Media is central to the study of conflict, peace and security processes. It is a core component of strategic planning for every actor within conflict, from governments, rebel groups and humanitarian aid organizations to terrorists. Media plays a key role for diverse actors’ agenda-settings to winning ‘hearts and minds’. The struggle for informational access and control in warfare and crises is as timeless as it is essential to crisis management. But how do actors engage with their media environments? Do they see it merely as a platform? An instrument? A facilitator of violence (or peace)? The media research group will explore how media dynamics intersect throughout peace, conflict and security cycles. In contrast to linear models, we will move freely between different phases of conflict and security processes, claiming media as the independent variable that cuts across actors and actions. We explore these issues through the following five themes:
Themes and potential research agendas
- 1. Media and conflict
- What role does local media have in creating and sustaining how a conflict forms?
- How is conflict coverage by international media houses chosen, and how is it portrayed to make conflict ‘credible’ or ‘visible’?
- What is the scope for vernacular media in conflict prevention and peacebuilding strategies?
- War as ‘disaster entertainment’: How do citizens relate to increasingly non-participatory wars?
- 2. Media and identity
- What is the media’s role in the shaping of collective identities to frame ‘us’ versus ‘them’?
- How do visible markers influence the content and interpretation of ‘news’?
- How important is it to have multiple media sources for democratic debate and decision-making on conflict and security issues?
- 3. Media as a weapon of war
- How do conflict actors use the media to sell war rationales?
- How are media outlets changing the conduct of contemporary warfare?
- How do non-violent peace activists use the media to attempt to end war?
- 4. Media and crisis
- How does the proliferation of 24-hour media networks shape citizen perceptions of which crises are ‘important’?
- Selling disaster: How and why do aid actors use the media to raise public pressure to ‘do something’ in times of crisis?
- How do mediated networks influence crisis management?
- 5. The “New Media”
- With governments now aware of the (perceived) power of new media, is an ‘Arab Spring’ replicable?
- Is there really anything ‘new’ in the ‘new media’ - how does it relate to previous communication advances?
- What is the (real) impact of social media on political outcomes?
- When is new media a platform for security policies and when does it become an instrument of establishing in/security?
Methodology and Research Orientation
The media research group seeks to contribute to a more holistic media research platform that furthers a critical debate on how the media functions as mediator, facilitator and interpreter of conflicts and crises, both at the local and international level. While conflict and security questions are debated and shaped through today’s media ecology, the media is itself transforming and thus reflexive approaches are needed to explore the sheer volume, accessibility, audience and ethics of the media-conflict nexus. The character of the research group reflects an interdisciplinary and cross-cutting research approach, opening up for the multi-dimensional study of media in conflict and crises. The group includes researchers from varied academic fields, including sociology, international relations, war studies, philosophy, criminology, cultural sciences and anthropology focusing on a broad range of themes.