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Selected Readings on the Media's Role in Crises in Africa and Abroad

Baird, V.
"Spiked!"
New Internationalist, 256, Jun 1994, 4-7.
Introduces the theme of this issue: the Western media and its coverage of the Third World. Asks why so many news stories never make the news, and examines some of the obstacles in their way.

FOX, Fiona
"Rwanda: The Journalist's Role"
Month, 29 (5), May 1996, 186-9.
Two years after the genocide in Rwanda, an event widely publicized in the press and broadcast media, the vast majority of the British public remain completely bemused as to the cause of the killing. Takes a critical look at the media's coverage and calls for a return to the best traditions of investigative journalism.

GOWING, Nik
"Media Coverage: Help or Hindrance in Conflict Prevention?
A report to the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict"
New York: Carnegie Corporation, 1997.
Journalists and policy makers alike tend to assume that media coverage
has an undefined yet pivotal role in helping conflict management or
prevention. On the contrary, in many cases reports by the media of impending crises have been ignored by the international community. Impartial reporting on conflicts has moreover been negated by media organizations that "peddle one line to the exclusion of other evidence."

JAKOBSEN, Peter Viggo
"National Interest, Humanitarianism or CNN:
What Triggers UN Peace Enforcement After the Cold War?"
Journal of Peace Research, 33(2), May 1996, 205-215.
Compares UN peacekeeping operations in Iraq, Somalia, Rwanda, and Haiti to determine whether these were initiated by U.S. national interest or humanitarian sentiment. Questions whether the "CNN factor" of media reporting drives humanitarian interventions.

McCANN, P.
"Lights, camera, war"
Independent on Sunday, Feb 22, 1998, 19.
Suggests that reporters following the chemical and biological weapons
story in Iraq are staking our position for Gulf War II, and that the ratings battle has only just begun.

MINEAR, L. [et al.]
"The News Media, Civil War, and Humanitarian Action"
Boulder, CO: Lynne Reiner, 1996.
Examines motives for government and humanitarian intervention in
disasters across the globe, and the role that the media can play in catalyzing or influencing relief effort.

MOULD, David H.
"Press Pools and Military-Media Relations in the Gulf War:
A Case Study of the Battle of Khafji," January 1991.
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 16 (2), Jun 1996,
133-59.
Examines this battle in the light of the nature of warfare, media
technology, military and press priorities, the press pool, briefing
system, and confusion in the military and press corps. Was this a military defeat or propaganda victory? Discusses the impact of the battle on military-media relations.

NEUMAN, Johanna
"Lights, Camera, War: Is Media Technology Driving International Politics?"
New York: St. Martins Press, 1996.
Presents "a historical perspective for current concerns that new
technology is making fundamental changes in international relations and diplomacy." In each generation, effective leaders have learned how to use new technologies to accomplish their purposes.

ROTBERT, R. and Thomas G. Weiss (ed.)
"From Massacres to Genocide:
The Media, Public Policy and Humanitarian Crises"
Washington: Brookings Institute, 1996.
Examines the extent to which media coverage and its relief agencies can influence policy making toward humanitarian emergencies, ethnic and religious conflicts, and other crises. Includes recommendations.

SHAW, Martin
"Civil Society and Media in Global Crises:
Representing Distance Violence"
London: Pinter, 1996.
Discusses how Western societies respond to recent global crises and the formation of "global civil society." Examines the role of media coverage of war and the formation of public opinion. The media are of increasing importance because of the decline of other institutions in civil society and the inability of parties, churches, and even social movements, to represent the victims of complex international crises.

UGRESIC, D.
"The Culture of Lies"
Index on Censorship, 23 (1-2), May/Jun 1994, 23-43.
New lies are written over old truths as the people of ex-Yugoslavia are terrorized by the conflict into remembering and forgetting. Clearly shows how media lies helped instigate a war of intolerance in the Balkans.