ABSTRACT
The media’s role in the new generation of regional conflict and sub-state violence is ambiguous, unclear, and often misconstrued. Journalists and policy-makers alike tend to assume that media coverage has an undefined yet pivotal role in helping conflict management or prevention. Indeed, a role for the media in conflict prevention is routinely assumed at conferences, seminars, and gaming sessions without question or any clear understanding of what that role is. Frequently, there is an undignified rush to judgement. The instinctive assumptions made by policy-makers, diplomats, and the military are often wrong. Their instant, superficial analysis of the media’s role is usually skewed by the emotion of anecdotal comments as opposed to rigorous analysis. Frequently, the media are blamed both for what does and does not happen.
