"Stories of journalists entering conflict zones without basic equipment or first aid training are all too familiar; so too are reports of news outlets washing their hands of responsibility regarding commissioned freelancers. This needs to change, and it can, so long as enough voices in the industry
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back initiatives to implement minimum working standards. This was the objective of a retreat for international journalists who have reported from Syria since conflict broke out in early 2011: to produce a set of minimum professional and safety standards for journalists reporting from conflict zones and their employers, drawing on their experiences and challenges in the field. What follows is an outline of a series of discussions held over the three-day retreat among some 45 journalists, photographers and filmmakers, which led to the production of a minimum standards document. Participants discussed their greatest personal, security and professional challenges faced when reporting from Syria, including experiences with kidnappings, news blackouts, computer encryption, cultural sensitivity and post-traumatic stress disorder. Their recommendations are outlined in the “Minimum Working Standards for Journalists in Conflict Zones” (appendix 1) and “Recommendations to Press Freedom Organisations” (appendix 2)." (Executive summary)
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"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
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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)
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"Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, war journalists have reported news from the battlefields and streets of Baghdad to the world audiences. As the violent conflict in Iraq winds down, so do the war reporting operations in Iraq. Based on in-depth interviews with 23 war correspondents, this study inv
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estigates gatekeeping forces that affected the journalists’ news coverage of the Iraq War. The study found that the war journalists singled out personal judgment, an individual-level gatekeeping force, to be the most salient element in reporting the escalation period of the Iraq War. However, the journalists responded that financial constraints and deference to audience interest, organizational-level, and social institutional-level gatekeeping forces determined the direction and the volume of the war reporting more saliently during the de-escalation period of the Iraq War." (Abstract)
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"This article examines how war journalism has shaped knowledge production on media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how its discontent underscores the need for a shift to peace correspondence in the conflict. The article essentially relies on existing empirical literature on media c
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overage of the conflict, dating from early 1960s. Evidences from other conflict environments where index hypotheses produced better model than the zero-sum hypotheses for explaining media’s role in conflicts were spotlighted in supporting the thesis of this article that a shift to peace correspondence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is possible with continued efforts on awareness creation among professional journalists. Tracking the shift will however require that the awareness efforts be accompanied by time-series research on the indicators of war and peace journalism using Galtung’s classification and other acceptable criteria." (Abstract)
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"According to Galtung, a peace journalism frame is one that highlights peace initiatives and tones down differences by promoting conflict resolution. A war journalism frame, in his view, is one that highlights differences between opposing parties, urging violence as means to a resolution. Thus, base
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d on the above classification of these two competing frames of war coverage, this is one of the first studies to empirically test the model via a visual quantitative analysis. Using news photographs, this study analyzes the extent to which the Gaza War (2008-2009) was represented as war versus peace journalism in the three leading Western newswires (Associated Press, Reuters, and AFP/Getty Images). Findings indicate that all three wires combined provided a variety of visual frames to communicate a comprehensive coverage of the event. This observed pattern therefore highlights the role of gatekeeping in providing a broad-based understanding of conflicts. In other words, it becomes crucial to note that photo selections in terms of war versus peace journalism ultimately has an impact in shaping public opinion and influencing perceptions of news events. Furthermore, from a theoretical standpoint, this work expands the classification of war versus peace journalism by operationalizing these frames into concrete pictorial patterns from a visual communication perspective." (Abstract)
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"The goal of this study was to analyze the extent to which the visual coverage of the final stages (April=May 2009) of the long-lasting Sri Lankan Civil War relied on war and peace frames. Based on the revolutionary conceptual work of Norwegian scholar Johan Galtung, who viewed war and peace journal
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ism as two competing frames in covering conflicts and wars, we examined news photographs available from Associated Press (AP), Reuters, and Getty/Agence France-Press (AFP). To date, this topic has been discussed from mostly normative viewpoints, and only little research combined the peace journalism concept with visual framing and/or the role of newswires as gatekeeper of information. We tested this concept empirically by using content analysis of editorial news photographs of the conflict in the three leading Western newswires. By and large, our results suggest that overall visual coverage of the conflict waxed and waned over time, but was primarily driven by visuals originated in the Sinhalese-dominated regions of Sri Lanka. Further, newswires are serving very different purposes and news markets: the AP–and to a lesser extent also Getty/AFP–with their focus on external events (therefore qualifying for peace journalism) and Reuters with a stronger focus on the conflict itself (thus qualifying for war journalism). Overall, the stock photo agency Getty/AFP was found to be the newswire that is most likely to provide media outlets with photographs highlighting peace frames, with the most balanced coverage between the two conflict parties and a particular emphasis on peace demonstrations worldwide, negotiations and summit meetings." (Abstract)
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"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
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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)
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"Media and Terrorism brings together leading scholars to explore how the world's media have influenced, and in turn, been influenced by terrorism and the war on terror in the aftermath of 9/11. Accessible and user-friendly with lively and current case studies, it is a perfect student text and is an
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essential handbook on the dynamics of war and the media in a global context." (Publisher description)
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"A collection of essays from scholars around the globe examining the ethical issues and problems associated with some of the major areas within contemporary international communication: journalism, PR, marketing communication, and political rhetoric." (Publisher description)
"Two major conclusions can be drawn on the basis of our case study. First, our analysis confirms that war reporting is characterized by a confluence of nationalist and sexist discourse. This discursive universe restricts the lives of women to a rather limited set of roles tied to the private domain
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– caring mothers, loving wives, dutiful daughters and sisters – and expects them to reproduce the nation both biologically and culturally. Indeed, the television coverage of the military conflict between the Yugoslav People’s Army and the Slovenian Territorial Defence in 1991 was almost devoid of female actors, let alone women who would appear in professional, public capacity. Out of all news reports dedicated to the conflict over the course of 20 days, women appear as participants in fewer than 5 percent of them and, of these, the vast majority are identified as wives and mothers, whose main concerns are achieving biological reproduction and protection of their families and their nation." (Conclusion, page 1057)
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"The role of journalists in covering trauma and tragedy isn’t new. Witnessing acts of violence, destruction and terror has long been the professional responsibility of countless print and broadcast reporters and photographers. But what is new is a growing awareness of the emotional consequences of
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such coverage on the victims, their families and loved ones, their communities, and on the journalists whose job it is to tell these stories. Trauma Journalism personalizes this movement with in-depth profiles of reporters, researchers and trauma experts engaged in an international effort to transform how the media work under the most difficult of conditions. Through biographical sketches concerning several significant traumatic events (Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine school tragedy, 9/11, Iraq War, the South Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina), students and working reporters will gain insights into the critical components of contemporary journalism practices affecting news judgment, news gathering techniques, as well as legal and ethical issues. Trauma Journalism calls for the creation – through ongoing education – of a culture of caring among journalists worldwide." (Publisher description)
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"Building on rigorous research by the world-renowned Glasgow University Media Group, 'More Bad News From Israel' examines media coverage of the current conflict in the Middle East and the impact it has on public opinion. The book brings together senior journalists and ordinary viewers to examine how
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audiences understand the news and how their views are shaped by media reporting. In the largest study ever undertaken in this area, the authors focus on television news. They illustrate major differences in the way Israelis and Palestinians are represented, including how casualties are shown and the presentation of the motives and rationales of both sides. They combine this with extensive audience research involving hundreds of participants from the USA, Britain and Germany. It shows extraordinary differences in levels of knowledge and understanding, especially amongst young people from these countries." (Publisher description)
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