The Media of Conflict


Book Description

Savage wars in Bosnia, Rwanda, Liberia, Iraq and many other places continue to fill our television screens and newspapers with terrible images of conflict. Despite the optimism about world peace, brought about by the collapse of super-power hostilities in the early 1990s, we seem to be encountering more wars, or at least wars that are more socially traumatic. All too often, the media suggest that these conflicts are caused by the return of primordial loyalties and hatreds after the collapse of the Cold War, or that mass slaughter can be explained by reference to the inherently evil nature of individuals or groups. This book counters this kind of nonsense, and asks why such views have gained a currency. It examines the role of the media in inciting conflicts within nations, as well as the adverse impacts of news reporting on international perceptions - and on policy-making. But it also reveals how valuable informed journalism can be. Above all, it highlights the dangers of basing analysis on vague assertions about deep human motivation, or on mythologies of the past and the present promoted by the protagonists themselves.




Theorising Media and Conflict


Book Description

Theorising Media and Conflict brings together anthropologists as well as media and communication scholars to collectively address the elusive and complex relationship between media and conflict. Through epistemological and methodological reflections and the analyses of various case studies from around the globe, this volume provides evidence for the co-constitutiveness of media and conflict and contributes to their consolidation as a distinct area of scholarship. Practitioners, policymakers, students and scholars who wish to understand the lived realities and dynamics of contemporary conflicts will find this book invaluable.




Media and Conflict


Book Description

The world faces explosive conflicts about the distribution and scarcity of resources, about ethnicity and religion, and about the risks of urban life. These conflicts can easily spiral out of control toward mass slaughter-an evil of huge proportions that is often escalated by the media. What should be done to prevent this lethal trend? We need to understand how the 'spiral of escalation' works. How do media create anxiety, provide space for agitation, and disconnect people? Three approaches to the prevention of mass mediated aggression are proposed in this book: an early warning system for incitement to mass destruction, the invitation to disarming conversations in urban space, and the teaching of 'compassionate communication' to children and others. Alertness to the recurrence of collective violence is urgently needed not only in unstable and poor societies, but also in established democracies. Ordinary people can be incited to the mass slaughter of other ordinary people anywhere. Understanding the media's role in this and acting to prevent it are key goals of this book.




Media and Conflict: Framing Issues, Making Policy, Shaping Opinions


Book Description

This is the first book to focus on media and conflict - primarily international conflict - from multidisciplinary, cross-national and cross-cultural perspectives. Twenty-two contributors from around the globe present original and thought provoking research on media and conflict in the United States, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia, and Asia. Media and Conflict includes works both on the traditional print and electronic media and on new media including the Internet. It explores the role media play in different phases of conflict determined by goal and structure including conflict management, conflict resolution, and conflict transformation. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.




Discourse, Media, and Conflict


Book Description

Bringing together contributions from a team of international scholars, this pioneering book applies theories and approaches from linguistics, such as discourse analysis and pragmatics, to analyse the media and online political discourses of both conflict and peace processes. By analysing case studies as globally diverse as Germany, the USA, Nigeria, Iraq, Korea and Libya, and across a range of genres such as TV news channels, online reporting and traditional newspapers, the chapters collectively show how news discourse can be powerful in mobilizing public support for war or violence, or for conflict resolution, through the linguistic representation of certain groups. It explores the consequences of this 'framing' effect, and shows how peace journalism can be achieved through a non-violent approach to reporting conflict. It will therefore serve as an essential resource for students, scholars and experts in media and communication studies, conflict and peace studies, international relations, linguistics and political science.




Conflict, Trauma and the Media


Book Description

Conflict in all its guises is usually at the centre of news and whenever wars, natural disasters or divisions erupt, the media are there to report, record and commemorate. This collection of essays explores the complicated relationship between the messengers bringing news of catastrophic upheaval and the recipients of that message. It concentrates on the journalists, photographers and film-makers, reflecting not only the motivations behind their work, but also the psychological consequences of witnessing extreme suffering. The audience interpret the news according to their circumstance, be it with anger sympathy or with compassion-fatigued indifference. The book explores that reaction, which is always more nuanced than anticipated. Finally, the modern communication circle is completed by exploring the potential of the media to diminish conflict. This is demonstrated by the media bringing together communities that are either geographically or historically divided.




Media and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century


Book Description

This collection of essays explores current issues surrounding the media and conflict in the Twenty-first Century. Essays will look at the role of evolving media technologies, the globalization of television and communications, public diplomacy, gender and war coverage, terrorism, and other issues.




The News Media In National And International Conflict


Book Description

Ironically, as telecommunications technology—the embodiment of modernity—advances, bringing people in different nations into more direct contact during conflict situations, traditional cultural factors become increasingly important as differing ways of thinking and acting collide. The mass media can be seen as a factor in the creation of international conflict; they also, claim many scholars, are the key to control and resolution of those problems. Whichever side of the coin one chooses to look at—mass communication as cause or cure of conflict—there is no doubt that the news media are no longer peripheral players on the global scene; they are important participants whose organizational patterns of behavior, values, and motivations must be taken into account in understanding national and international conflict. In this volume, a distinguished group of authors explores the variety of ways the news media—newspapers, radio, and television—are involved in conflict situations. Conflicts between the United States and Iran, India and Pakistan, and the United States and China are examined, and national-level studies in Sri Lanka, Iran, Hong Kong, and the United States provide varied contexts in which the authors look at the complex interrelationships among government, news media, and the public in conflict situations.




Routledge Handbook of Media, Conflict and Security


Book Description

This Handbook links the growing body of media and conflict research with the field of security studies. The academic sub-field of media and conflict has developed and expanded greatly over the past two decades. Operating across a diverse range of academic disciplines, academics are studying the impact the media has on governments pursuing war, responses to humanitarian crises and violent political struggles, and the role of the media as a facilitator of, and a threat to, both peace building and conflict prevention. This handbook seeks to consolidate existing knowledge by linking the body of conflict and media studies with work in security studies. The handbook is arranged into five parts: Theory and Principles. Media, the State and War Media and Human Security Media and Policymaking within the Security State New Issues in Security and Conflict and Future Directions For scholars of security studies, this handbook will provide a key point of reference for state of the art scholarship concerning the media-security nexus; for scholars of communication and media studies, the handbook will provide a comprehensive mapping of the media-conflict field.




Before Emergency: Conflict Prevention and the Media


Book Description

This book is about two prominent issues: conflict prevention, and the media. Conflict prevention is a challenging concept for the media because journalists normally work on current affairs: reporting what is going on now, not trying to change the course of events in the medium or long term. However, the media can also play a determinant role in conflict prevention by providing swift and reliable information of emerging or potential conflicts to local and external actors. Governments, international organizations and public opinion alike need in-depth understanding of pre- and post-conflict social, economic, cultural and political environments in order to fully understand the benefits and feasibility of preventive policies.