Western Media on Foreign Crisis

Oganjanyan, Amalia

Western Media on Foreign Crisis

Balance and Conflict-Sensitivity in Foreign Reporting with an Example of the Russia-Georgia War of 08.08.2008

von Amalia Oganjanyan (Autor:in)

Medien / Kommunikation - Printmedien, Presse

Zusammenfassung

Inhaltsangabe:Der Studiengang International Media Studies wurde in Kooperation von der Deutschen Welle-Akademie, der Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg und der Universität Bonn eingeführt.
Introduction:
Motivation:
As the Russia-Georgia war of 2008 started, I had just arrived in Germany. At the time, nobody ever really believed that military actions would ever take place between the two countries, though there was a lot of talk about the possibility.
During the first days of the war, while in Germany, it was challenging to get information from the Georgian media. Later I learned of the hacker attacks on Georgian websites, and also that people in Georgia could not visit any Russian websites. I was having trouble even contacting my family through land telephone lines. It seemed that the information war between Russia and Georgia had gained strength. Russia Today was describing Georgians as the worst villains, and CNN was expressing its empathy towards Georgia. It was a confusing atmosphere of an enormous amount of discrepancies.
After the war, there were a lot of manipulations and speculations about the causes and the flow of the military conflict. This triggered my reflection on whether media of directly involved parties under the combat circumstances can stay balanced and unbiased. Both Russian and Georgian media seem to face significant challenges related to media independence because of the relatively short and fragile democratic development taking place in both countries. It may be naive to expect an absence of bias from media organizations from either country; instead it would be more plausible to look to media of third countries to play a neutral observer role. Certainly, every media and every country represents its own interests but nobody speaks about ideal configurations.
During my master study at the Deutsche Welle, I attended a seminar on the peace journalism which motivated me to come back to my previous questions and try to find out whether the reporting on the Russia-Georgia war was conflict-sensitive or balanced in any way. The conflict between Russia and Georgia is an ongoing conflict with varying phases of escalation and de-escalation. Visible and invisible consequences of the war are still unresolved such as insufficient care of the refugees, inexact data of casualties and other issues.
Statement of problem and research question:
People are always curious about what happens outside their own countries, about, so called, foreign […]

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Amalia Oganjanyan

Western Media on Foreign Crisis

Balance and Conflict-Sensitivity in Foreign Reporting with an Example of the Russia-

Georgia War of 08.08.2008

ISBN: 978-3-8428-2354-9

Herstellung: Diplomica® Verlag GmbH, Hamburg, 2011

Zugl. Fachhochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, Bonn, Deutschland, MA-Thesis / Master, 2011

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Abstract

Reporting on a foreign war or crisis is a challenging activity, a true professional test for

a journalist. Media is often criticized for promoting violence by its conflict reporting:

either by staying detached or by being biased.

Peace, or conflict-sensitive, journalism, was created for improvement of conflict

coverage: it emphasizes the active role of journalists in de-escalation of conflict and

encourages them to report on peaceful solutions. This relatively novel approach might

be met with skepticism, as it appears too idealistic and demanding to be followed by

journalists. In order to verify the applicability of peace journalism, this thesis presents a

comparative analysis of six US, UK and German newspapers on how conflict-sensitive,

or at least balanced, they were in their reporting on the Russia-Georgia war of 2008.

The content analysis of those six media has demonstrated that the peace journalism

approach is not easy to implement into practice due to some imperfections of its

models; its parameters need to become more feasible and more specific. The case study

has showed that those particular western media were neither conflict-sensitive nor war-

oriented in their coverage of the Russia-Georgia war, and thus they kept the in-between

stance. Overall, the reporting was balanced, particularly in its negative attitude towards

all parties involved in the conflict.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my supervisors: it was a big honor to collaborate with you all these

months.

My immense thanks to my first supervisor Dr. Katja Schupp for her enormous patience

and permanent readiness to help me with her wise instructions. Thank you very much,

Dr. Schupp, for your support especially when it seemed to me that I was lost and could

not find answers for conceptual or theoretical dilemmas: you always were so great in

your believe in my strengths and in encouragements during my work.

My enormous thanks to my second supervisor Dr. Beate Illg for her exact hints and her

great expertise, particularly in fields of methodology and scientific work. Thank you,

Dr. Illg, for your positive attitude, your time and your very kind support: I learned

indeed so much from you about content analysis, research methods, presentation of

findings and being able to see the whole picture of a research.

A special thanks to my third, external, supervisor Herr Ingo Mannteufel, who was one

of the first persons who learned about the topic of my thesis, showed interest to it and

assisted a lot in finding the right perspectives. Thank you very much, Herr Mannteufel,

that you always found time for me and my endless questions, for showing me a way out,

particularly in the Russian-Georgian relations.

I am very grateful to you, Dr. Roland Schürhoff: your doors were always open for me,

thank you especially for your confidence in content analysis and work with SYSTAT.

I would also like to express my thanks to Dr. Nadine Bilke and Herr Martin Zint for

their valuable hints and expertise in the field of peace journalism.

Finally, my thanks to all my International Media Studies' colleagues for our discussions

and their comments on my thesis, which helped me so much to move forward and to get

a clear idea of what I want to reach with my research and how I ought to do that.

III

Contents

Abstract

...I

Acknowledgements

... II

List of tables and diagrams

... V

Abbreviations

...VII

1 Introduction

... 1

1.1 Motivation ... 1

1.2 Statement of problem and research question ... 2

1.3 Methodology and limitation of the work ... 3

1.4 Previous researches on the subject ... 4

1.5 Structure of the study ... 7

Theoretical framework

... 8

2.1

Clarification of terms ... 8

2.1.1

Foreign reporting ... 8

2.1.2

Conflict, Crisis, War ... 8

2.1.3

Foreign Crisis ... 11

2.1.4

Peace ... 11

2.1.5

Conflict reporting ... 11

2.1.6

Peace, or conflict-sensitive, journalism ... 12

2.1.7

Balance ... 12

2.1.8

Framing ... 13

2.1.9

Russia-Georgia war ... 13

2.2

Clarification of concepts ... 14

2.2.1

Foreign reporting ... 14

2.2.2

Conflict reporting ...18

2.2.3

Role of media in conflict reporting ... 26

2.2.4

Peace, or conflict-sensitive, journalism ... 27

2.2.5

News criteria of conflict reporting ... 35

2.2.6

Peace journalism and stages of conflict escalation

... 40

2.2.7

Peace journalism versus war journalism ... 42

2.2.8

Peace journalism controversy ... 46

2.2.9

Balance of reporting as professional standard in journalism ... 49

2.2.10

Framing analysis of media content ... 51

Empirical framework

... 53

3.1

Case study: Russia- Georgia war of 08.08.08. ...53

3.2

Methodology ... 60

3.3 Findings

... 68

3.3.1

Interest of western media in the Russia-Georgia war ... 68

3.3.2

Development of coverage ... 70

3.3.3

Conflict-sensitivity of the reporting on the Russia-Georgia war ... 73

3.3.3.1 War/violence-oriented versus peace/conflict oriented ... 73

3.3.3.2 Propaganda-oriented versus truth-oriented ... 79

3.3.3.3 Elite-oriented versus people-oriented ... 81

3.3.3.4 Victory-oriented versus solution-oriented ...84

3.3.3.5 Escalation- or de-escalation-oriented headlines ... . 88

3.3.3.6 Summary ... 89

3.3.4

Balance of the reporting on the Russia-Georgia war ... 92

3.3.4.1 Description of results ...92

3.3.4.2 Summary ...105

Discussion

...108

4.1 Applicability of the theoretical approaches

...108

4.2 Limitations of the work

... 112

4.3 Recommendations for future researches .

... 113

Conclusion

... 115

Bibliography

...117

Appendix

...127

No. 1 Code book ...127

No. 2 Total coverage of FAZ, SZ, NYT, WP, GD, IP in August 2008

according to dates ... 135

No. 3 Total coverage of FAZ, SZ, NYT, WP, GD, IP in August 2008

according to genres ... 136

No. 4 Coverage of FAZ in August 2008 ... 137

No. 5 Coverage of SZ in August 2008 ... 138

No. 6 Coverage of NYT in August 2008 ... 139

No. 7 Coverage of WP in August 2008 ...140

No. 8 Coverage of GD in August 2008 ...141

No. 9 Coverage of IP in August 2008 ...142

No. 10 Sample of a peace-oriented, or conflict-sensitive, reporting ... 143

No. 11 Sample of a war-oriented reporting ... 145

List of tables and diagrams

Table 2.1 Strategies of conflict-sensitive journalism according to Bilke ...31

Table 2.2 Four-factor news communication model ...36

Table 2.3 Climatic zones of conflict reporting ...38

Table 2.4 Climatic conditions of zones in conflict reporting ...39

Table 2.5 Peace/conflict journalism vs. war/violence journalism ...44

Diagram 3.1 Development of coverage of the Russia-Georgia war by

FAZ, SZ, NYT, WP, WP, GD and IP in August 2008...72

Diagram 3.2 Development of total coverage of the

Russia-Georgia war in August 2008 ...72

Table: 3.1 Workflow of this thesis ... 61

Table 3.2 Range of variables and their parameter values used in the code book ... 64

Table 3.3 Focus on conflict arena or conflict formation according to newspapers ...74

Table 3.4 Focus on conflict arena or conflict formation according to countries ...74

Table 3.5 Background information according to newspapers ...75

Table 3.6 Background information according to countries ...75

Table 3.7 Visible and invisible consequences according to newspapers ...76

Table 3.8 Visible and invisible consequences according to countries ...77

Table 3.9 Perception of conflict according to newspapers ...78

Table 3.10 Perception of conflict according to countries ...78

Table 3.11 Humanization aspect according to newspapers ...79

Table 3.12 Humanization aspect according to countries ...79

Table 3.13 Exposition of untruth according to newspapers ...80

Table 3.14 Exposition of untruth according to countries ... 81

Table 3.15 Solution focus on peacemakers according to newspapers ...82

Table 3.16 Solution focus on peacemakers according to newspapers ...82

Table 3.17 Focus on sufferings of EP according to newspapers ...82

Table 3.18 Focus on sufferings of EP according to countries ...83

Table 3.19 Focus on sufferings of NEP according to newspapers ...83

Table 3.20 Focus on sufferings of NEP according to countries ...83

Table 3.21 Solution orientation according to newspapers ...84

Table 3.22 Solution orientation according to newspapers ...85

Table 3.23 Detailed solution orientation according to newspapers ...85

Table 3.24 Detailed solution orientation according to countries ...86

Table 3.25 Peace initiatives according to newspapers ...86

Table 3.26 Peace initiatives according to countries ...86

Table 3.27 Aftermath of conflict according to newspapers ...87

Table 3.28 Aftermath of conflict according to countries ...87

Table 3.29 Headline orientation according to newspapers ...89

Table 3.30 Headline orientation according to countries ...89

Table 3.31 Authorities elite stakeholders according to newspapers ...92

Table 3.32 Authorities elite stakeholders according to countries ...93

Table 3.33 Experts elite stakeholders according to newspapers ...93

Table 3.34 Experts elite stakeholders according to countries ...93

Table 3.35 Non- elite (NEP) stakeholders according to newspapers ...94

Table 3.36 Non-elite (NEP) stakeholders according to countries ...94

Table 3.37 Authorities as source of information according to newspapers...94

Table 3.38 Authorities as source of information according to countries ...95

Table 3.39 Experts as source of information according to newspapers ...95

Table 3.40 Experts as source of information according to countries ...96

Table 3.41 NEP as source of information according to newspapers ...96

Table 3.42 NEP as source of information according to countries ...96

Table 3.43 Geographical location of coverage according to newspapers ... 97

Table 3.44 Geographical location of coverage according to countries ... 97

Table 3.45 Accountability of Georgia according to newspapers ...98

Table 3.46 Accountability of Georgia according to countries ...98

Table 3.47 Accountability of Russia according to newspapers ...99

Table 3.48 Accountability of Russia according to countries ...99

Table 3.49 Accountability of South Ossetia according to newspapers ...99

Table 3.50 Accountability of South Ossetia according to countries ...100

Table 3.51 Accountability of West according to newspapers ...100

Table 3.52 Accountability of West according to countries ...101

Table 3.53 Depiction of Georgian authorities according to newspapers ...101

Table 3.54 Depiction of Georgian authorities according to countries ...102

Table 3.55 Depiction of Russian authorities according to newspapers ...102

Table 3.56 Depiction of Russian authorities according to countries ...102

Table 3.57 Depiction of Western authorities according to newspapers ...103

Table 3.58 Depiction of Western authorities according to countries ...103

Table 3.59 Depiction of Georgian non-elite people according to newspapers ...104

Table 3.60 Depiction of Georgian non-elite people according to countries ...104

VII

Abbreviations

Abkh - Abkhazian or Abkhazia

AKUF - Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung of the Institut für Politische

Wissenschaft Universität Hamburg

AP Associated Press

BBC - British Broadcasting Company

CIS - Commonwealth of Independent States

CNN Canle News Network

DE - GE - Germany

e.g. - for example (from Lat. exempli gratia)

EP - elite people

FAZ - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

FES - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

GD - Guardian

Geo - Georgian or Georgia

H - hypothesis

i.e. - that is (from Lat. id est)

IIFFMCG - Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia

IP - Independent

JA - journalism of attachment

KAS - Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NEP - non-elite people

No. - number

NPR - National Public Radio

NWICO - New World Information and Communication Order

NYT - New York Times

Oss - Ossetian or Ossetia

PJ - peace journalism

RQ - research question

Rus - Russian or Russia

SFCG - Search for Common Ground

SZ - Süddeutsche Zeitung

UCDP - Uppsala Conflict Data Program

UK - United Kingdom

UN United Nations

UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

US - United States

USSR - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

vs. - versus

West - Western or West

WJ - war journalism, or war-oriented journalism

WP - Washington Post

1 Introduction

Ev'rybody's talking about

Revolution, Evolution, Mastication, Flagelolation, Regulations.

Integrations, Meditations, United Nations, Congratulations

All we are saying is give peace a chance

John Lennon

1.1

Motivation

As the Russia-Georgia war of 2008 started, I had just arrived in Germany. At the time,

nobody ever really believed that military actions would ever take place between the two

countries, though there was a lot of talk about the possibility.

During the first days of the war, while in Germany, it was challenging to get

information from the Georgian media. Later I learned of the hacker attacks on Georgian

websites, and also that people in Georgia could not visit any Russian websites.

I was

having trouble even contacting my family through land telephone lines. It seemed that

the information war between Russia and Georgia had gained strength.

Russia Today

was describing Georgians as the worst villains, and CNN was expressing its empathy

towards Georgia. It was a confusing atmosphere of an enormous amount of

discrepancies.

After the war, there were a lot of manipulations and speculations about the causes and

the flow of the military conflict. This triggered my reflection on whether media of

directly involved parties under the combat circumstances can stay balanced and

unbiased. Both Russian and Georgian media seem to face significant challenges related

to media independence because of the relatively short and fragile democratic

development taking place in both countries. It may be naive to expect an absence of bias

from media organizations from either country; instead it would be more plausible to

look to media of third countries to play a neutral observer role. Certainly, every media

and every country represents its own interests but nobody speaks about ideal

configurations.

Georgian government blocked it. Later Georgians found some way out to reach Russian web-sites.

This aspect is more detailed described in the empirical chapter.

During my master study at the Deutsche Welle, I attended a seminar on the peace

journalism which motivated me to come back to my previous questions and try to find

out whether the reporting on the Russia-Georgia war was conflict-sensitive or balanced

in any way. The conflict between Russia and Georgia is an ongoing conflict with

varying phases of escalation and de-escalation. Visible and invisible consequences of

the war are still unresolved such as insufficient care of the refugees, inexact data of

casualties and other issues.

1.2

Statement of problem and research question

People are always curious about what happens outside their own countries, about, so

called, foreign news abroad, particularly when it touches their own country. The last

circumstance channel the news into a new path - foreign news at home or home news

abroad.

These issues are concerns of theories of foreign reporting that originated in

earlier centuries.

Conflict reporting, or war reporting, is a field of the journalism which attracts the

attention of scholars. This genre does not only include the transfer of information and

opinion on conflict but also some basic knowledge of conflict studies and a discussion

of the role and influence of media in the comprehension of conflict.

Foreign conflict reporting is one of the most controversial and quickly developing areas

of research. The evolution of war itself and the technical development of media to

appearance of embedded journalism and social media have both been influencing

factors. Fighting for better pictures and exclusivity, TV often provides superficial and

incomplete information and background on certain issues. Print, due to its ability to

offer more space and time for journalistic research, is for sure a good platform for being

more conflict-sensitive than other media.

Peace journalism (PJ), or conflict-sensitive journalism, challenges journalists to play an

active role in de-escalation and peaceful solution to conflict. This theoretical approach

presents a possibility of an alternative, conflict-sensitive, framing of combat and crisis.

See: Hafez, Kai (2005): Mythos Globalisierung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, p. 58.

This new approach might be viewed with skepticism among journalists as seeming too

idealistic to follow. Journalism is a practical activity, and it seems to be a failure to

develop theories that are not applicable. Thus, any theory needs to be verified in

practice. Still there is a large body of research on media coverage of wars (its norms,

objectives, challenges and implementation)

but studies in the PJ field, particularly

aiming to operationalize PJ, are rare. Full implementation of the theory is difficult to

achieve, but it is a worthy endeavor for journalists to have viable necessary tools in

order to be able to produce conflict-sensitive reporting and avoid the promotion of

violence.

In order to verify the applicability of peace journalism as an essential way of foreign

reporting on crisis and conflicts, this thesis analyzes and compares the coverage of US,

UK and German media of the Russia-Georgia war of 2008. The research questions of

this work are twofold: a) was this reporting conflict-sensitive and did it follow the

central direction of this theory; b) if it was not conflict-sensitive, was the coverage

balanced? The purpose of the study is to explore the difficulties of foreign conflict

reporting and describe the relative new approach of peace journalism. In addition, the

thesis uses a case study to illustrate a real life example of this new approach in practice

pertaining to the Russia-Georgia war of 2008. Based on the findings of the study the

author aims also to discuss applicability of peace journalism.

1.3

Methodology and limitation of the work

This thesis consists of two main parts. The first part is a literature review and analysis of

the previous work in this field. It will provide a critical review of present literature on

foreign conflict reporting, peace journalism, balance and framing issues. The second

part is an empirical study conducted with quantitative and qualitative content such as an

analysis of print editions of six national newspapers from the US, the UK and Germany

from August 2008. These articles all cover the Russia-Georgia war and its aftermath.

Based on a code book, elaborated by the author of this thesis, it has been analyzed 125

articles, afterwards there have been comparisons made between the theoretical

elaborations and concrete practical case of the Russia-Georgia war.

Lee, Seow Ting: Peace Journalism. In: Wilkins, Lee Christians Clifford G. (ed.) (2009): The

handbook of Mass Media Ethics. New York and London: Routledge Taylor Francis, p.261.

Due to temporal and scientific-economic limitations of the research, this paper is not

going to examine all samples of journalistic works during the war, and it does not

include an analysis of local media on the topic. Moreover, the thesis is restricted to a

verbal analysis of print media. On no account is this research aiming to establish which

way of reporting on that war was right or wrong, which version of events was the most

correct, or to lay blame.

1.4

Previous researches on the subject

As mentioned earlier, war reporting on the ground has a rich history of research. Due to

the recent origins of the Russia-Georgia war, there exists a lack of research on this

particular case. In this section three available studies on this war are summarized.

The study

of Gemma Pötzgen, which was conducted soon after the end of the war, was

based on the theory that German media would be critical of Russia during the Georgia-

war of 2008. Potzgen wanted to see if German media was negative and one-sided in

favor of Georgia. However, after analyzing the coverage of the German newspapers the

Bild, the Spiegel, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the Süddeutsche Zeitung,

Pötzgen concluded, when looking at these four media outlets, there were no consensus

and "homogenous tenor". The author underlines that the German media is not free from

stereotypes and clichés against Russia, and is in general too dependent on the

mainstream opinion. Pötzgen concluded that the decision whether to follow the

mainstream line lay in the hand of the newsroom.

The weakness of the study is that it is

not a scientific research in terms of having certain criteria of research as sampling size,

timeframe of the study and methods used. It is a content analysis with some personal

background information of the author on the stage of the reporters and situation in the

newspapers. In addition, it investigates only the Russia-coverage leaving out the aspects

of the coverage of other parties involved in the conflict.

See: Pörzgen, Gemma (2008): Deutungskonflikt. Der Georgien-Krieg in deutschen Printmedien. In:

Osteuropa. Nr. 11. 11.11. 2008, pp. 71-95.

See: Ibid, p. 95.

Another study

of Salla Nazarenko concentrates on the depiction of the two breakaway

territories of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in the media during the first days of

August war 2008 as well as during the previous escalation of the "frozen conflicts" in

summers 2004 and 2006. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, Nazarenko

studies texts of the New York Times, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Guardian and the

Novaya Gazeta. Within these texts, she searches for the frequency of certain historical

analogies, terms and words, such as "the return of the Cold war", "Aggression",

"Democracy". She also looks for comparison between the Georgian and other conflicts,

for example, the war in Kosovo.

Some similarities with this thesis' research topic can be found in Nazarenko's study as

she also tries to find out whether the reporting was balanced or biased (pro-Georgian vs.

pro-Russian). However, Nazarenko examines how effective the propaganda was.

Nazarenko asserts that some of the results of the study, as usage of the official sources

mostly, were not surprising. However some other conclusions are quite worth-while, for

example, that "even liberally-oriented papers sometimes sing the patriotic song and

follow the agenda set by politicians"

. She also noted that there was a consensus in

naming Russia as aggressor besides the Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta. Nazarenko

also noted that the Russia-Georgia war was full of dichotomies: big and small, David

and Goliath, democratic and undemocratic etc. Regarding the question of balanced

reporting, the study concludes that the American New York Times supported Georgia

more than the other newspapers researched, the German Süddeutsche Zeitung was

unexpectedly anti-Russian, the British Guardian showed itself as the most balanced,

and the Russian Novaya Gazeta aimed at a multi- faceted and balanced view of that

crisis.

The strength of this full-fledged study lies in its concreteness of criteria of the research

and combination of two methods - content analysis and qualitative interviews with

See: Nazarenko, Salla (2008/9): With or Without Georgia? Portrayal of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in

The New York Times, Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Guardian and Novaya Gazeta During the Conflicts of

2004, 2006 and 2008. Reuters Institute Fellowship Paper. University of Oxford. Michaelmas, Hilary

Trinity Term. Available on: http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/fellowships/journalist-fellows/prev-

journalist/2008-09/ms-salla-nazarenko.html. Retrieved on 31.01.2011.

Ibid, p. 86.

journalists who covered the Georgian conflict about factors that effected reporting.

However, it analyses one American, one German, one British and one Russian

newspaper without referencing Georgian media for balance. In addition, the information

on the interviews with reporters seems to be not transparent and sufficient enough.

The study

of David Muckenhuber investigates links between politics and journalism.

The scholar examines how the self-perception of the Georgian and Russian presidents

and their attitude to the war were reflected in the western media. For this purpose the

content of the statements of presidents and the relevant depiction in the American New

York Times and the Austrian Standart in the period from 1.08.2008 until 31.12.2008

were analyzed. Both quantitative and qualitative content analyses were computer-

assisted. The study gives a rich insight into the historical, political and social-

economical background of the conflict, and leans upon agenda-setting and constructivist

theoretical approaches.

Muckenhuber's findings are that the discourse of Mikhail Saakashvili was strongly

presented in both newspapers, whereas the Russian president was losing attention from

western journalists, what can be explained in his rigorous attitude towards western

media. Muckenhuber confirms that the PR war was won by the Georgian side, although

later the situation changed a couple of times. First after the signing of the ceasefire

treatment and the drawback of the Russian troops from the Georgian territory the media

softened its tone towards Russia. However, after the recognition of the breakaway

republics of the South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Russia, the negative approach returned

to the pages of the newspapers.

Unfortunately the study is limited by the samples of only two newspapers not

representing various orientations of western media, which is not enough to illustrate a

comprehensive view of the western media coverage.

See: Muckenhuber, David (2009): Der Südossetienkonflikt 2008. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung

der Rezeption der Selbstdarstellungsstrategien Georgiens und Russlands in westlichen Medien.

Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.

In order to avoid all the problems revealed in the aforementioned studies, this thesis

relies heavily on a certain theoretical framework and analyzes a more broad and

balanced spectrum of media.

1.5

Structure of the study

The first chapter of the work introduces the topic, the motivation of the author, the aim

of the study, its research questions, methodology and available studies on the Russia-

Georgia war.

The second chapter explores the theoretical findings on the topic. It considers a

combination of foreign and conflict reporting, and as a proposal for practitioners

features of peace and war-oriented journalism, its strengths and weaknesses. Separately

I have included a brief account on the topic of balance as a professional principle of

journalistic work. This chapter raises the question of framing for reporting and gives

some idea of possible intersections of the aforementioned aspects with other features

referred to the topic of foreign conflict reporting.

The third chapter focuses on the particular case study. Here the original results of the

study hypotheses results are presented.

In the fourth chapter, theoretical and empirical input are displayed together and

compared. Based on this comparison, some reflections on the applicability of peace

journalism are made. Moreover, the chapter underlines limitations of the study and

suggests discussion for future research in the current field.

The fifth chapter draws conclusions.

Theoretical framework

2.1 Clarification of terms

Before going deep into details of theoretical approaches, the main terms used in the

current work should be explicitly clarified. Although some conceptions, such as "war",

"peace", "conflict" etc., seem to be obvious, they may have sometimes different colors

and could be used in variety of contexts. This section presents definitions of terms how

they have been perceived and meant by the author of the thesis.

2.1.1

Foreign reporting

Foreign reporting, according to Hafez, aims to deliver an image of a foreign country

through media.

It serves as a window for many people to look at the world around

them.

The main aspects of foreign reporting are: foreign news abroad, foreign news at

home, home news abroad.

"International reporting" can be used as a synonym of

"foreign reporting", though some scholars point out the difference between both terms.

International reporting is seen as media output specially generated for international

audience, such as, for example, programs of the BBC or the Deutsche Welle, which are

international broadcasters with the target groups outside of the countries of their

location. Thus, it is not necessary for international reporting to choose as an object of

its interest information about events outside of the borders, but also about those that

occur inside of own country.

2.1.2

Conflict, Crisis, War

Terms "conflict", "crisis" and "war" are often used as synonyms within certain conflict

reporting referring to the same situation and event. This happens because of permanent

Hafez, Kai (2002): Die politische Dimension der Auslandsberichterstattung. Band 1: Theoretische

Grundlage. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, p. 179.

Kamps, Klaus: Nachrichtengeografie. In: Hahn, Oliver Lönnendonker, Julia Schröder, Roland (ed.)

(2008): Deutsche Auslandskorrespondenten. Ein Handbuch. Konstanz: UVK, p. 82.

See: Hafez 2005, p. 58.

Hafez 2002, p. 24.

unsteadiness of situation, i.e. yesterday's conflict can be transformed into bloody war

and the other way around: after ceasefire treatment war turns into conflict.

According to the classical definition, "conflict" is "a relationship between two or more

parties (individuals or groups) who have, or think they have, incompatibility of goals,

needs and interests"

. Different scholars add some other characteristics and details to

this explanation, though leaving its gist immutable. No one can imagine the world

without conflicts; they are intrinsic features of our life. Conflicts can be "intra-personal

(where incompatible goals and or/ behavioral tendencies exist within one individual) or

it can be social, i.e. conflict among two or more parties (individual subjects, groups,

institutions, societies or nations)"

. Not every conflict becomes negative and violent

development although the potential for this is hidden in each of it.

In this work term

"conflict" is used to define the irreconcilable relations between nations and countries.

According to the Conflict Barometer 2008

of the Heidelberg Insitute for International

Conflict research, there are five stages of intensity of conflict which are distinguished

by their intensity and violent or non-violent nature. The first stage, called latent

conflict, is characterized as non-violent of low intensity where "demands are

articulated by one of the parties and perceived by the other as such"

. A latent conflict

turns into manifest when parties start to use "measures that are located in the stage

preliminary to violent force... like verbal pressure, threatening explicitly with violence

or the imposition of economic sanctions"

. As soon as one party starts to exercise

sporadic violent conflict reaches the next stage called "crisis". If violence goes on

repeatedly in an organized way one has to deal with severe crisis. The fifth stage of

high intensity of violence is war, i.e. "a violent conflict in which violent force is used

Mitchell, Chris (1981): The Structure of International Conflict. London: Maxmillan. Chapter 1. In:

Fischer, Simon Abdi, Dekha I. Ludin, Jawed Smith, Richard Williams, Steve/Williams, Sue

(2000): Working With Conflicts. London: Zed Books, Available on:

http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~cpb/istudies/conflictmanagement/spring_09/conflict_theories.pdf. Retrieved

on: 2.05.2011, p. 4.

Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution (ed.) (2003): Constructive Conflict Coverage.

A Social Psychological Approach. Hochschullehrbücher. Band 1. Berlin: Verlag Irena Regener, p. 13.

Bilke, Nadine (2002): Friedensjournalismus. Wie Medien deeskalierend berichten können. Münster:

Agenda Verlag, p. 14.

Conflict Barometer 2008. 17

Annual Conflict Analysis. Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict

research. Available on: http://www.hiik.de/en/konfliktbarometer/pdf/ConflictBarometer_2008.pdf.

Retrieved on: 11.03.2011.

Ibid.

with certain continuity in an organized and a systematic way. The extent of destruction

is massive and of long duration"

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung (AKUF) of the Institut für Politische

Wissenschaft Universität Hamburg also defines war as ,,violence mass conflict"

that

includes two or more armed parties, where at least one represents regular forces of the

government. In addition, there should be as minimum some organization of the war

management; as well as some continuity and planned strategy regardless of size of

territory involved or duration of military operations.

If those characteristics are not

completely on the ground, then it deals only with "armed conflict" or "violent clash".

Researchers also try to solve this conceptual dilemma with help of mathematics, i.e.

they consider a number of casualties and duration of a military operation in order to

decide when to use terms "violent conflict", "crisis" and "war". For example, Uppsala

Conflict Data Program (UCDP)

argues that war is situation with at least 1000 battle-

related deaths in a year.

There is a need to dedicate so much space to the detailed consideration of "conflict",

"war" and "crisis" terms, because of some ambiguity in definitions that leads to

uncertainty among journalists when they deal with conflicts or wars. Very often those

terms are used as synonyms and within the same context just to avoid repetitions -

verbal or stylistic. The reason for the ambiguity might be seen in history. Since the

Korea war 1950-53 nobody has officially declared war, thus, if there is no officially

declared wars, one tries to be careful and can name it whatever he wants depending on

his interests in conflict (for example, it is more profitable to use the term "war" in order

to convince a third party of the atrocities of an adversary). This careful approach is also

reflected in mass media, which hesitates between more abstract "conflict" and more

specific "war".

Ibid.

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung (AKUF) of the Institut für Politische Wissenschaft

Universität Hamburg. 13. December 2010. Available on: http://www.sozialwiss.uni-

hamburg.de/publish/Ipw/Akuf/publ/AKUF-Analysen-09.pdf . Retrieved on: 12.04.2011.

Ibid.

See: Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP). Available on:

http://www.pcr.uu.se/research/ucdp/definitions/. Retrieved on: 11.05.2011.

2.1.3

Foreign crisis

Foreign crisis is a generalized term for conflicts, wars and (natural) catastrophes occur

beyond own borders.

This work concentrates on consideration of conflicts and wars.

2.1.4

Peace

The Oxford Dictionary describes "peace" as state or period in which there is no war or

war has ended, or it is free from civil disorder. The peace studies' researchers see peace

as more than a mere absence or reduction of violence, but rather as "a non-violent and

creative transformation of conflict"

. The former type is negative peace, whereas the

latter is positive peace. In this sense peace is perceived as a long-lasting process of

resolving conflict by peaceful means: thus, peace might be kind of ideal that is difficult

to reach but that is a necessary goal to have.

2.1.5

Conflict reporting

Conflict reporting is coverage of a conflict, a war and a crisis, and is often encountered

under the seemingly synonymic "war reporting". In this work those terms are indeed

seen as synonymic. However, some researchers separate "war" and "crisis" reporting,

arguing that the former have obvious parties, reasons and "front line after fog and

gunpowder clear away"

, whereas in the latter there is much more difficult to

distinguish all stakeholders, aspects and interests in the crisis. Other scholars describe

crisis reporting as coverage of three "C"s: conflicts, crisis and catastrophes.

Apart

from this, it should be mentioned that today the war reporting has become a certain

See: Weichert, Stephan Kramp, Leif (2011): Die Vorkämpfer. Wie Journalisten über die Welt im

Ausnahmezustand berichten. Unter Mitarbeit von Alexander Matschke. Köln: Herbert von Halem, pp. 13-

14.

Galtung, Johan (1998): Frieden mit friedlichen Mittel. Friede und Konflikt, Entwicklung und Kultur.

Opladen: Leske + Budrich, p. 31.

Löffenholz, Martin Trippe, Christian F. Hoffmann, Andrea C. (ed.) (2008): Kriegs- und

Krisenberichterstattung. Ein Handbuch. Konstanz: UVK, p. 34.

Albrecht, Ulrich Becker, Jörg (ed.) (2002): Medien zwischen Krieg und Frieden. Baden-Baden:

Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, p. 174.

genre or a distinct category

of the journalistic activity, and "war reporter" seems to be

a separate profession within the journalistic profession.

2.1.6

Peace, or conflict-sensitive, journalism

Peace journalism (PJ) is a relatively young theoretical approach in the communication

studies and is based to a large extent on the peace and social-psychological studies.

Peace journalism was first offered by Johan Galtung less than forty years ago. Galtung

highlights the PJ as a high road that is focused on conflict transformation.

This high

road aims "to depolarize conflict by showing the black and white of all sides, and to de-

escalate by highlighting peace and conflict resolution as much as violence"

. According

to Kempf, "critical peace journalism ultimately requires calling for peaceful

alternatives. It distances itself from all conflict parties and criticizes their modes of

actions"

. Kempf goes further and suggests

de-escalation-oriented and solution-

oriented reporting. Bilke sees peace journalism as quality journalism and describes it as

conflict-sensitive reporting, which is preferred and used for the description of the

Russia-Georgia war in this study. Lynch refers to PJ as to ethnical journalism.

2.1.7

Balance

According to the Oxford dictionary

, balance is a situation in which different elements

are equal or in the correct proportions, as well as it is the relative volume of various

sources of sound, harmony of design and proportion, and even distribution of weight

enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady. Balance is one of the

main general principles of professional standards in journalism. It has to deal with the

same aspects as mentioned in the overall definition for the word: equality, equilibrium.

Thus balance reporting is expected to be non-biased, not taking sides, presenting variety

of perspectives, opinions, sources and viewpoints.

Boyd-Barett, Oliver: Understanding the Second Casualty. In: Allan, Stuart Zelizer, Barbie (ed.)

(2004): Reporting War. Journalism in Wartime. New York: Routledge, p. 25.

Galtung, Johan: Peace Journalism: What, Why, Who, How, When, Where? In: Kempf, Wilhelm (ed)

(2008): The Peace Journalism Controversy. Berlin: Regener, p. 19.

Ibid, p. 23.

Kempf, Wilhelm (2010) (ed.): Reading in Peace Journalism. Foundation-Studies-Perspectives. Berlin:

Regener, p. 25.

See: Oxford Dictionary Online. Available on: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/balance.

Retrieved on: 11.05.2011.

2.1.8

Framing

Even within the mass communication studies framing is applied for various stages of

communication process, where one can define PR framing, communicator framing,

media content (as output of communicator framing) and framing-effects (as part of

audience research). Framing is a process of giving frames to events or objects, where

frames are the finest particle of text to "distinguish event or action from each other and

gives it a special sense"

. The same idea can be found in photography where framing is

also an act of selection: choosing one view instead of another, and cropping or editing

the resulting image.

In this current study media framing refers to the media content,

i.e. what was reported and how it was framed. To be more specific, the thesis aims to

find out based on framing of each analyzed article whether the whole coverage carries

peace-oriented, or conflict-sensitive, war-oriented or neutral framing.

2.1.9

Russia-Georgia war

The war in Georgia in August 2008 can be found in different sources under different

names: Caucasus war, Caucasus crisis, Georgian crisis, Georgian war, Ossetian war,

August war, Five-day war, war 08.08.08

etc. For this work the name "Russia-Georgia

war" is used to be precise in the researched topic, i.e. the military actions between

Georgia and Russia within Georgian-Ossetian conflict from 7(8).08.2008 until

12.08.2008 (when the ceasefire agreement was signed). The Georgian-Ossetian conflict

between Georgia and its breakaway republic South Ossetia has existed since 1991 and

has considered as "frozen" for years. There have been several outbreaks of violence,

especially large-scale in 1991-92, 2004 and the last in 2008. As a case study for this

thesis it has been chosen exactly the five-day war as well as the period before and after

it within one month of August 2008.

Hafez 2002, p. 47.

Reese, Stephen Gandy Jr., Oscar H. Grant, August E. (ed.) (2001): Framing Public Life.

Perspectives on Media and Our Understanding of the Social World. MahwahNew Jersey: Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates, p. 218.

The title of a documentary film "War 08.08.08" produced by the Russian TV Channel RTR soon after

the war was finished. Available on: http://war080808.com/. Retrieved on 10.05.2011.

2.2 Clarification of concepts

2.2.1 Foreign reporting

Foreign reporting presents an outlook-window to the rest world, where perception of

foreign cultures, countries and continents depends on quality, location and size of that

window that "channels our view"

. To be more precise, foreign reporting is "any

system of transmission of journalistic information within which this information goes

beyond state borders"

. There are three main types of foreign reporting: foreign news

abroad, home news abroad and foreign news at home. Moreover, Hahn describes a

foreign correspondent as "homo limitaneu, a terrestrial border crosser, who is not

everywhere to encounter and who belongs to the species incognita of the mass

communication studies"

Foreign reporting is not a homogeneous theory, it heavily depends on other approaches,

such as globalization, domestication ("foreign news is hung on a domestic peg"

), news

value, information flow, media effects on international or domestic politics (e.g. CNN-

effect, agenda-setting). However, it should not be forgotten that the nature of media is to

follow and not to administrate; so its influences are rather limited by being able to

"confirm and legitimate national politics", and therefore to accompany the "hurra-

patriotic" mood as it was in the US during the Iraq war.

Human beings have been always curios about what is happening in the neighborhood.

In the age of Pre-Gutenberg world people get information about foreign countries and

cultures through curriers, in a literature form, from letters, sailors etc. The nature of

foreign news is changing steadily. This can be seen on particular cases, for example,

reporting on the Cold War was conducted in a specific manner. As Sambrook mentions,

"in the days of the Cold War there was a clear narrative which provided a simple lens

Kamps 2008, p. 82.

Hafez 2002, p. 24.

Hahn, Oliver Lönnendonker, Julia Schröder, Roland (ed.) (2008): Deutsche

Auslandskorrespondenten. Ein Handbuch. Konstanz: UVK, p. 11.

Carruthers, Susan L. (2000): The Media at War. Communication and Conflict in the Twentieth

Century. China: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 234.

See: Hafez 2005, p. 77.

through which to see international events"

, i.e. if journalist reported from the US

about the Soviet Union, he already knew which perspective to take and what kind of

attitudes have been expected from him. So "the newsworthiness of individual countries

and their leaders was largely determined by their relationship to the United States and

the Soviet Union"

. It has become more complicated to create framing for international

news as soon as the Iron Curtain fell down and the world become multipolar: journalists

nowadays have to make more decisions of how to pack news.

Some countries are more interested in foreign news, for example, third world countries

depend on European countries or the US. So there are countries always in vogue of

coverage for every country. Big and developed countries are busier with their home

events. The unevenness of that flow of information was largely discussed in the

MacBride Report

in line with the New World Information and Communication Order

(NWICO). This topic found further development in the study of foreign news of

UNESCO.

The terroristic attacks of 9/11 triggered a surge of interest to foreign news even in

leading opinion-maker countries, such as the US. Audiences of those countries have

become eager to consume world issues, but they prefer those issues made as real as if it

were "local"

. So even foreign news needs to be domesticated in order to become more

welcome and close to the public. The second aspect that influences foreign reporting is

globalization: understanding of us living in the multicultural world that, to technical and

other development, is interconnected and turns into the "global village". As a rule,

inhabitants of a village always are happy to learn what is going own within the village,

what people outside of their home are thinking, doing, dreaming of, creating and

Sambrook, Richard (2010): Are Foreign Correspondents Redundant? The Changing Face of

International News. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Available on:

http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/nc/publications/risj-challenges/are-foreign-correspondents-

redundant.html. Retrieved on 06.03. 2011. Retrieved on: 06.03.2011, p. 52.

Seib, Philip (2002): The Global Journalist. News and Conscience in a World of Conflict.

LahmanBoulderNew YorkOxford: Rowman Littlefield Publishers. INC, p. 24.

See: UNESCO (1980): The MacBride Report: Many Voices, One World. Paris: Unesco. Available on:

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0004/000400/040066eb.pdf. Retrieved on: 27.04.2011.

See: UNESCO (1985): Foreign News in the Media: International Reporting in 29 Countries. Reports

and Papers on Mass Communication. France: UNESCO. Available on:

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0006/000652/065257eo.pdf. Retrieved on: 06.03.2011.

Owen, John Purdey, Heather (ed.) (2009): International News Reporting. Frontlines and Deadlines.

Singapore: Wiley-Blackwell, p. 138.

experiencing.

This happen not because of a mere interest for the other's news but also

due to realization: that kind of information has nowadays "greater direct impact on lives

than ever before"

Foreign reporting has different functions; one of them is to build a bridge between

different cultures. This property should not be overestimated. Indeed, in some cases

foreign reporting contributes in increasing of misunderstanding between nations and

countries, for example, through fertilizing stereotypes. Though, in general, media

effects are difficult to be measured. For example, Hafez advices not to mix foreign

reporting (for example, events in India) with reporting about foreigners (Indians in

home country), also there might be some interferences between both types of

coverage.

Investigation on how strong those dependencies are might become a

possible topic for future researches. No doubt, each journalist has always some

"trustworthy picture inside his head"

of any remote country and culture: sometimes

the more information about that country is available the more stereotypical the image is.

Moreover, there is often call for stereotypes especially if there is no sufficient previous

knowledge on country or, on contrary, the audience is used to certain framing of some

culture, so stereotypization seems to be a good "guarantee for high media sales"

. By

covering foreign affairs journalists use own experience and home knowledge, and report

,,through particular instead of global perspectives"

. As Lippmann says, "for the most

part we do not first see, and then define; we define first and then see"

Some scholars look for the reasons of this stereotypical depiction in lack of time for

journalists, when they, for example, need to prepare a proper and comprehensive TV

piece in shorter time, and therefore simply refer to the habitual full of clichés way of

coverage.

Certainly, stereotypes affect immediately on the psychological level, and

thus don't require lots of reflection and brain work. It is a sort of defense mechanism,

See: Ibid.

Sambrook, p. 59.

See: Hafez 2002, pp. 176-177.

Lippmann, Walter (1997): Public Opinion. New York: Free Press Paperbacks, p. 18.

Hahn 2008, p. 12.

Hafez 2005, p. 41.

Lippmann, p. 18.

See: Nitz, Pia: Stereotype, Images und Nationenbider in der Auslandberichterstattung. In: Hahn,

Oliver Lönnendonker, Julia Schröder, Roland (ed.) (2008): Deutsche Auslandskorrespondenten. Ein

Handbuch. Konstanz: UVK, p. 71.

desire to preserve some stability around, because stereotypes "may not be a complete

picture of the world, but they are a picture of a possible world to which we are adapted.

In that world people and things have their well-known places, and do certain expected

things. We feel at home there. We fit in."

In order to avoid stereotypes scholars suggest a concept of ,,dialogue journalism"

that

means more interaction between journalists of different countries, more exchange of

information in order to assure the equality of its flow and empower local journalists "to

tell his or her own story"

. However, the own story is always subjectively painted, so

there is always need for outsider's view, as "distance provides perspective"

. Besides,

there appear changes in the development and possible consequences of foreign

reporting, first of all, foreign reporting about any remote country can also serve as a

"raw material"

for the local reporting of that country, thus the responsibility of foreign

reporting increases. Second, journalists cannot longer "get away": due to globalization

and access to whatever information produced, subjects of report can now read, see or

hear what was said about them, which is an additional "consequent pressure to deliver

greater accuracy, fairness and accountability"

One of the important aspects of information flow and repetitions, or stereotypization, is

the dependence of media on news agencies, especially on global largest ones, such as

Reuters, AP etc. Even though having the same sources of information, media of

different countries and different orientation construct their own media reality. However,

there is still some impact of those international agencies that are "trickling down" initial

information received from government and other sources to other media and public.

Even after appearance of various alternative international broadcasters, such as Al

Jazeera, media products are still coined with the western stamp.

Lippmann, p. 63.

Hahn, p. 73.

Hafez 2002, p. 144.

Sambrook, p. 52.

Hafez 2005, p. 39.

Sambrook, p. 48.

See: Hafez 2005, p. 56.

See: Austrian Study Center, p. 67.

2.2.2 Conflict reporting

The main interest of this thesis is conflict-sensitive, or peace journalism. However, its

postulates and carrying points roots in conflict or war reporting (do not confuse with

war journalism or war-oriented reporting that is discussed in the following sections).

What is conflict reporting?

Conflict, or war, reporting is one of the popular and contradictory fields of journalistic

activity

, that often occur in the center of attention of critics and researchers.

Nevertheless, still it does not have a single structured theoretical platform.

War

reporting has turned in a genre or a distinct category of journalism. Boyd-Barrett

describes classic warfare as "the epitome of a "good story", high in tension and drama,

with complex main plots and sub-plots played out within tradition binary oppositions:

aggressor and victim, winner and loser"

. According to Seib, war reporting has several

consistent elements, such as non-stop resistance of journalists to propaganda spreading

by official sources and PR agencies, as well as attempts of government to push right

button of patriotism feelings; to problems how to reach physically combat sites, to

access information and to take care of own safety.

Thus, this genre is fraught with

danger and demands a lot of competences, resources and knowledge from journalists

and media organizations in general, thus presenting a real challenge for every journalist.

War reporting has functions similar with other fields of journalistic activity, such as

objective reflection of reality, but it might also possess an extraordinary and a specific

peculiarity to call forth negative feeling towards the main topic of its reporting, i.e. a

war, because "realistic portrayal of war is likely to have and anti-war impact"

Historical background

See: Weichert, pp. 13-14.

See: Bilke, Nadine (2008):Qualität in der Krisen- und Kriegsberichterstat. Ein Modell für einen

konfliktsensitiven Journalismus. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, p. 141.

Boyd-Barett, p. 25.

See: Seib, p. 94.

Carruthers, p. 278.

The first war with media participation was the Crimea war 1854-56. The first war

correspondent, the correspondent of the Times W.H. Russell, experienced the same

challenges as modern war journalists: "how to remain loyal to the side in order to

maintain access and trust, but not be influenced by military and government

propaganda

. The difference was that Russell had few competitors; besides, the speed,

scale, reach, quality and quantity of conflicts, types of warfare, economical aspects,

relations among military, government and media during a war have changed since then.

Since the First World War media coverage obtained diversity of expression, such as

films, photos, booklets etc. It was soon obvious that those means are very effective

strategic tools for propaganda purposes, so conflict parties tried to control and

manipulate their production. The development of telephone and typewriter also altered

nature of reporting giving it more speed and additional access to information. Later,

during the Second World War, radio became essential media, particularly in hands of

state propaganda.

The Vietnam war became the first television global war

(today globalization and

internet give opportunity almost to all conflicts to be global). It used to believe that it

was television that lost the war in Vietnam, i.e. through its critical coverage changed

public opinion in the US and forced the American government to stop the war.

However, this approach has been criticized by researchers. Furthermore, Gulf War was

a 24/7 day and night reported event due to work of cable networks, particularly CNN.

And Kosovo is famous for the first wide usage of Internet.

Despite great number of wars and conflicts happen each year in the world, there are

constant objects of researches on war reporting, e.g. Vietnam, both Iraq wars, Middle

East, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo conflict. The Cold War should be mentioned as

well, as it created special rules of reporting and was nothing else as an information war

triggered by the fear of nuclear attacks. After the fall of the Iron Curtains it seemed that

there is no more space and need for information war ambitions, which turns to be not

always true, thus the cold war rudiments live and slip out even today. As Robinson

See: Chapman, Jane (2005): Comparative Media History. An Introduction: 1798 to Present.

Cambridge: Polity, p. 50.

See: Karmasin, Mathias Faulstich, Werner (ed.) (2007): Krieg. Medien. Kultur. München: Wilhelm

Fink, p. 19.

states, the Cold War have been replaced by the "war on terrorism", so "ideological

mechanisms remain very much in place"

Mediatization of war

War as a mass phenomenon needs to get legitimization, priming and interpretation by

the other mass phenomenon media, and also to be experienced through it. There is no

war if it is not covered by media, thus "contemporary war is fought as a media event"

reduced to "spectator sport"

. The role of TV here appears to be enormous. Some

linguistic analogies seem to be nonrandom: "term "shooting war" is aptly suggestive of

both soldiers' and photojournalists' profession, as the camera owes its sighting

mechanisms those developed for artillery"

This mediatization is presented in two ways: on the one hand, media reflects a war, on

the other hand, it wages own wars. This can be also titled as convergence of war and

media cultures.

One more aspect of mediatization needs to be noticed: a conflict (due

to its negative nature) is believed to gain high rates, because "when it bleeds it leads".

Simplification of wars and its entertaining appeal is sometimes also explained by the

commercialization of media that has to sell information as a product and needs to

present it in a palpable and an attractive for audience way, though this can be just an

appropriate excuse for media to be unprofessional and lazy.

As it was already discussed before, there was no official declaration of war since Korea

war. So media takes the role of paving the way for the perception of a war, it does not

only contribute to wars' legitimization but also decide whether it deals indeed with a

war or not.

Sometimes even number of casualties does not play a decisive role, for

example: the Iraq and Afghanistan military campaigns stay a constant topic of media,

whereas the Congo conflict went unreported, though the tiny number of casualties in

Robinson, Piers: Researching US Media-state Relations and Twenty-first Century Wars. In: Allan,

Stuart Zelizer, Barbie (ed.) (2004): Reporting War. Journalism in Wartime. New York: Routledge, p.

106.

Lynch, Jake McGoldrick, Annabel (2005): Peace Journalism. Gloucestershire: Hawthorn Press, p.

xiii.

McLaughlin, Greg (2002): The War Correspondent. London: Pluto Press, p. 152.

Carruthers, p. 3.

See: Karmasin, p. 25.

See: Ibid, p. 22.

both first campaigns is difficult to compare with four-million lives lost in the Congo

crisis between 1997 and 2003.

This can be an evidence for the news values approaches

of Galtung and the classification of conflict zones of Bläsi: "some conflicts do not

acquire the status of "war" in media eyes, though they may be as violent, devastating,

and, above all, strategic, as formal military conflict. Conflicts in which the West has

non-legitimate or illegitimate interests tend to invite covert western intervention and

escape critical media attention"

Militarization of media

The opposite reaction to the mediatization is militarization of media, i.e. its

"increasingly and specifically instrumentalization by the warring parties"

. This is a

psychological process which tends to be explicitly expressed through the discourse.

Media uses more military jargon in everyday war coverage, even if it does not fully

understand or distinguish meanings of the words, such as massacre, genocide, guerrilla,

terrorists etc. As Carruters underlines, "in a war, there are no innocent words, and every

word has its own meaning and intention"

. Reporter Rudolf Chimeli supports him by

saying that language is the second - after the truth - casualty of war.

In order to avoid

that casualty and assure better verbal framing, Häusermann comes out with eleven

suggestions (e.g. give a clear notice for own and other's opinions; define terms, use

more active words, be careful with conjunctions of cause and consequences in sentences

etc.).

Challenges of war reporting

Conflict reporting faces a lot of challenges: first of all, safety question of journalists,

time pressure, as one does not have any luxury to reflect; state pressure etc. So war

journalists have to find their way to avoid official influence in order to remain objective

Boyd-Barett, p. 27.

Ibid, p. 31.

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (May 2004): On the Road of Conflict Communication. A Manual for Peace

and Diversity Journalism. Jakarta: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Indonesian office, pp. 1315.

Acosta, Amparo Beltrán: Media in Conflicts The Columbian Experience. In: The Media in Conflicts

Accomplices or Mediators. International Conference Berlin. May 2000. Available on:

http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/00960.pdf. Retrieved on: 31.01.2011, p. 39.

Löffenholz, p. 37.

See: Ibid, pp. 253-259.

and balanced, as they are always - during and after war - a target for criticism for quality

of reporting, its effects, as well as potential influence on media from government.

The author of the thesis would go into details of propaganda issue because it will help

later to understand basic assumption of peace journalism. War propaganda was first

examined during the First World War, but developed into a full-scale machine only

during the Second World War. Propaganda aims to produce distorted and desirable

reality, to substitute truth or simply block some information. According to Lippmann,

"in order to conduct a propaganda there must be some barrier between the public and

the event", thus propaganda needs to be supported by censorship.

Here truth and lie

are only tools to reach a desired aim (e.g. to justify military actions) or create a negative

image of enemy. For this purpose propaganda tries to build a certain identity, to

convince people of their belonging to certain groups religious, ethnical, professional

etc. Propaganda also uses a lot of allegories and exaggerations to emphasize own

sufferings and enemy's atrocities.

Kempf defines war propaganda as a process through

which reality is constructed (either intentionally or incidentally) in a way which makes

people strongly and personally identify with the military logic rather than see the reality

of a war and/or perspectives for peaceful conflict resolution"

. It is not easy to

recognize propaganda, but if one knows its main indications, he "can already see, smell

and taste propaganda before it starts to stink"

War journalism and objectivity

One of the most often heard by journalists rebuke is that they mix their own emotions

with facts and rely on official sources of information without checking them. War

correspondents are often criticized for lack of objectivity - if they are too emotional and

engaged, lack of patriotism if they stay too dispassionate

, so audience seems to be

See: Mikich, Sonia: Über die Diskussion post festum. In: The Media in Conflicts Accomplices or

Mediators? International Conference Berlin. May 2000. Available on: http://library.fes.de/pdf-

files/iez/00960.pdf. Retrieved on: 31.01.2011, p. 95.

Lippmann, p. 28.

See: Carruthers, p. 52.

Kempf 2010, p. 19.

Ibid, p. 25.

See: Tumber, Howard. Prisoners of News Values? Journalists, Professionalism, and Identification in

Times of War. In: Allan, Stuart Zelizer, Barbie (ed.) (2004): Reporting War. Journalism in Wartime.

New York: Routledge, p. 201.

never satisfied with the level of media involvement in an event.

The danger of

transforming from a mere observer to a participant is described by one reporter: ""I

went to cover the war and the war covered me"

. The solution for this dilemma is

provided by another war correspondent: "if a war becomes your war, it is time to go"

Still questions of reporting pain and death, and doubts whether you stop shooting or

writing and start helping victims are eternal and actual for war correspondents.

Journalists are products of their social system and "collective symbolic"

(as one

correspondent said: "as a European I am not neutral towards the Earth ball"

), which is

reflected in their job. In addition, influence of newsroom must be also taken into

consideration. So it is difficult to speak about objectivity in journalism in general,

particularly in war reporting.

War correspondent

War correspondents have to go through more pressure and fulfill different tasks

simultaneously: "to be present enough to respond to what is happening, yet absent

enough to stay safe; to be sufficiently authoritative so as to provide reliable information,

yet open to cracks and fissures in the complicated truth-claims that unfold; to remain

passionate about the undermining of human dignity that accompanies war"

. It is

obvious that, due to these multiply obligations, there are high expectations for a

journalist, and he is often "damned if he acts, damned if he doesn't"

A veteran journalist Michel Warschawski suggests, that "the journalist stands on the

borderline of conflict where the conflict is most intense"

. Each journalist has its own

See: Seib, p. 120.

Carruthers, p. 273.

Bickel, Markus: Krisenberichterstattung aus dem Ausland Der Krieg schärft die Sinne. In: Hahn,

Oliver Lönnendonker, Julia Schröder, Roland (ed.) (2008): Deutsche Auslandskorrespondenten. Ein

Handbuch. Konstanz: UVK, p. 120.

Albrecht, p. 177.

Löffenholz, p. 31.

See: Ibid, p. 195.

Allan, Stuart Zelizer, Barbie (ed.) (2004): Reporting War. Journalism in Wartime. New York:

Routledge, p. 4.

McLaughlin, p. 178.

Siebert, Hannes: Debunking the "Big O". In: The Media in Conflicts Accomplices or Mediators?

International Conference Berlin. May 2000. Available on: http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/00960.pdf.

Retrieved on: 31.01.2011, p. 32.

motivation and reason to report on a war: for some it is "a twisted sort of therapy, a

discovery of a sense of purpose for themselves and their audience"

; other wish to

become a celebrity, to write the history, to get some romantic appeal of being courage,

because "modern warfare provides the ultimate media spectacle and may even fulfill

their dearest Boy's Own fantasies

, or to experience an extraordinary adventure.

Nature of a war has changed, which reflected in development and diversification of

types and of war correspondents, or warcors, stringers ("less glamorous and less paid

local correspondents"), parachute journalists (who jump into a distant war without

having time to research on that war), correspondents of "pooling system" (only a certain

restricted number of journalists from selected media outlets is allowed to cover a

conflict), embedded journalists (embedded to troops; there is a danger to identify

themselves with soldiers and thus becoming biased; although journalists claim that "if

they had witnessed "their boys" doing something wrong and newsworthy, their

professional integrity would win every time"

). In addition, there are new directions of

war journalism that undermine the main principle and goal of war journalism, i.e.

principle of detachment, for example: "journalism of attachment"- "journalism which

cares as well as knows"

. Its founder Martin Bell states: "I do not believe that we

should stand neutrally between good and evil"

100

. The second is the "new journalism",

which combines factual journalism and fiction or literature techniques, and use more

active, more "first person narrative"

101

. And finally peace journalism has been

introduced, but this approach is elaborately discussed later.

War journalism and its consequences

Wars and conflicts are always delicate topics to report, where any information can play

a lethal role, and have "irreversible"

102

consequences. So is the contemporary media

McLaughlin, p. 169.

Ibid, p. 6.

See: Paul, Christopher Kim, James J. (2004): Reporters on the Battlefield. The Embedded Press

System in Historical Context. Pittsburg: RAND Corporation, p. 112.

See: Carruthers, p. 240.

100

Independent (7 April 1997): Election '97: The gentle man in the white suit goes into battle. Available

on: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/election-97-the-gentle-man-in-the-white-suit-goes-into-battle-

1265753.html. Retrieved on: 15.06.2011.

101

McLaughlin, p. 162.

102

Weichert, pp. 1314.

Details

Seiten
Erscheinungsform: Originalausgabe
Jahr: 2011
ISBN (eBook): 9783842823549
DOI: 10.3239/9783842823549
Dateigröße: 1 MB
Sprache: Englisch
Institution / Hochschule: Fachhochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg – Sozialwissenschaften, Studiengang International Media Studies
Erscheinungsdatum: 2011 (Dezember)
Note: 2,0
Schlagworte: reporting russia-georgia western media

Autor

Amalia Oganjanyan (Autor:in)