This photojournalism project was intended to analyze the impact of some of the most well known and controversial photographs of conflicts around the world. The photos I chose covered the Vietnam War, the Syrian Civil War, The Indian Independence Movement, The Gulf War, The Rwandan Genocide and the Tiananman Square Incident.
Each photograph, while from a different time and conflict, emphasizes the importance of the media in portraying a cause, instigating reflection on war and bringing attention to the people involved in conflicts around the world, no matter how far away they might be. The media has an important role to play in bridging the gap between domestic politics and system level foreign policy initiatives and their impacts. Journalists and news organizations are the ones that inform the public and influence opinions of both civilians and policy-makers. In a world where international law, the UN and other international organizations have created new norms for interventions and conflict resolution, the media has an important role to play in propagating information.
That said, many news organizations have been criticized for their bias, manipulative, sensationalist and simplistic reporting styles. This type of reporting that has the power to hinder peace and diplomatic initiatives rather than help and can spread hateful, small-minded ideas. In Rwanda, the media was used as a tool to spread genocidal messages to the public, resulting in mass crimes against humanity (Power). As a result, human rights NGOs today devote significant resources to monitoring radio broadcasts and news articles in many countries for hate speech, as a way to prevent future genocide.
On the other hand, editors and journalists are often burdened with expectations that they will report conflicts with impartiality and objectivity, despite real limits to their capacities to do so, based on the information they receive from sources and which side of the conflict allows them access to which sites (Robertson). In the Gulf War, journalists noted that they often felt manipulated by the Iraqi opposition and as a result could not confidently run the stories they were being given (Robertson). In Vietnam, reporters were allowed almost unrestricted access and the resulting images shocked and horrified the American public, resulting in the subsequent censorship and constraints on the news coverage of the Gulf War (Culbert 419-449).
An integral part of any conflict is the ability of both sides to share their viewpoint with both their fellow citizens and with the world. Gandhi's message of nonviolent resistance would arguably never have been able to mobilize the masses effectively if it had not been publicized and propagated by the media (Mazarella 1-39). However, it is apparent today that the media can be a tool for the right or wrong reasons. In the struggle for Crimea, both Russia and Ukraine have published their sides of the story and the actual desires of the Crimeans remains controversial, despite an overwhelming referendum vote to join Russia ("BBC News").
The media has several roles to play in politics: These include allowing countries to make diplomatic statements publicly to other countries or to their domestic publics, propagating information to the public about issues in the world which their leaders may or may not want to be involved in, investigating the interests of nations in conflicts and connecting the international community through the sharing of information about world affairs.
As we have seen in this class, the media can influence public opinion, predict policy and help make sense of world issues that are often complex and multifaceted. Samantha Power wrote a powerful article explaining the context which influenced the global desire for non-intervention, the American policy stance on the Rwandan genocide and why the UN also failed to intervene in the region (Power). Bowden wrote a detailed breakdown of some key issues concerning the morality and strategy of drone strikes (Bowden). That said, much of the most influential media coverage tends to discuss hot policy issues and while the media can shed light on lesser known conflicts, it does not tend to dictate the policy agenda of a nation unless either the public or the government has some kind of vested interest in intervening. This has historically been the case in nations such as Burma, where the international community has limited their involvement to marginally effective sanctions (Taylor 171-184). Thus, an important question to ask is whether the media is beholden to policy interests of the state or whether the state is responsive to media coverage. It is hard to say, but more often than not, I would argue that the media seeks to cover what the public is most interested in, and this seems to often be whatever the government and or other nation's policy-makers have decided upon.
Works Cited
Bowden, Mark. "The Killing Machines." Atlantic. 21 sept 2013: 1-20. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/09/the-killing-machines-how-to-think-about-
drones/309434/>."Crimea exit poll: About 93% back Russia union." BBC News . 16 Mar 2014: n. page. Print. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-
europe-26598832>.
Culbert, David. "Television's Visual Impact on Decision-Making in the USA, 1968: The Tet Offensive and Chicago's Democratic
National Convention." Journal of Contemporary History. 33.3 (1998): 419-449. Print.
Mazarella, William. "Branding The Mahatma: The Untimely Provocation of Gandhian Publicity." Cultural Anthropology. 25.1
(2010): 1-39. Print.
Power, Samantha. "Bystanders To Genocide." Atlantic. 29 Nov 2013: 1-34. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/09/bystanders-to-genocide/304571/>.
Taylor, Robert H. "MYANMAR: Roadmap to Where?" Southeast Asian Affairs. (2004): 171-184. Print.
Each photograph, while from a different time and conflict, emphasizes the importance of the media in portraying a cause, instigating reflection on war and bringing attention to the people involved in conflicts around the world, no matter how far away they might be. The media has an important role to play in bridging the gap between domestic politics and system level foreign policy initiatives and their impacts. Journalists and news organizations are the ones that inform the public and influence opinions of both civilians and policy-makers. In a world where international law, the UN and other international organizations have created new norms for interventions and conflict resolution, the media has an important role to play in propagating information.
That said, many news organizations have been criticized for their bias, manipulative, sensationalist and simplistic reporting styles. This type of reporting that has the power to hinder peace and diplomatic initiatives rather than help and can spread hateful, small-minded ideas. In Rwanda, the media was used as a tool to spread genocidal messages to the public, resulting in mass crimes against humanity (Power). As a result, human rights NGOs today devote significant resources to monitoring radio broadcasts and news articles in many countries for hate speech, as a way to prevent future genocide.
On the other hand, editors and journalists are often burdened with expectations that they will report conflicts with impartiality and objectivity, despite real limits to their capacities to do so, based on the information they receive from sources and which side of the conflict allows them access to which sites (Robertson). In the Gulf War, journalists noted that they often felt manipulated by the Iraqi opposition and as a result could not confidently run the stories they were being given (Robertson). In Vietnam, reporters were allowed almost unrestricted access and the resulting images shocked and horrified the American public, resulting in the subsequent censorship and constraints on the news coverage of the Gulf War (Culbert 419-449).
An integral part of any conflict is the ability of both sides to share their viewpoint with both their fellow citizens and with the world. Gandhi's message of nonviolent resistance would arguably never have been able to mobilize the masses effectively if it had not been publicized and propagated by the media (Mazarella 1-39). However, it is apparent today that the media can be a tool for the right or wrong reasons. In the struggle for Crimea, both Russia and Ukraine have published their sides of the story and the actual desires of the Crimeans remains controversial, despite an overwhelming referendum vote to join Russia ("BBC News").
The media has several roles to play in politics: These include allowing countries to make diplomatic statements publicly to other countries or to their domestic publics, propagating information to the public about issues in the world which their leaders may or may not want to be involved in, investigating the interests of nations in conflicts and connecting the international community through the sharing of information about world affairs.
As we have seen in this class, the media can influence public opinion, predict policy and help make sense of world issues that are often complex and multifaceted. Samantha Power wrote a powerful article explaining the context which influenced the global desire for non-intervention, the American policy stance on the Rwandan genocide and why the UN also failed to intervene in the region (Power). Bowden wrote a detailed breakdown of some key issues concerning the morality and strategy of drone strikes (Bowden). That said, much of the most influential media coverage tends to discuss hot policy issues and while the media can shed light on lesser known conflicts, it does not tend to dictate the policy agenda of a nation unless either the public or the government has some kind of vested interest in intervening. This has historically been the case in nations such as Burma, where the international community has limited their involvement to marginally effective sanctions (Taylor 171-184). Thus, an important question to ask is whether the media is beholden to policy interests of the state or whether the state is responsive to media coverage. It is hard to say, but more often than not, I would argue that the media seeks to cover what the public is most interested in, and this seems to often be whatever the government and or other nation's policy-makers have decided upon.
Works Cited
Bowden, Mark. "The Killing Machines." Atlantic. 21 sept 2013: 1-20. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/09/the-killing-machines-how-to-think-about-
drones/309434/>."Crimea exit poll: About 93% back Russia union." BBC News . 16 Mar 2014: n. page. Print. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-
europe-26598832>.
Culbert, David. "Television's Visual Impact on Decision-Making in the USA, 1968: The Tet Offensive and Chicago's Democratic
National Convention." Journal of Contemporary History. 33.3 (1998): 419-449. Print.
Mazarella, William. "Branding The Mahatma: The Untimely Provocation of Gandhian Publicity." Cultural Anthropology. 25.1
(2010): 1-39. Print.
Power, Samantha. "Bystanders To Genocide." Atlantic. 29 Nov 2013: 1-34. Web. 5 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2001/09/bystanders-to-genocide/304571/>.
Taylor, Robert H. "MYANMAR: Roadmap to Where?" Southeast Asian Affairs. (2004): 171-184. Print.