Howard

DCAF: Media’s role in contend and peacebuilding. Ross Howard. DRAFT 1 Paper presented at the conference on :”The Role of the Media in Public exam and elected Oversight of the Security Sector,” Budapest, February 6-9 2003. Organized by the workings Group on Civil Society, of the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) The media’s role in war and peacebuilding Ross Howard, Associate, IMPACS â€"Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society Introduction The intelligence agency media is a curious instrument. It can be a weapon system of war, or can uphold prospects for peace. In the hands of totalistic interests it can be a terrible device when it spreads messages of intolerance and disinformation which manipulate public sentiment. The use of government-controlled Radio-Television Libre de Mille Collines, to foment genocidal impulses in Rwanda in 1994, is one appalling contemporary example. The ethnic hatred propagated by the Serbian state on its broadcasting system in Bosnia is another recent case. The news media is also capable of create considerable damage when no-one is intentionally wielding it at all. Under nonesuch conditions the news media is supposed to take on a mind of its proclaim and operate according to nonrecreational codes of conduct.



But its culture of professional and financial instincts can drive the media to practices which obsess with violence and put to work opinion in socially destabilizing ways. Under less than elevated conditions, media bias, inaccuracy and sensationalism can generate xenophobia and violent conflict. The anti-Thai violence in Cambodia on January 29-30 2003 is one example. There is, however, another side to this vane called the media. It can be an instrument of conflict resolution. When it responds well to its feature professional strictures such as accuracy, impartiality and independence, the media can have an influence on peacebuilding. It can present alternatives to stereotypes and conflict. It can alter citizens to make... If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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