RAND Alternative Strategy Initiative

The RAND conference on "Creative Use of the Media for Understanding and Tolerance" took place in Doha, Qatar, from March 14 to March 16, 2007. Hosted by the RAND Alternative Strategy Initiative, its goal was to highlight groundbreaking indigenous media initiatives with important social content. These initiatives, while enormously popular and influential in their respective countries and regions, are largely unknown to Western policymakers and publics, who are thereby in danger of overlooking important trends in the current debate with extremist and sectarian elements across the world. The purpose of the conference was threefold: to learn about progressive media programs in the Islamic world and the courageous, creative individuals who produce them; to understand the context that these individuals operate within and discuss the impact and potential of their efforts; and to generate ideas on how to improve networking and cooperation with and among this emerging group of opinion leaders.

The running time for this DVD is 91 minutes.