Primary Navigation
Simon Thibault
2010 Trudeau Scholar
simon.thibault@trudeaufoundation.net
Current Research
Ph.D. Public Communication, Laval University / Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris 3)
Reform of the media environment in countries in reconstruction: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo
Biography
Journalist and consultant Simon Thibault earned a bachelor's of political science at Laval University and a master's in international relations at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa. After his studies, he worked as a consultant in Washington, D.C., for the Organization of American States and for the evaluation unit of the World Bank Institute, carrying out studies in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. He was then hired by Universalia, a Montreal firm that specializes in evaluating international development projects. In three years, he worked in some fifteen countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caucasus, evaluating projects for CIDA, the UN and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
In 2003, he left his job to complete a graduate degree in journalism at Laval University and City University, in London. After that, he and a friend went to Chad, at the Sudanese border to cover for L'actualité and Radio-Canada the exodus of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict in Darfur. From 2005 to 2009, he worked as an independent journalist, travelling to different areas around the world. In Latin America, he produced reports on the fall of the Bolivian and Ecuadorian presidents. In the Middle East, reporting for L'actualité, he covered the war between Israel and Hezbollah and the crisis in Palestine after the election of Hamas. He also created two documentaries for Télé-Québec, one of which dealt with the Taliban insurrection and the opium trade in Afghanistan. Then he worked as a reporter for Radio-Canada in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
It was during his work abroad that he decided to pursue a Ph.D. in order to concentrate on research and teaching. He is interested in international efforts to foster freedom of the press in countries in transition or crisis. His doctoral project focuses on media reform in Bosnia and Herzevovina and Kosovo.Project Description
Reform of the media environment in countries in reconstruction: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo
Since the end of the 1990s, the international community has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to reform the media environment in conflict-riddled societies such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Countries (such as Canada) spend these sums in unstable countries because they subscribe to the liberal theory that the media play a primary role in fostering good governance and social harmony. But on the ground, observers have noted a lack of coordination between donor countries in the implementation of their reform strategies, especially the United States and certain European countries. Focusing on Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, we will explore whether philosophical differences between American and European authorities about the journalistic model to establish in these two countries have been a source of discord. Depending on the outcome, we will examine whether this discord has hindered the coordination of efforts by donor countries to reform the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the signing of the Dayton peace accord in 1995 and in Kosovo since the end of the conflict in 1999.Trudeau Foundation Themes
No items have been added to this area.
Viewed 3,914 times
Page Options