Digital Media And Reporting Conflict

This book explores the impact of new forms of online reporting on the BBC’s coverage of war and terrorism. Informed by the views of over 100 BBC staff at all levels of the corporation, Bennett captures journalists’ shifting attitudes towards blogs and internet sources used to cover wars and other conflicts. He argues that the BBC’s practices and values are fundamentally evolving in response to the challenges of immediate digital publication. Ongoing challenges for journalism in the online media environment are identified: maintaining impartiality in the face of calls for more open personal journalism; ensuring accuracy when the power of the "former audience" allows news to break at speed; and overcoming the limits of the scale of the BBC’s news operation in order to meet the demands to present news as conversation. While the focus of the book is on the BBC’s coverage of war and terrorism, the conclusions are more widely relevant to the evolving practice of journalism at traditional media organizations as they grapple with a revolution in publication.

This book explores the impact of new forms of online reporting on the BBC's coverage of war and terrorism. Informed by the views of over 100 BBC staff at all levels of the corporation, Bennett captures journalists' shifting attitudes towards blogs and internet sources used to cover wars and other conflicts. He argues that the BBC's practices and values are fundamentally evolving in response to the challenges of immediate digital publication. Ongoing challenges for journalism in the online media environment are identified: maintaining impartiality in the face of calls for more open personal journalism; ensuring accuracy when the power of the "former audience" allows news to break at speed; and overcoming the limits of the scale of the BBC's news operation in order to meet the demands to present news as conversation. While the focus of the book is on the BBC's coverage of war and terrorism, the conclusions are more widely relevant to the evolving practice of journalism at traditional media organizations as they grapple with a revolution in publication.

`No book is more timely than this collection, which analyses brilliantly the Western media′s relentless absorption into the designs of dominant, rapacious power′ - John Pilger `A most timely book, with many valuable insights′ - Martin Bell O.B.E `It has long been known that the outcome of war is deeply influenced by the battle to win ′hearts and minds′. This book provides a stimulating set of perspectives which combine the analyses of prominent academics with the experiences of leading journalists′ - Professor Tom Woodhouse, University of Bradford `This volume represents an all-star cast of authors who have a tremendous amount of knowledge about media and world conflict. One of its strengths is that it doesn′t focus entirely narrowly on media, but puts the discussion of media issues in the context of changes in the world order in military doctrine′ - Professor Daniel C. Hallin, University of California `This book comes just in time. A coherent and wide-ranging collection of data, analyses and insights that help our understanding of the complex interaction between communication and conflict. A major intellectual contribution to critical thinking about the early 21st century′ - Cees J Hamelink, Professor International Communication, University of Amsterdam With what new tools do governments manage the news in order to prepare us for conflict? Are the media responsible for turning conflict into infotainment? Is reporting gender specific? How do journalists view their role in covering distant wars? This book critically examines the changing contours of media coverage of war and considers the complexity of the relationship between mass media and governments in wartime. Assessing how far the political, cultural and professional contexts of media coverage have been affected by 9/11 and its aftermath, the volume also explores media representations of the `War on Terrorism′ from regional and international perspectives, including new actors such as the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera - the pan-Arabic television network. One key theme of the book is how new information and communication technologies are influencing the production, distribution and reception of media messages. In an age of instant global communication and round-the-clock news, powerful governments have refined their public relations machinery, particularly in the way warfare is covered on television, to market their version of events effectively to their domestic as well as international viewing public. Transnational in its intellectual scope and in perspectives, War and the Media includes essays from internationally known academics along with contributions from media professionals working for leading broadcasters such as BBC World and CNN.

Digital War Reporting examines war reporting in a digital age. It shows how new technologies open up innovative ways for journalists to convey the horrors of warfare while, at the same time, creating opportunities for propaganda, censorship and control. Topics discussed include: How is the role of the war reporter evolving as digital technologies become ever more prominent? What is the rhetoric of war in digital journalism? How does an emphasis on liveness, immediacy or realness shape public perceptions of the nature of warfare itself? Is technology widening the gap between 'us' and 'them', or are new kinds of empathy being established with distant others as time, space and place are effectively compressed? A key focus is journalists' use of digital imagery, real-time video and audio reports, multimedia databases – as well as satellites, broadband, podcasting, and mobile telephones – in the reporting of a range of wars, conflicts and crises. The examples analysed range from 24-hour television news coverage of the Persian Gulf War, the first 'internet war' in Kosovo, digital photography, from September 11 to Abu Ghraib, and bloggers in Iraq, including journalists, soldiers and ordinary citizens. Digital War Reporting is required reading for students, researchers and journalists.

As the second book in the Routledge Journalism Insights series, this edited collection explores the possibilities and challenges involved in contemporary reporting of peace and conflict. Featuring 16 expert contributing authors, the collection maps the field of peace and conflict reporting in a digital world, in a context where the financial prospects of the news industry are challenged and professional authority, credibility and autonomy are decaying. The contributors, ranging from prominent scholars to the Head of Newsgathering at the BBC, discuss a diverse range of key case studies, including the role of Bellingcat in conflict journalism; war and peace journalism in Bangladesh; visual storytelling in conflict zones; and rampant cyber-misogyny confronting women journalists in Finland, India, the Philippines and South Africa. Bringing together theory and practice, the collection offers an in-depth examination of the changes taking place in the working practices of journalists as ongoing, strategic assaults against them increase. Insights on Peace and Conflict Reporting is a powerful resource for students and academics in the fields of global journalism, foreign news reporting, conflict reporting, globalisation, media and international communication.

This book explores the impact of new forms of online reporting on the BBC’s coverage of war and terrorism. Informed by the views of over 100 BBC staff at all levels of the corporation, Bennett captures journalists’ shifting attitudes towards blogs and internet sources used to cover wars and other conflicts. He argues that the BBC’s practices and values are fundamentally evolving in response to the challenges of immediate digital publication. Ongoing challenges for journalism in the online media environment are identified: maintaining impartiality in the face of calls for more open personal journalism; ensuring accuracy when the power of the "former audience" allows news to break at speed; and overcoming the limits of the scale of the BBC’s news operation in order to meet the demands to present news as conversation. While the focus of the book is on the BBC’s coverage of war and terrorism, the conclusions are more widely relevant to the evolving practice of journalism at traditional media organizations as they grapple with a revolution in publication.

With instant global communication and 24/7 rolling news, images of war and conflict fill television screens around the world. This book assesses the effects of 9/11 and its aftermath on the political, cultural and professional contexts of news. The volume explores media representations of the `War on Terrorism,`and looks at the emergence of new players such as Al-Jazeera. Other key themes include the blurring of information with entertainment, gender dimensions of news, and the role of new media technologies in communicating conflict.