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2013 | Buch

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Transforming Media Coverage of Violent Conflicts

The New Face of War

verfasst von: Zohar Kampf, Tamar Liebes

Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

What links the interviews with Saddam Hussein and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on British and American TV, the chase of journalists following mega-terrorists, and the new status conferred on ordinary people at war? Transforming Media Coverage of Violent Conflicts offers a timely and original discussion on the shift in war journalism in recent years.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Introduction: New Personae in Media Coverage of Violent Conflicts

Abstract

Two major events at the outset of the second decade of the 21st century mark the end of an era which, as argued in this book, has changed the ways in which audiences in Western democracies see and understand violent conflicts: the assassination of Osama bin Laden, the most wanted terrorist up to 2010, and the US military withdrawal from Iraq in 2011. During the decade preceding these two events, new figures were introduced to global audiences with a kind of intimacy not known until then. Terrorists became major news sources, if not the new celebs; journalists accompanied ordinary soldiers on their way to the next risky mission; and ordinary people, once superfluous figures in the news, were conferred a new, prominent status. The changes in media coverage of war and terror, and indeed in how wars are fought, foreground new characters who, up to now, were seen as marginal or, rather, illegitimate. In this book we present these new actors, the new perspectives they offer to audiences and the changes in the hierarchies of the meanings of war caused by the representations of this new cast of actors. The following example demonstrates the reversal of perspective that contemporary news media suggest to their audiences.

Zohar Kampf, Tamar Liebes

Giving Voice to New Actors

Frontmatter

1. Performer Journalists: The Latest Phase in the Profession

Abstract

In the Introduction, we described the adventurous trip of Sky news Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay to the mountains of the Kunar Province in Afghanistan in 2010. Ramsay took on an exceptional, highly risky mission. Instead of joining the British troops as an embedded journalist (a risky mission in its own right) he had, in the dead of night, joined a Taliban unit on its way to lay a deadly trap for Western troops. This case, we argued, exemplifies the ever-changing role of journalists at times of war and terror. Instead of acting as observers from a distance, at present they may step into the scene of action, sometimes positioning themselves as actors, by accompanying the armed forces of the nation they represent; in other cases, however exceptional, as in that of Ramsay’s journey, they may join the armed forces of their nation’s enemy.

Zohar Kampf, Tamar Liebes

2. Celeb Terrorists: The New Sought-After Sources

Abstract

The successful operation in Abottabad, Pakistan, in which US special forces landed in Osama bin Laden’s compound on 2 May 2011, ended an ongoing pursuit followed by media audiences the world over since 11 September 2001. To be exact, the hunt had started even earlier, in 1996, with bin Laden’s declaration of conducting Jihad against the ‘Judeo-crusading alliance’. The chase continued with bin Laden’s inclusion in the FBI’s dubious list of ‘most wanted terrorists’ in 1998, following a series of terror attacks in US embassies in East Africa in which hundreds of Africans were murdered and thousands injured. During these years, bin Laden became a well known, intriguing figure, sought by Western armies and journalists alike. Interestingly, whereas it took the American army 16 years to target the mega-terrorist, for journalists, unsurprisingly, it was an easier task. As we show in what follows, while terrorists have to hide from the military forces pursuing them, interacting with the media is of mutual interest, resulting in various versions of hide-and-seek. Thus, alongside the patriotism (widely criticized by media scholars) that characterized most of US and UK media coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and in Iraq, the same media organizations have developed new genres of covering terrorists, quite apart from the coverage of terror attacks.

Zohar Kampf, Tamar Liebes

3. Giving Voice to Enemy Leaders: Negotiating Over the Heads of ‘Our’ Politicians

Abstract

‘Talking to the enemy’ when at war is a contradiction in terms. The definition of an enemy as someone ‘harmful or deadly … seeking to injure, overthrow, or confound an opponent’ (the Webster dictionary) indicates that an enemy has to be confronted in order to pre-empt his intentions. In what follows we argue that since the 1990s, giving a voice to enemy leaders, however controversial, at a critical moment in the conflict, is no longer unthinkable. True, it is rare, controversial, and may end up doing the opposite of what it is meant to do; however, talking to the other side is gradually becoming part of journalistic conduct during violent conflicts.

Zohar Kampf, Tamar Liebes

4. Foregrounding Ordinary People: Adopting the Logic of the Individual

Abstract

The act of self-immolation performed by Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia is considered the defining moment from which the Arab Spring erupted. The image of the burned Bouazizi, circulated in the Arab world and around the globe, marked the rising of ordinary people against the corrupt, tyrannical regimes in North Africa and the Middle East. From this point on, TV viewers the world over were witness to ordinary people positioned by the Western and Arab news media in a range of contexts: victims of the ruthless violence committed by dictators, militants retaliating following years of oppression, and protesters in the streets and squares believing that better days were around the corner. The wave of protest was facilitated, as many communication scholars argue, by the new technological developments, especially those of social media (Brock, 2011; Shirky, 2011). Facebook, Twitter and blogs informed the citizens in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and elsewhere of the location of the next protest. They also undermined the mainstream media in the Arab states, which presented the protests as acts of terror and chaos. Instead, social media reframed the events from a new perspective: that of ordinary people (Hamdy and Ehab, 2012). This is why several technological optimists labeled the events in the Arab world as the ‘Twitter Revolutions’ or the ‘Facebook Revolutions’ (see Cottle, 2011; Wolfsfeld et al., 2012).

Zohar Kampf, Tamar Liebes

Downgrading Traditional Actors

Frontmatter

5. Missing the Editor: The Decline of Professionalism

Abstract

Different media, different level of editorial control: The genres of media events and of disaster marathons are inventions of broadcast journalism at two points in time, demonstrating, first, the process of the deteriorating control of the editor, and second, the transition from one set of national players to a new set of subversive players. The latter invention of broadcast journalism, the disaster marathon, is just one format of a larger category, that of ‘action news.’ Here, editors find themselves helpless vis-a-vis live and immediate broadcast technologies airing from the scene of action, and constrained by the ruthless competition among commercialized news organizations. However, ‘action news’ formats — i.e. Breaking News, embedding in the scene of battle, — are only a few formats in the ongoing broadcasting of the 24/7 news channels, all based on immediate, live reporting that bypasses editorial synthesis and control. The main news bulletins, in which audiences can be updated at a time of their convenience, are nothing but recycled information about the main stories of the day. In this format, the editor serves mainly as a ‘flight supervisor’, creating order among second-hand items. The editor, however, does have the opportunity to provide in-depth analysis of the larger context and the broader implications of the news. This practice could function as the last bastion of the editor, in which s/he still holds the reins. Unfortunately, as others argue (Lewis et al., 2005) and as we show later in this chapter, s/he doesn’t.

Zohar Kampf, Tamar Liebes

6. Politicians Looking for Shelter: Distrusting National Leaders

Abstract

We now turn to political leaders who in past conflicts received almost exclusive entry, through the ‘front door’ (Wolfsfeld, 1997), to the coverage of war and terror. Politicians as ‘public representatives’ and ‘elite actors’ are still central figures in the reporting of violent conflicts, appearing on screen to mobilize or to offer reassurance to the nation in unstable moments. Many studies published in the last decade on the relationship between politicians and the media at times of crisis show how immediately following disastrous events (such as September 11), journalists within the nation state toed the line with the establishment (for example, Schudson, 2002; Zandberg and Neiger, 2005). However, with the decline of the nation state (Held and McGrew, 1998) and the emergence of new technological affordances and a global media environment, characterized by an ever-growing cynicism stance toward those in power has led to the weakening of political figures, and, in parallel, the strengthening of figures once considered peripheral or even illegitimate. We start this chapter by describing the traditional relationship between the three national institutions, and later point out transformations in the ‘classical’ description and the challenges that the new media environment poses to political figures: controlling the flow of information and mobilizing the public during national crises.

Zohar Kampf, Tamar Liebes

7. Generals under Fire: The Loss of Immunity of High-Ranking Officers

Abstract

Alongside the growing distrust of journalists and the public in political figures, there seems to be a steady, albeit slow decline in the trust placed in military generals and spokesmen, perceived in earlier times as the most admired figures within the nation state. True, unlike politicians, army generals, who are responsible for the public’s safety, are still considered reliable professionals within the boundaries of consensus. In the US and Israel, the statistics of public trust in the military in general, and in high-ranking officers specifically, testify that compared to other institutions and actors within the nation state, the military is still considered reliable in an era in which public cynicism reigns. In the US, according to Gallup polls in 2011, the army is considered the most trusted national institution, with 78 per cent of Americans manifesting a great deal of confidence in its performance; while Members of Congress place at the bottom of the list with 12 per cent.

Zohar Kampf, Tamar Liebes

Conclusion: New Characters — New Challenges

Abstract

The questions we raise in this Conclusion focus on the possible theoretical implications of presenting a new cast of characters on screen during violent conflicts. Does the inclusion of a new set of sources imply that journalists are more independent than the mainstream literature of political communication suggests? Does the public receive more relevant and meaningful information from the media at present, compared to the coverage of past wars? Does the information given to the public result in better understanding of violent conflicts? How can public representatives mobilize the citizenry to just causes under indifferent, sometimes antagonistic media coverage, and are there any ‘just causes’ left in the politics of pity that rules the logic of contemporary media in reporting asymmetrical conflicts?

Zohar Kampf, Tamar Liebes

Backmatter

Titel: Transforming Media Coverage of Violent Conflicts
verfasst von: Zohar Kampf
Tamar Liebes
Verlag: Palgrave Macmillan UK
Electronic ISBN: 978-1-137-31321-8
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-33490-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313218