In hopes of learning from the past and In light of US missile strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and subsequent retaliation in an escalating regional conflict, we're revisiting one of our best episodes on how Western media covers war.Guest Bette Dam is a Dutch journalist who covered the war in Afghanistan for 15 years. She began her coverage in 2006, embedded with the Dutch military. She’s the author of two books: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JL3GXLG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">Looking for the Enemy, Mullah Omar and the Unknown Taliban</a>, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Man-Motorcycle-Hamid-Karzai-Power-ebook/dp/B00N5ZDJW8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3G7Z5VSIYP7Q5&keywords=a+man+and+a+motorcycle+bette+dam&qid=1650801285&s=digital-text&sprefix=a+man+and+a+motor+cycle+bette+dam+%2Cdigital-text%2C129&sr=1-1">A Man in a Motorcycle, How Hamid Karzai Came to Power</a>. In the course of her reporting Dam realized that most Western journalists were providing a distorted view of the war. It left out the perspective of the Afghan people, and made the country appear more dangerous than it really was. And Dam says the press missed opportunities to hold the U.S. and NATO to account for major blunders – including largely overlooking the fact that the Taliban surrendered in December 2001. This interview was recorded in October 2023.In 2024, Dam <a href="https://www.vub.be/nl/nieuws/westerse-journalisten-maken-te-weinig-gebruik-van-hun-persvrijheid">completed a PhD at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels</a> on the role of Western media in conflict, where she now serves on the faculty. In February 2025 <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/unheard-using-large-language-models-to-conduct-source-audits-for-news.php">she launched UNHEARD</a> in partnership with the Tow Center at the Columbia School of Journalism, a project that aims to help news organizations reveal potentially overlooked narratives by using AI to audit who is quoted in their articles. <a href="https://pod.link/1605799735/episode/53d6ceb1123fb7040c9a1428906b09f7">**Copy this link to share this episode anywhere**</a>MORE FROM BETTE DAM<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP5zWsl2erA">TEDx talk: The shortcomings of war reporting</a><a href="https://twitter.com/BetteDam">Follow Bette on X (formerly Twitter)</a>Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions, Zero V, and Doyeq. 
ABOUT THE SHOW&nbsp;The Making Peace Visible podcast is hosted by Jamil Simon and produced by Andrea Muraskin. Our associate producer is Faith McClure. Learn more at<a href="makingpeacevisible.org"> makingpeacevisible.org</a><a href="https://www.makingpeacevisible.org/take-action" target="_blank">Support our work</a>&nbsp;Connect on social:Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/makingpeacevisible/">@makingpeacevisible</a>LinkedIn <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/making-peace-visible/">@makingpeacevisible</a>Bluesky <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/makingpeacevisible.bsky.social">@makingpeacevisible.bsky.social</a>&nbsp;We want to learn more about our listeners. <a href="https://us6.list-manage.com/survey?u=92c672d1afd202edcfb76df72&id=890b916c31&e=a267a1b2d6">Take this 3-minute survey</a> to help us improve the show!&nbsp;

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