ABSTRACT
It has previously been argued that news journalism has a particular role to fulfil in post–civil conflict settings: civil norm building. Such a civil norm building role enables news journalists and news institutions to contribute to the (re)building of peaceful cooperation, associative civil life, and ultimately, a civil sphere in places where they have been seriously damaged or rendered unviable through conflict. A civil sphere, following Alexander, can be defined as a structurally independent set of institutions and associations that are concerned with justice and democracy, daily cooperation, and social capacity building. As such, it is differentiated from the “state” and the “market,” that is, the economic sphere. The ideal civil sphere – public life – is characterized by an inclusive solidarity and a civil consciousness both embracing multiple loyalties and attachments rather than focusing on particularistic requirements. Of course, this is the ideal of civil society, and though it can never be completely achieved, it can be instantiated in the real, and it is this that news journalism can exemplify and support the achievement of the actual experience of peaceful cooperation based on three categories of civil norms of peaceful cooperation. These categories are (a) assenting to civil peace, (b) practicing substantive civility, and (c) building civil capacity and civil competencies.
