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PAULA SLIER

INTERNATIONAL JOURNALIST | KEYNOTE SPEAKER

MODERN CONFLICT | AI | NARRATIVES | BELIEF

PAUlA
SLIER

RECENT EVENT

fROM BOOTS TO BOTS: WHAT WARZONES TAUGHT ME ABOUT SPEAKER CREDIBILITY IN AN AGE OF NOISE AND INFORMATION WARFARE

UPCOMING SPEAKING EVENTS

17 September

Beyond the Binary: Why the Most Dangerous Form of Information Warfare Is Emotional. TEDx University of Johannesburg 2026

22 September at 9pm

talking at annual mini and junior city council, Johannesburg

17 NOVEMBER EVENING

MC at the 90th anniversary dinner of
ORT-JET, JOHANNESBURG

30+

Years of international journalism

26 +

FRONTLINES REPORTED FROM

6 000 +

LIVE INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTS

1 mission

Changing How the World Understands Modern Conflict

I used to think I was reporting on wars.
 
Over time, I realised I was really reporting on people.
 
That understanding took me into Hamas tunnels in Gaza in 2008, where I became one of the first female journalists to report from the group’s underground network. It took me to Homs, where a Syrian soldier on the frontline pressed a cross into my hand and asked me to pray for him.
 

It took me into the home of an Algerian family grieving a daughter they had just lost in an earthquake, yet who still insisted I join them at their table. It sat me beside a 17-year-old Kurdish Peshmerga fighter who had traded her schoolbooks for a rifle and her childhood for war. 

Those moments taught me that conflict is never just about territory, ideology or military strategy. It is about the people forced to live through it.
 
Long before I began studying information warfare, I was seeing it play out in real time. I just didn’t have the language for it yet. Those experiences continue to shape my work exploring how modern conflict, AI, and competing narratives influence what we believe.
 

"THE FRONTLINES HAVE CHANGED. THE BATTLE FOR TRUTH HAS NOT."

- paula slier

By the time conflict reaches the battlefield, the fight for hearts, minds and attention has often been raging for years.

Reporting from the world’s frontlines taught me that people rarely make decisions based on facts alone. They make them based on the stories they believe, the narratives they inherit and the people they trust.

Today, those same forces shape far more than war. They shape politics, business, leadership and public life. Leaders, governments and organisations are operating in a world where information moves faster than ever before, yet consensus on what is true is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve.

The challenge is no longer access to information. It is knowing what - and who - to trust. The ability to distinguish truth from manipulation is no longer a specialist skill. It is a leadership skill.

Governments, organisations, movements and brands are all competing to shape how we think, how we feel and, ultimately, the decisions we make. The question is no longer whether we are being influenced. The question is whether we recognise it.

I help people understand how narratives shape the way we think, influence the decisions we make and determine who we trust.

I help people understand how narratives shape the way we think, influence the decisions we make and determine who we trust.

The most important battles aren't always fought on the battlefield. They're fought over what people choose to believe.

The frontlines have changed. The battle for truth has not.

Paula

Watch Paula in Action

“THE MOST IMPORTANT BATTLES AREN’T ALWAYS FOUGHT ON THE BATTLEFIELD. THEY’RE FOUGHT OVER WHAT PEOPLE CHOOSE TO BELIEVE”

- paula slier

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