"This framing study compares Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya coverage of the Israel–Palestine conflict during the 2008/2009 Gaza conflict and one year later, during a period of calm. Findings suggest that both networks used framing mechanisms to highlight Palestinian perspectives over Israeli ones and f
...
rame Palestinians as victims of Israeli aggression. The networks regularly described Palestinian casualties and showed images of Palestinian grief, provided more voice to Palestinian sources, and personalized Palestinian deaths." (Abstract)
more
"There is much literature and examples on how ICTs can be used by peace practitioners. However the bulk of this literature focuses on the use of ICTs before and during conflict, for example in conflict prevention and early warning. What about the use of ICTs in post-Conflict situations; after the ne
...
gotiation of peace agreements? How can ICTs be used in post-Conflict interventions; more specifically in post-Conflict peacebuilding and post-Conflict reconstruction and recovery? What role of can be played here by social media and user-generated content?" (Introduction)
more
"This report summarizes the findings of the learning group that was formed by the three grantees of USIP’s 2011 Communication for Peacebuilding priority grant program: Radio La Benevolencija in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Internews Network in the Central African Republic; and The World Polic
...
y Institute in Kenya. The purpose of the learning group was to facilitate knowledge-sharing, mutual learning, joint dissemination, and collaboration. The group met from September 20-21, 2012, at Internews headquarters in Washington, DC to debrief and discuss their projects." (Executive summary)
more
"Seit jeher provozieren Kriege heftige Emotionen. Mit dem Fortschritt militärischer Techniken und Propagandamethoden ging aber auch eine Veränderung der Wahrnehmung von Kriegen durch die Künste einher. Bis heute konstruieren die Literatur, die Fotografie, der Film und das Fernsehen Abbilder von K
...
riegsschauplätzen in aller Welt, die ihr Publikum durch die Aufrufung bestimmter ideologischer Rahmungen, Raster oder auch Pathosformeln gezielt zu emotionalisieren versuchen. Namhafte Autorinnen und Autoren aus der internationalen Literatur-, Kultur- und Medienwissenschaft untersuchen verschiedenste Phänomene der historischen und der aktuellen Kriegsinszenierung - in der Literatur seit dem 18. Jahrhundert, im Kino und in den neuen Medien." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"Ein Teil der Subkulturen des russischen Internets unterstützt heute offen und aggressiv das Regierungslager. Insbesondere sind dies die sogenannten padonki („Prolls“), die mit ihrer falschen Orthographie und obszönen Lexik früher gezielt provozierten, deren Wortschöpfungen heute aber Teil d
...
er Populärkultur geworden sind. Der scheinbare Widerspruch zwischen dem einst rebellischen Auftreten dieser Gruppen und ihrer heutigen staatsnahen Position löst sich bei näherer Betrachtung auf. Zur psychosozialen Disposition der padonki gehörte von Beginn an das Ressentiment. Das herrschende Regime hat sich diese Disposition erfolgreich zunutze gemacht und profitiert heute mit von der Bekanntheit der ehemaligen „Prolls." (Abstract)
more
"Picturing Afghanistan is an in-depth account of the Euro-American visualization of the conflict in Afghanistan. Comparing images in public affairs, psychological warfare, journalism and the photobook, the author argues that there are no strong boundaries between photography in war and photography a
...
bout war. He shwos how and when the media have adopted, extended and counterframed the public affairs discourse of militarism and humanitarianism, and how and when public affairs rely on the aesthetic codes of photojournalism. Instead of enforcing a unified interpretation, the author considers photography's ambiguous and contradictory aspects. It is argued that, even within the conventionalized genre of photojournalism, photographs of conflict do not merely promote unity and social cohesion but express anxieties associated with the breakdown of imagined communities." (Back cover)
more
"This paper concludes that in Africa the non-Western press may have the best chance to employ peace journalism, given its proximity to major conflicts. Nevertheless, the Kenyan press has so far failed to take advantage of an ideal opportunity for such an experiment in reporting on the war against te
...
rror. Kenya's press still operates within the war journalism framework. This paper employs a theoretical approach that combines theories of media representation in mainstream journalism with the concepts of peace journalism. Methodologically, it adopts a triangulating approach, employing both quantitative and qualitative content analysis to study the representations of Operation Linda Nchi by the Kenyan Daily Nation and The Standard and thereby offers a critical appraisal of the possibility for peace journalism to cover international terrorism in Africa." (Abstract)
more
"Advocacy communication is now a key action term in development discourse. Advocates are usually issue- or programme-oriented and do not often think in terms of an ongoing process of social change in general, or peacebuilding in particular. The resolution of an issue or the initiation of a programme
...
are ends in themselves. Thus, the primary aim of advocacy is to foster public policies that are supportive to the solution of an issue or programme. Since public policies must be viewed as an integral part of development processes, the kind of advocacy we advocate is participatory." (Abstract)
more
"Die Rolle von Medien und media assistance im praktischen peacebuilding kritisch untersuchend, erläutert der vorliegende Artikel Aspekte für eine erfolgreiche und konstruktive Konflikttransformation. Anhand von Erfahrungen aus Kolumbien werden allerdings auch jene gesellschaftspolitischen Determin
...
anten herausgearbeitet, die eben einen solchen Beitrag begrenzen. Es wird das Fazit gezogen, dass es in jedem einzelnen Konflikt eines interdisziplinären Lernprozesses bedarf, in dessen Verlauf zusammen mit policymakern, Geldgebern und Medienschaffenden sorgfältig evaluiert wird, wann, wie und warum Medien und Journalisten ins peacebuilding eingebunden werden sollen." (Zusammenfassung)
more
"Does improved communication as provided by modern cell phone technology affect the production of violence during insurgencies? Theoretical predictions are ambiguous, introducing cell phones can enhance insurgent communications but can also make it easier for the population to share information with
...
counterinsurgents and creates passive signals intelligence collection opportunities. We provide the first systematic test of the effect of cell phone communication on conflict using data on Iraq’s cell phone network and event data on violence. We show that increased mobile communications reduced insurgent violence in Iraq, both at the district level and for specific local coverage areas." (Abstract)
more
"Aid work in relation to conflict and peace is often based on approaches, strategies and tactics that are rooted in theories of change (understandings about why particular inputs or activities are expected to achieve intended results [outputs, outcomes and impacts]) that are unstated or ill-defined.
...
They are embedded in the skills and approaches of individual practitioners and peacebuilding organisations, their capacities and technologies, attachments to favourite methodologies, and the perspectives of different stakeholders about conflict and peace. In the imaginary example of an anti-bias peace programme for journalists in Annex C, one question would be how the planned workshops, consciousness raising, and skills development might actually change conflict reporting. The programme could track the language used in reporting before and after the effort and also survey public attitudes. At the same time, it could see whether the activities were achieving the expected results – or if unexpected obstacles appeared. For instance, it might turn out that individual journalists have very little influence over the use of inflammatory language and that editors determine the use of such language to boost sales. That outcome would suggest that the “theory”, about inducing changes in reporting by training journalists, was flawed. One related task is to identify the sources of theories. Are they a) based on experience (the programme designers’ personal and professional experience or that of the stakeholders and beneficiaries consulted during programme design); or b) research-based? Evaluation can contribute to improving the design and implementation of ongoing programmes." (Page 80)
more
"This article presents and discusses the results of an experiment, which gathered audience responses to television news coded as war journalism and peace journalism respectively, in two countries, Australia and the Philippines. From the peace journalism model, evaluative criteria were first derived
...
as a set of headings for content analysis of existing television news as broadcast in each country. The test material was then coded to fall within the upper and lower peace journalism quintiles of the ‘idiom and range’ of local television journalism in each case. Distinctions under the headings were particularized for individual stories by critical discourse analysis, to disclose potential sources of influence transmitted into audience frames. Data about emotional responses, gathered from self-reporting questionnaires, were combined with a textual artefact, with participants completing a ‘thought-listing protocol’ as they watched. Focus groups also viewed the material and provided more in-depth narrative responses. Watching peace journalism left people less angry and fearful, and more hopeful and empathic. Peace journalism viewers were also less inclined to apportion ‘blame’ to one ‘side’, and more likely to think about cooperative solutions to the problems presented." (Abstract)
more
"Deadly, unpunished violence against the press rose sharply in Pakistan and Mexico, continuing a dark, years-long trend in both nations, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in its newly updated Impunity Index. The global index, which calculates unsolved journalist murders as a percentage
...
of each country’s population, shows that Pakistani authorities routinely fail to bring prosecutions in journalist murders, including several with suspected government links, while Mexican officials are yet to effectively combat the murderous crime groups targeting news media in vast parts of the nation [...] CPJ’s index found improving conditions in Colombia and Nepal, along with a long-term decline in deadly, antipress violence in Bangladesh that caused that country to drop off the list entirely. But the four worst nations in combating journalist murders—Iraq, Somalia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka—showed virtually no sign of progress." (Page 2)
more
"Durch ein vom Europäischen Flüchtlingsfonds (EFF) gefördertes einjähriges Projekt hat Reporter ohne Grenzen erstmals versucht, mehr über die Lebenssituation von nach Deutschland geflohenen Journalisten oder Bloggern in Erfahrung zu bringen. Dabei ging es vor allem darum, welche konkreten Probl
...
eme im Asylverfahren und danach auftauchen und die Journalisten daran hindern, ihre berufliche Tätigkeit fortzusetzen. Die im März 2011 gestartete Umfrage basierte auf mehrsprachigen Fragebögen (Deutsch, Englisch, Farsi, Russisch), die an die Zielgruppe versandt hat. Den Kontakt zu den Betroffenen stellte das Nothilfereferat direkt oder indirekt über Kooperationspartner (Flüchtlingsräte, Beratungsstellen) her. Der vorliegende Bericht stützt sich auf die Aussagen von Medienschaffenden, mit denen das Nothilfereferat bereits zusammengearbeitet oder im Verlauf des Projekts Kontakt aufgenommen hat. Er erhebt nicht den Anspruch, repräsentativ für die Situation von Journalisten im Exil in Deutschland zu sein. Ausgehend von 59 versendeten Fragebögen, von denen Reporter ohne Grenzen 49 ausgefüllt zurück erhielt, kann aber von vergleichsweise relevanten Erkenntnissen ausgegangen werden." (Einführung, Seite 2)
more
"This report is part of an ongoing project to monitor various types of conflicts as covered by select samples of media in Pakistan, including newspapers and TV channels the media. In this report, the focus is on terrorism related conflict. The report contains in depth content analysis of terrorism r
...
elated news coverage in three newspapers and three news channels, over the period of three months - i.e. from January 1st 2012 to March 31st 2012. The report has been prepared by Intermedia Pakistan, a Pakistani media development organization focusing on advocacy, research and training on media issues." (Page 2)
more
"The government in Syria came to differentiate between political dissent and the civil society activism in which the new generation plays a vital role thanks to the use of social media. Unable to control the burst of online activity, Damascus was forced to focus on monitoring key dissenters and huma
...
n rights activists rather than wasting time and resources on monitoring thousands of youth and civil society activists who are turning to web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook and Twitter to promote change and development. Online social media, which virtually anyone can use from home, played a central role in the Syrian uprising and helped break the decades-old government media monopoly. But it helped the Syrian government crack down on activists." (Page 1)
more
"This paper aims at investigating the relationship between traditional and social media during the first six months of the Syrian uprising. Thanks to direct testimony made available to the author by various cyber activists inside and outside Syria and through constant monitoring of the official prop
...
aganda and the coverage of the Syrian events by the two main pan-Arab satellite TVs, this article intends to investigate how both the regime and the activists attempt to represent the “real events on the ground”. In a country where the foreign and pan-Arab press have been mostly expelled since the beginning of the protests and the consequent repression, these two opposite poles heavily fight on the media level. On the one hand, the propaganda dominates traditional media and has sought to show familiarity with new methods, while maintaining the same content and rhetorical tone. On the other hand, the activists, masters of the new media, attempted to overcome the limitations of their tools, aiming at more traditional forms of communication. In both cases, the Internet has emerged as the main weapon of this media confrontation." (Abstract)
more