Media & Conflicts: A Global Overview
Dangerous liaisons, an INFOCORE study reveals
In a world torn apart by conflicts old and new, the issue of the media's role seems to have growing importance. Media coverage of atrocities committed during wars is opening up debate on the power images have to influence public opinion and political decisions.
INFOCORE is an international research study funded by the 7th European Framework Program of the European Commission.
Domestic and international media threatened in Central Africa
In Burundi a crisis erupted in May 2015 when President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term. More than 400 protesters were killed and 6 independent media outlets were shut down. Currently about 80 journalists are in exile, mostly in Rwanda, and local press is controlled by the Government. Marie Soleil Frere, Vice-Rector at Université Libre de Bruxelles, says the situation used to be very different.
The challenges of Kosovo and of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
The role of the media during the Balkans war was a controversial one. As with the case of the 11-week-campaign of NATO airstrikes in Kosovo in 1999, which claimed to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Albanian population from the Serbian government, and the intervention in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) in 2001, when Alliance troops entered the country with a mandate to disarm the Albanian rebels.
The Israeli-Palestinian case
In Israel the press enjoy very good standards of freedom, which is unique in the Middle East. However, Palestinian and foreign journalists face military censorship and frequent abuses by both the Israeli army and Hamas in Gaza. Since 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has had a grip over the communications portfolio. This gives him control over the entire media sector.