Conflict mapping

This analysis tool can be used to identify the different actors or stakeholders involved in a specific conflict and to analyze the roles they play in it. By actors, we mean all parties engaged in the conflict (directly or indirectly) or affected by it, be it political parties or personalities, local authorities, armed forces, members of the communities, individuals or national or international institutions.

Our example is the spreading of misinformation in Brazil, related to Covid 19 (more recently), but also to the general elections in 2018.

For the first step, you should write down on cards all the different actors present in the conflict. The size of the actors' cards should correspond to their importance in the conflict.

In our example, the actors are Brazilian President Bolsonaro (who won support by the spreading of misinformation), his son Carlos, the different social media tools, the consumers of the misinformation, the state institutions, the evangelical churches, the health organizations and so on.

For the second step, draw lines between the different actors in order to visualize their relationships. Thick lines mean strong relationship, thin lines mean weak relationships, jagged lines stand for conflictive relations.

In our example, there are strong relations between Jair Bolsonaro and his son, the state institutions (after the elections) and the evangelical churches. But relations with fact-checking initiatives and with some journalists and bloggers are conflictive.

This tool helps to:

• Visualize the actors present on the spot
• Analyze the relationships between the actors in order to better understand the conflict
• Find new potential or relevant angles to report about, e.g. the role of social media in the spreading of misinformation in Brazil or what local organizations do in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

Misinformation in Brazil

Mona Naggar has been working for DW Akademie as a project manager and trainer for journalism, conflict-sensitive journalism and media literacy since 2011 — mainly in the Middle East and North Africa.