About MediaPeace

About MediaPeace

What is the role of the media in wartime ?

When faced with the responsibility of bearing witness to the horror of modernwarfare, how do reporters negotiate the competing demands of their employers, of governments and military sources, even of soldiers in the field of battle ? How do they manage the tensions between objectivity, patriotism, and empathy with the suffering of local people caught up in conflicts ?

MediaPeace examines the nature of contemporary war reporting in a range of locales, including Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East - especially Iraq - and southern Asia. The contributors, both practising and former journalists and leading academics, consider issues including the influence of censorship and propaganda, 24/7 rolling news, military jargon such as 'collateral damage', embedded and unilateral reporters, and the visual imagery of war.