of media to promote peace 29:19

9M ago29:19

29:19

Social entrepreneurs are a unique breed of people, capable of conjuring up a vision, a new way of doing something, a solution to a problem; but they also have the skill and the determination to overcome all the obstacles to implement their vision. John Marks is a remarkable social entrepreneur who, with his wife Susan Collins Marks, built the large…

1
Film as a catalyst for reconciliation in Sierra Leone 32:16

9M ago32:16

32:16

Imagine living next door to a person who murdered your father, raped your sister, or even killed your child. This was the case for many people in Sierra Leone who endured a brutal civil war from 1991 to 2002: the majority of the 50,000 who died were those killed by their own neighbors. While working with a program that facilitates ritual reconcilia…

1
Designing tech for trust in a polarized world 35:07

9M ago35:07

35:07

On July 28, 2024, a teenage boy carried out a fatal stabbing attack on a dance class in Southport, England. Three little girls were killed, and eight other children and two adults were injured. Police arrested and detained the assailant. They didn't release his name, because he was under 18. A user on X posted that the suspect was a Muslim asylum s…

1
From war reporter to peace journalist in Uganda 27:21

10M ago27:21

27:21

Gloria Laker Aciro was a teenager when war upended her family’s life in Northern Uganda. The Lord's Resistance Army, led by the infamous Joseph Kony, were known for their brutality, and for kidnapping children and making them child soldiers or child brides. As a young displaced person, Aciro became a journalist so the world would know about the suf…

1
Elevating nonviolent narratives in Hollywood 30:51

10M ago30:51

30:51

Close your eyes and think of the word “war” or “gun violence.” What’s the first image that comes up? Maybe it’s news footage of the wars in Gaza or Ukraine. Or maybe it’s a scene from a movie like Hotel Rwanda or Bridge on the River Kwai, or a shoutout in any number of crime and cop dramas. Scripted storytelling, with its ability to get up close an…

1
Can the UN 'save us from hell'? 30:27

11M ago30:27

30:27

“The United Nations was not created in order to deliver us to heaven, but in order to save us from hell.” - Dag Hammarskjöld. “To Save Us From Hell” is a new weekly news and analysis podcast about the UN. Mark Leon Goldberg, a veteran global affairs journalist and editor of the news outlets UN Dispatch and Global Dispatches, and Anjali Dayal, a pol…

1
Democracy Works: Youth activism gets pragmatic 34:20

11M ago34:20

34:20

On February 14, 2018, a former student opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, with an assault rifle he’d purchased legally. Hiding in a janitor’s closet, David Hogg recorded his classmates on his phone. "I interviewed my classmates so that if we didn't make it out of there, hopefully our voices would carry on,” Ho…

1
How do you measure peace? 27:38

12M ago27:38

27:38

How do you measure peace in a country? Do you look at the rates of violent crime? Assess the justice system? What about freedom of the press, the health of the economy, or general happiness? Today's guest, Steve Killelea, is the founder and Executive Chairman of the Institute for Economics and Peace, an internationally renowned think tank. Each yea…

1
Teaching Peace Journalism in Lebanon 33:56

1y ago33:56

33:56

Vanessa Bassil is the founder and president of the Media Association for Peace, and has personally trained journalists and journalism students in Lebanon and other countries in the Middle East. She is currently in graduate school at the University of Bonn in Germany, working towards a PhD in Peace Journalism. Peace Journalism, the guiding practice …

1
Making Peace “Possible” with William Ury 47:20

1y ago47:20

47:20

William Ury is one of the world’s most influential peacebuilders and experts on negotiation. He advised Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos in the lead up to that country's historic 2016 peace agreement with the FARC, and played a key role in de-escalating nuclear tensions between the U.S. and North Korea in 2017. Getting to Yes, which Ury co-wr…

1
Tales of Tibetan resilience and resistance in exile 35:53

1y ago35:53

35:53

When India-based reporter Amy Yee got a call from her editor to cover a press conference with the Dalai Lama, she stopped what she was doing and booked the next flight. She was headed for Dharamsala, where the Buddhist leader and thousands of Tibetan refugees make their home. It was March 2008, and the Dalai Lama was responding to violence in Tibet…

1
Decoding dehumanization in the brain 36:54

1y ago36:54

36:54

“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 peacebuil…

1
Understanding intergenerational trauma in Israel/Palestine 32:53

1y ago32:53

32:53

Intergenerational trauma, also called historical trauma, is defined as cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over the lifespan and across generations, emanating from massive group trauma experiences. The brutal October 7th attacks by Hamas inside of Israel, and the IDF’s seemingly relentless assault on Gaza have captured the world’s atten…

1
Trailer 2:13

1y ago2:13

2:13

In the news media, war gets more headlines than peace, conflict more airtime than reconciliation. And in our polarized world, reporting on conflict in a way that frames conflicts as us vs. them, good vs. evil often serves to dig us in deeper. On Making Peace Visible, we speak with journalists and peacebuilders who help us understand the human side …

1
In search of good conflict 32:17

1y ago32:17

32:17

After over two decades as a journalist, including ten years covering terrorism and disasters for TIME Magazine, Amanda Ripley thought she understood conflict. But when momentum started to build around the candidacy of Donald Trump, she questioned what she thought she knew. Ripley interviewed psychologists, mediators, and people who had made it out …

1
Reporting from Iran with a bias towards peace 36:07

1y ago36:07

36:07

We want to learn more about our listeners. Take this 3-minute survey to help us improve the show! Reza Sayah is an Iranian-American journalist, currently based in Tehran. He’s reported on major events around the world including the Ukrainian Revolution of 2004, the Second Iraq War, and the Egyptian Revolution. Reza has spent much of his career work…

1
Refugees and immigration: what’s missing from the narrative 32:33

1+ y ago32:33

32:33

As of May 2023, there were an estimated 110 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Many are escaping wars, gang violence or repressive regimes, others are fleeing climate change impacts. Some are leaving collapsed economies where they can’t feed their families. How journalists cover refugees…

1
Telling murder stories differently 22:17

1+ y ago22:17

22:17

On Making Peace Visible, we are always questioning the mantra, if it bleeds, it leads. Boston’s Charles Stuart murder case is a classic example of what can go horribly wrong when you follow that mantra. Charles Stuart was a father-to-be from the suburbs of Boston. Shortly after attending a birthing class in the city with his wife, Carol, Charles St…

1
Why we make this show: An interview with Jamil Simon 32:29

1+ y ago32:29

32:29

In this episode we’re featuring a recent interview with our host, documentary filmmaker and lifelong peace activist Jamil Simon on This is My Silver Lining, a podcast about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, with an emphasis on life’s unexpected twists. Jamil has certainly had plenty of those. In 1990 he took a job in Tunisia designing com…

1
All the peace we cannot see 36:31

1+ y ago36:31

36:31

Making Peace Visible is a show about how the media covers peace and conflict. One of the major reasons we make it is because peace gets so little coverage in the news media. When we do hear news about peace, it's usually focused on signing an agreement. When that’s done, the cameras, and the world's attention move on. But that handshake moment is j…

1
Democracy Works: Between Democracy and Autocracy 31:40

1+ y ago31:40

31:40

Between democracy and autocracy is an anocracy, defined by political scientists as a country that has elements of both forms of government — usually one that’s on the way up to becoming a full democracy or on the way down to full autocracy. This messy middle is the state when civil wars are most likely to start, and the one that requires the most d…

1
Unmasking American myths about war and the military 36:01

1+ y ago36:01

36:01

In the United States, about one sixth of the federal budget goes to defense. This year the country spent more on the military than any year since 2001 – over $816 billion. Why does spending continue to rise in the wake of US withdrawal from Afghanistan? Why are many Americans so passive in the face of the massive expenditures for defense that crowd…

1
Storytelling with equal-opportunity empathy 34:01

1+ y ago34:01

34:01

Trey Kay knows both sides of America's partisan divide intimately. He was born and raised in a conservative family in Charleston, West Virginia. As a young man he moved to New York City, where he later became a producer on the arts and culture program Studio 360, at WNYC. These days, Trey splits his time between New York and West Virginia to make U…

1
In Modi's India, journalists must toe the line or risk jail time 36:42

1+ y ago36:42

36:42

Western media has often referred to India as the world’s largest democracy. But during the last decade, the world has witnessed the decline of many democratic institutions in India. In a recent Time Magazine article our guest Suchitra Vijayan questions whether India can still be called a democracy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government ha…

1
How do we design for peace? 25:10

1+ y ago25:10

25:10

On Making Peace Visible we usually focus on stories -- narratives about peace and conflict that are told in the news, on social media, and shared in our collective zeitgeist. We’ve seen examples of how storytelling can both stoke the fire of war and encourage peaceful dialogue. In this episode, we look at a different, but related way of creating sp…

1
Un-embedding Western narratives about Afghanistan 32:40

1+ y ago32:40

32:40

One way to cover war is to follow the road offered by the dominant army. In Afghanistan, that often meant journalists were embedded with U.S. or NATO troops, and saw the war and the world around it through their eyes. Guest Bette Dam is a Dutch journalist who covered the war in Afghanistan for 15 years. She began her coverage in 2006, embedded with…

1
Inside comms strategy at the world's largest peacebuilding NGO 32:00

1+ y ago32:00

32:00

We talk a lot on this show about the reasons why peace and conflict resolution aren’t more visible in the news media and our public conversation. Our past guests have presented a variety of explanations: TV news segments are too short to talk about much beyond dramatic events, like battles and coups. For-profit media doesn't cover peace efforts bec…

1
Spotlight Colombia: Moving forward with wounds still fresh 35:48

1+ y ago35:48

35:48

If you're interested in learning about how peace gets made and unmade and then remade, Colombia is an amazing laboratory. Guest Elizabeth Dickinson is a senior analyst with the Crisis Group in Colombia. Dickinson spends her days in discussion with communities most affected by the civil war, as well as former FARC members. She and her colleagues use…

1
Spotlight Colombia: After demilitarization, a new narrative 28:09

1+ y ago28:09

28:09

After the peace agreement their leaders signed with the Colombian government in September 2016, members of the FARC guerilla group began turning in their weapons to the UN. In exchange, rank-and-file members received amnesty for acts of violence they committed during the country’s long civil war. They could leave their jungle encampments and rejoin…

1
Spotlight Colombia: Behind the scenes of making peace 27:23

2y ago27:23

27:23

A main premise of our podcast is that peace efforts are invisible in the mainstream media, or certainly not visible enough. But one place that has grabbed at least some of the world’s attention, is the peace process in Colombia. In 2016, after repeated failed negotiations, the FARC guerilla organization finally signed a peace deal with the governme…

1
Journalism as a brave space to talk about race 28:48

2y ago28:48

28:48

“The one embedded bias that we definitely have when we get up every day to cover the news anew is that we're biased for democracy. Let's just admit that. So if you're biased for democracy, then you have to be biased for racial justice, because racial justice is embedded in the democratic promise.” - Deborah Douglas Some of the most polarized debate…

1
When covering the Holy Land, hope is in the details 38:58

2y ago38:58

38:58

Our guest this episode, Daniel Estrin, is an international correspondent for NPR based in Jerusalem. There is a human element present throughout Daniel Estrin’s body of work that places listeners in the shoes of ordinary Palestinians and Israelis. Fluent in both Hebrew and Arabic and having lived in the region for over fifteen years, Daniel has a k…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Making Peace Visible Inc Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen