Revisiting Media Narratives in Conflict: Bette Dam on Afghanistan and Beyond
A new podcast episode revisits the Western media’s coverage of the war in Afghanistan, offering insights into how conflict narratives are shaped and often distorted. As global tensions rise following U.S. missile strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, the discussion serves as a timely reflection on past reporting failures and their ongoing implications.
Guest Bette Dam, a Dutch journalist who spent 15 years reporting from Afghanistan, began her career in 2006 embedded with the Dutch military. Over time, she observed a consistent omission of Afghan civilian perspectives in Western media coverage, resulting in a portrayal of Afghanistan as uniformly violent and unstable. One of the most critical oversights, Dam argues, was the media’s failure to report that the Taliban attempted to surrender as early as December 2001.
In 2024, Dam completed a PhD at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels focusing on the role of Western media in conflict coverage. In 2025, she launched UNHEARD, a research initiative supported by the Tow Center at Columbia University. The project uses artificial intelligence to examine who is quoted in conflict reporting, aiming to surface narratives that are often overlooked or excluded. Dam is also the author of Looking for the Enemy: Mullah Omar and the Unknown Taliban and A Man in a Motorcycle: How Hamid Karzai Came to Power.
The podcast is part of an ongoing series featuring journalists and peacebuilders working across a range of global contexts—from negotiations in Colombia and anti-violence efforts in Chicago to women’s rights activism during the Syrian civil war. The series emphasizes the importance of understanding conflict through grounded, human-centered storytelling.
Listeners are encouraged to explore the episode and support the podcast’s independent journalism through tax-deductible contributions.