Media, Politics & Conflict - Queen's University Belfast

Queens University of Belfast 

School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy 

PAI1005 

Media, Politics & Conflict 

Convenor: Dr. Teresa Willis 

Spring Semester 2012-2013 

Module Convenor 

and Lecturer: 

Dr. Teresa Willis 

Room 

31.OG.016 (access via 25 University Square) 

Email address: t.willis@qub.ac.uk 

Consultation Hours: Mon., 12-1 & Tues., 11-12; 

Lecturer: Dr. Jolyon Agar j.agar@qub.ac.uk 

TBC Office Hours: Tues., 12-1 

Lecturer: Ms. Julia Paul jpaul05@qub.ac.uk 

Room: 1101 Seamus Heaney 

Centre 

Office Hours: Tues., 11-12 

Timetable 

Lectures: 

Tuesdays 1-2pm, PHY/EMEL; Wednesdays 12-1pm, PHY/LARM PHY/EMEL 

Tutorials: TBC, starting from week 2 

Assessment: 

Coursework: 1 Media Essay 35% 

Tutorial Participation 10% 

Deadlines: 

Essay deadline: Wednesday, 20 th March, 2013, 12 Noon 

Examination: 2 hour examination 55% 

School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy 

Student Handbook 

This module guide should be read in conjunction with the Undergraduate Student 

Handbook which contains important details of School policies. 

A copy of the Undergraduate Student Handbook can be obtained from the School 

Office (25 University Square) or downloaded from the resources section of any PAI or 

PHL module on Queen’s Online. 

PAI1005 Media, Politics 7 Conflict (2012-13) 1

MODULE DESCRIPTION 

The module examines the nature of politics and conflict in media driven culture. It explores 

the relationship between media and democracy in times of war, and asks questions about 

bias, agenda setting, power and control in the media. It covers both local and global politics, 

and provides the historical context for significant technological developments (e.g. the 

internet) and contemporary examples of the growing power of the media (e.g. the CNN 

Effect). The module asks students to reflect on their own interactions with the media, think 

about media production from different and competing positions, and to compare different 

media formats. 

The module places a particular emphasis on the relationship between the media and conflict. 

It looks at how the media portray and represent conflict, and the relationship between the 

media, the military, the government and the audience. It examines some of the ways in 

which the media can significantly escalate conflict and impact upon its development, and 

pays particular attention to the role of new technologies in the mediation of conflict. To 

explore these issues, a series of historical and contemporary case studies will be used, 

including Vietnam, The Gulf War, Northern Ireland, Iraq, and the Arab Spring. These case 

studies highlight a number of critical themes which will be discussed during the module, such 

as the neutrality and independence of the media, Marxist and Pluralist approaches to the 

media, the media as a weapon of war and the ethics of war reporting. 

This module provides a basic understanding of the relationship between contemporary media 

and politics with a specific focus on the media’s role during times of war. Rather than seeing 

the media as something separate from the operation of politics, conflict and war, this module 

examines the connections between modern forms of structural power, the current condition 

of media saturation, and episodes of violent conflict. In other words, the module looks 

beyond the direct media coverage of politics and asks bigger questions about how the media 

shapes our social, cultural and political attitudes to conflict. 

MODULE AIMS: 

To give students a basic understanding of the relationships between contemporary 

politics, the mass media and historical and contemporary episodes of conflict 

To introduce students to the major debates in media studies 

To help students understand the relationship between the media, politics and conflict 

through clear and contemporary examples 

To give students an opportunity to develop their communication skills by discussing and 

debating these issues in tutorial groups 

To give students the opportunity to develop their analytical and literary skills by exploring 

these issues in written assignments and examinations 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: 

Upon completion of this module, students should be able to: 

Explain the role of the mass media during times of war with reference to issues such as 

power, bias, neutrality, agenda setting and the public sphere 

Reproduce some of the basic themes, topics and arguments in media studies such as the 

politics of representation, mediation, Pluralist vs. Marxist approaches and new media 

technologies 

Draw upon the various case studies covered in the module to support or challenge a 

particular argument 


Communicate ideas to others in a clear and concise manner, both orally and in written 

work 

Pursue creative, critical and independent thinking through written work (especially the 

portfolio) and in group discussions 

SKILLS 

This module will assist in developing students’ skills in a number of important areas. These 

include: 

Intellectual skills 

Managing & Prioritizing Knowledge: identify relevant and subject-specific knowledge, 

sources and data (especially from contemporary media sources); manage such 

information in an independent manner 

Analytical Thinking: identify, understand, interpret and evaluate relevant subjectspecific 

arguments made by others from both academic and media spheres; construct 

independent arguments 

Critical & Independent Thinking: ability to think critically and construct one’s own 

position in relation to existing and ongoing debates in the field of media studies; 

ability to reflect on one’s own media consumption 

Professional and career development skills 

Communication Skills: ability to communicate clearly with others, both orally and in 

writing 

Teamwork: ability to work with others in a team, negotiate conflicts and recognize 

different ways of learning 

Diversity: ability to acknowledge and be sensitive to the range of cultural differences 

present in the learning environment 

Self-Reflexivity: ability to reflect on one’s own progress and identify and act upon 

one’s own development needs with respect to life-long learning and career 

development 

Time Management: ability to negotiate diverse and competing pressures; cope with 

stress; and achieve a work / life balance 

Technical and practical skills 

Information Technology: demonstrate the knowledge and ability to use contemporary 

and relevant ICT 

Organizational skills 

Efficient and effective work practice: demonstrate ability to work efficiently to 

deadlines, especially with respect to continual assessment and exams 

Clear organisation of information: show efficiency in the organisation of large 

amounts of complex information and the ability to identify, describe and analyse the 

key features of the information 

Organisation and communication: demonstrate ability to use evidence (especially 

from contemporary media sources) to develop logical and clear argument; show 

aptitude for the effective use of information in a direct and appropriate way 

Enterprising thinking: Demonstrate ability to think and argue in novel and 

enterprising ways, to display originality of thought and argument and the ability to 

clearly support arguments in innovative ways 


Assessment 

The assessment structure for this module is as follows: 

Coursework: 35% 

Examination: 55% 

Tutorial Participation: 10% 

Aside from formal assessment, students will also be provided with preliminary feedback on 

their progress during the tutorials of Week 3 of the course (details to follow). This exercise 

does not count towards assessment for the course and should be seen as providing feedback 

to guide further learning. 

1. Attendance and Tutorial Participation 

 

 

 

You are expected to attend TWO lectures per week 

You MUST attend ONE tutorial per week. Poor tutorial attendance will impact on the 

quality of your assigned work, and will be noted on your student file. 

Tutorial attendance and participation counts for 10% of your final grade. See 

appendix for information on how tutorial performance is assessed. 

Students receive a mark out of 10 for their participation and general contribution to tutorials 

on all undergraduate modules excluding the dissertation, internship or project. This mark will 

count as 10% of the overall mark for the module. Marks will be awarded for individuals not 

groups. No more than 5% of tutorial marks should be allocated for tutorial presentations, 

should these be used by the tutor. For further details, see the School’s Undergraduate 

Student Handbook. 

This module is worth 10 credits on the ECTS scale (equivalent to 20 Queen’s University CATS 

points, Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme). This is calculated by the University as the 

equivalent of 200 hours’ academic study over the course of the semester (12 ‘teaching’ 

weeks plus the three week examination period). Students should therefore expect to spend 

on average at least 13 hours each week undertaking academic study associated with this 

module. 

2. Coursework Assignments 

 

 

 

Students will submit ONE Media Essay to the MAIN office in Politics, International 

Studies and Philosophy (21 University Square) on Wednesday, 20 th March 2013 

(week 8). All essays should be submitted by 12 noon on the date of submission. 

Students will be penalized 5% per day after 12pm. You must also submit an 

electronic copy of your portfolio using TURNITIN (see below for details). 

The Media Essay is worth 35% of your final grade. Be sure to collect a receipt for 

your coursework. Only one copy of assessed work needs to be submitted, but this will 

not be returned. Students will, however, be able to collect a Report Sheet on Assessed 

Work (see below). 

The word count for the media essay should be 1500-2000 words in length. The word 

count shall include all references in the text, all footnotes and all endnotes but exclude 

the bibliography. The word count shall be indicated following the title of assignment. 


Where the word count exceeds the upper limit of the specified range a penalty shall be 

imposed. Where the word count exceeds the upper limit of the specified range: 

- by up to 25% a penalty of 10 percentage points shall be imposed; 




- by more than 100% a penalty of 30 percentage points shall be imposed. 

The essay submission deadline is: 1200 noon on Wednesday, 20 th March 2013 

The successful submission of assignments is a two stage process: 

1. You must upload an electronic copy of your assignment onto the TurnitinUK 

website prior to the deadline indicated. 

2. You must submit a single hard copy of each assessed assignment must be 

submitted to the School Office (21 University Square) on or before 1200 noon on the 

due date indicated. 

TurnitinUK: https://submit.ac.uk/static_jisc/ac_uk_index.html 

A link to this website is also provided in the School webpages (see ’Education’) 

To upload your coursework you will need: 

the password: pisp (all lower case) 

and 

The Class ID no: 423332 

When submitting an assessed assignment, you must complete and sign an ‘Essay Cover 

Sheet’ available from the School Office. The School uses a system of anonymous marking so 

do not include your name on the assignment. 

All assignments are retained by the School for scrutiny by internal and external examiners. 

All assignments submitted after the deadline will be penalized 5 percentage points per day 

after 12 noon. 

The submission deadline is: 1200 noon on Wednesday, 20 th March 2013 

Marks cannot be awarded twice for the same piece of work: Exam answers must not repeat 

answers already submitted as essays. Any answer reproducing work previously submitted for 

assessment will be awarded a mark of ZERO. The module convenor will be happy to clarify 

what constitutes unacceptable repetition of module material. 

Assignment Questions: 

Students will write their essays on ONE of the following questions: 

1) Compare and contrast the ‘Transmission model’ of communication with the ‘Cultural 

model’ of communication. Which is more convincing, and why? Illustrate with 

reference to the media representations of WWI and WWII. 


2) The Cold War is traditionally understood as a bipolar global order in which a 

communist and a capitalist bloc were opposed to each other. To what extent did the 

media produce, contribute to and maintain this antagonism? 

3) ‘Does a capitalist system of media organization allow for the widest variety and 

diversity of viewpoints, or does it limit cultural and informational products along 

particular lines?’ (Grossberg et.al., 1998: 381). Reflecting on this question and using 

examples from TWO of the 20 th Century conflicts covered in the first half of the 

module (i.e. WWI; WWII; Cold War; Vietnam; Northern Ireland; Arab/Israeli conflict), 

compare and contrast the Pluralist and Marxist approaches to media representations 

of war. Which is more convincing, and why? 

4) ‘Are the media able to act effectively as a watchdog on government? Or are they only 

ever beholden to power, and therefore consigned to the role of mouthpiece?’ (Lisle, 

2009: 155) Reflect on this question with reference to the media representations of 

Vietnam. 

5) ‘The effect of the so-called ‘Vietnam-Syndrome’ was to irrevocably change the nature 

of the media’s representation of conflict’. Discuss with reference to EITHER the 

conflict in Northern Ireland OR the Arab / Israeli Conflict. 

6) The media are central to the exercise of power in our society. They can set agendas 

in the sense of highlighting some news stories and topics, but they can also severely 

limit the information with which we understand events in the world’ (Philo, 2011: 

173-74). Discuss with reference to EITHER the Arab/Israeli conflict OR the conflict 

in Northern Ireland. 

3. Examination 

You must sit ONE two-hour exam during the scheduled exam period (16 th May-1 st June 

2013) in which you will answer two questions out of a possible six. The exam is worth 

55% of your final grade. 

Important note: Resit examinations will take place from Monday 12 August – Saturday 31 

August 2013. Students should bear this in mind when making work, holiday, or other plans 

for the summer period. 

Conceptual Equivalents Marking Scale 

The School of Politics, International Studies and Philosophy uses the University’s conceptual 

equivalent marking scheme for all undergraduate assessment. Individual pieces of work are 

allocated a ‘discrete’ mark. For further information on the University’s conceptual equivalent 

marking scheme and the marks used, see the School’s Undergraduate Student Handbook. 

This is available from the School Office and will be posted on the resources page on QOL for 

each module. This is University’s conceptual equivalent marking scale can also be accessed 

on line at: www.qub.ac.uk/pisp/Education/Undergraduates/Assessment/. 


Feedback 

Students should note that feedback on their academic progress is available in a variety of 

forms, not just in terms of written feedback on set assignments: 

 

 

 

Students can approach course convenors and other teaching staff in their set 

Office Hours (available from the School Office), or otherwise by appointment, to talk 

about their academic progress, issues relevant to the course, or to discuss in more detail 

the written feedback that they receive on set assignments. 

Students should meet with their Personal Tutors to discuss their overall 

academic progress at least once a semester. Bringing assignment marksheets to these 

meetings may help in discussing ways of improving assignment performance and 

preparing for exams. 

The school is introducing a “feedback day” at the end of January where staff 

will be available to discuss assignments 

It is important that students who submit their essays by the deadline receive feedback in a 

timely fashion so that they can properly prepare for their exams or further assignments. 

Students can therefore expect to receive feedback on their essays within no later than three 

weeks of the submission deadline (this policy does not apply to students who submit their 

coursework after the deadline). The module convenor will contact all students advising them 

when hardcopies of their essay report sheets are available to collect in the Main Office, 25 

University Square. If students have not received feedback within three weeks of the 

deadline, they should contact their module convenor directly. Students who wish to discuss 

their grade should do so with the convenor during his or her office hours. 

Consultation Hours 

Students, individually or in groups, are encouraged to raise issues concerning the 

requirements and substantive content of the module with, where appropriate, a module tutor 

or the module lecturer / convenor. Such issues should be raised during published 

consultation hours (see above) or by arrangement. Consultation hours are listed on the 

notice board outside the School Office in 25 University Square. 

Queen’s Online 

Module POL1005 is registered for Queen’s Online (QOL), and will use these IT facilities 

regularly. Throughout the module, important messages, documents, readings, web sites, 

videos and other information will be posted for students. For example, you must sign up for 

a tutorial through QOL, and each week’s lecture notes (i.e. the Power Point presentation) will 

be posted online. Students will also be e-mailed regarding assessed work and tutorial 

attendance. If you have not done so already, you should familiarise yourself with Queen’s 

Online, and check your QUB e-mail account daily. 

Plagiarism 

The School takes a very severe line on students who plagiarise work. Students 

who attempt to pass off another’s work as their own will receive a mark of 

ZERO. In some cases, acts of plagiarism can result in the student failing the 

entire degree. Remember, plagiarism includes information from books, 


newspapers, journals and the Internet. All suspected cases of plagiarism will be 

investigated in line with University procedures. 

For details of University Regulations on Academic Offences, see: 

www.qub.ac.uk/pisp/Education. 

The page also provides a link to guidance on how to identify and so avoid 

plagiarism. Please also refer to the School’s Student Handbook Guide for more 

information about referencing and plagiarism, as well as general advice on essaywriting: 

www.qub.ac.uk/pisp/FileStore/PDFfiles/Filetoupload,38127,en.pdf 

Lecture Schedule: 

Week Date (Tues 1-2pm / Lecturer Topic 

Wed 12-1pm) 

1 Tues. 29 TH Jan (NB: only TW Introduction & Administration 

one lecture this week) 

2 Tues. 5 th Feb JA The Media, Politics & Conflict: Mediation, 

Communication and Meaning 

Wed. 6 th Feb JA The Role of the Media During War: 

Watchdog or Mouthpiece? 

3 Tues. 12 th Feb JA Analysing the Media: Bias, Marxism & 

Pluralism 

Wed. 13 th Feb JA News Management & News Values: Framing 

Conflict 

4 Tues. 19 TH Feb JA The Origins of Mediating War: WWI, WWII & 

the Cold War 

Wed. 20 TH Feb JA The Turning Point: Mediating the Vietnam 

War 

5 Tues. 26 th Feb TW Entrenched Troubles: Northern Ireland & the 

Middle East 

Wed. 27 th Feb TW The First Gulf War: Media Consensus & the 

Advent of 24/7 news 

6 Tues. 5 th Mar TW Myths of Causality: The CNN Effect & 

Compassion Fatigue 

Wed. 6 th Mar TW Mediating ‘Ancient Hatreds’: Reporting the 

Balkan Wars 

7 Tues. 12 th Mar JA Constructing Savages: The Media’s role in 

Somalia and Rwanda 

Wed. 13 th Mar JA Invisibilities & Erasures: The Media & 

Forgotten Conflicts 

8 Tues. 19 th Mar TW 9/11, Spectacle and the Mediation of New 

Wars 

Wed. 20 TH Mar TW Iraq & Afghanistan: Embedded Journalism & 

the Blogosphere 

Wed. 20 th Mar. 

**ESSAYS DUE** 

Break 25 th Mar – 12 th Apr. 

Easter Break 

Easter Break 


9 Tues. 16 th Apr TW New Media Technologies: Citizen Journalism 

& the Internet 

Wed. 17 th Apr TW Social Media Productions: Egypt, Libya & the 

Arab Spring 

10 Tues. 23 rd Apr JP Impartiality & Violence: The Role of the 

Journalist in Conflict 

Wed. 24 th Apr JP The Ethics of Reporting Conflict: BBC 

Guidelines 

11 Tues. 30 th Apr (NB: only TW Summary & Conclusions 

one lecture this week) 

12 (Final Tutorials) 

JA: Jolyon Agar; TW: Teresa Willis; JP: Julia Paul 

*Wed. 13 th Feb. is Rag Day; Lectures and Tutorials will proceed as normal 

*Mon. 18 th March is an official holiday (St. Patrick’s Day); Tutorials will be rescheduled 

Topics highlighted in brown indicate content to be covered in the essay assignment. 

Topics highlighted in purple indicate content to be covered in the exam. 

Tutorial Schedule 

Tutorials will be held once a week beginning the second week of the semester. You should 

consult Queens online (https://learn.qol.qub.ac.uk/home/) to sign up for your tutorial 

groups. You are advised to do this as soon as possible to be sure you sign up for a 

suitable time. Once tutorial groups are full, students will be automatically blocked from 

signing up. Tutorials are compulsory in the School, and tutorial participation (see below) 

counts for 10% of your final grade. If you cannot attend a tutorial for legitimate reasons, 

you MUST contact your tutor beforehand to explain your absence (contact either directly or 

through the School Office). You must make every effort to acquire the class material if you 

are absent. 

Week 

Topic 

1 (28 Jan.-1 Feb.) No tutorial 

2 (4-8 Feb.) Study Skills Tutorial 

3 (11-15 Feb.) The Media, Politics & Conflict 

4 (18–22 Feb.) Bias & News Management 

5 (25 Feb.-1 March) Historical Origins: WWI to Vietnam 

6 (4-8 March) Cases: NI, ME, Gulf War I 

7 (11-15 March) Causality and Reporting War in the Balkans 

8 (18-22 March) Media Constructions of Africa & Forgotten Wars 

Easter Break (25 Mar-12 No Lectures, Seminars or Tutorials 

Apr) 

9 (15-19 March) 9/11, Iraq & Afghanistan 

10 (22-26 April) New Media & the Arab Spring 

11 (29 April-3 May) The role of Journalists during conflicts 

12 (6-10 May) Reading Week – No Lectures, Seminars or Tutorials 


Tutorial Topics & Readings 

You must come prepared for each tutorial. This means attending the lectures and taking 

good notes, as well as doing the required reading BEFORE you come to the tutorial. Each 

session is based on the previous week’s lectures and on a selection of reading. All of the 

readings for the module will be located on Queens Online, or held in the Short Loan library. 

However, some of the reading (and much useful background reading) can be found in the 

following books which are located in the library, or can be purchased from No Alibis 

bookstore at 83 Botanic Ave (www.noalibis.com): 

Allan, Stuart & Zelizer, Barbie, Eds. Reporting War (Routledge, 2007) 

Carruthers, Susan L. , The Media at War (1 st or 2 nd edition) (Houndmills: 

Palgrave McMillan, 2000 or 2011) 

Hoskins, A. & O’Loughlin, B. War and Media: The Emergence of Diffused War 

(Cambridge: Polity, 2010) 

Thussu, Dayan Kishan & Freedman, Des, Eds., War and the Media (London: 

Sage, 2003) 

There are also a number of basic Media Studies textbooks in the library which you will find 

useful for background reading. The following are especially useful: 

 

 

O’Sullivan, Tim, et. Al., Studying the Media, (1 st – 3 rd editions) (London: 

Arnold, 1998-2003) 

Branston, Gill & Stafford, Roy, The Media Students Book (1 st – 5 th editions)( 

London: Routledge, 1996-2010) 

There are FOUR possible methods to access the readings: 

(1) SL indicates they are books held in the short loan section of the Library; and 

(2) Online (R) indicates that we have included electronic copies of the article on 

Queens Online under the module’s ‘Resource’ section under the appropriate week. 

(3) Online (LR) indicates that we have included electronic copies of the article on 

Queens Online under the module’s ‘Library Resources’ section. 

(4) E-Journal (EJ) indicates they are journal articles that can be accessed through 

the Queens Catalogue E-Journals Facility 

WEEK TWO, Feb. 4 th – 8 th 

TOPIC: Skills Session 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will cover basic skills of essay writing and proper 

referencing, and engage in practical exercises 

Some Recommended Reading: 

Clanchy, John; and Brigid Ballard (1998). How to Write Essays: A Practical Guide for 

Students, 3rd edition (Longman) [McLay Reference] 

Deane, Mary (2010). Academic Research, Writing and Referencing (Longman). [McLay 2; 

SL]. 

Levin, Peter (2004). Write Great Essays! A Guide to Reading and Essay Writing for 

Undergraduates and Taught Postgraduates (Open University Press). [McLay 2; 

Reference] 


Pears, Richard; and Graham Shields (2008). Cite them Right: The Essential Referencing 

Guide (Pear Tree Books). [McLay Reference] 

Redman, Peter L. (2006). Good Essay Writing: A Social Sciences Guide, 3nd edition (Open 

University). [McLay 2; SL]. 

Warburton, Nigel (2007). The Basics of Essay Writing (Routledge) [McLay 2; SL]. 

WEEK THREE, Feb. 11 th – 15 th 

TOPIC: Media, Politics & Conflict 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will discuss the relationship between reality and 

representation, develop the concept of Mediation, and debate 

whether the role of the media during war is one of watchdog or 

mouthpiece. 

REQUIRED READINGS: 

1.) Grossberg, Lawrence, Wartella, Ellen & Whitney, D. Charles, ‘Media in Context’, Chapter 

1 (pp. 3-32) in ” in Mediamaking: Mass Media in Popular Culture (London: Sage, 1998) 

[SL & Online (LR)] 

2.) Lisle, Debbie, ‘How Do We Find Out What‟s Going On in the World?’ Chapter 7 (pp. 147- 

169) in Edkins, Jenny and Zehfuss, Maja, Eds., Global Politics: A New Introduction 

(London: Routledge, 2009). [SL & Online (LR)] 

WEEK FOUR, Feb. 18 th – 22 nd 

TOPIC: Bias & News Management 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will discuss competing approaches to the Media 

(Marxism vs. Pluralism), debate the issue of bias, and develop 

these ideas with reference to news values and news 

management 


1.) Street, John, ‘Political Bias’, Chapter 1 in Mass Media, Politics and Democracy, 

(Houndmills: Palgrave, 2011) [SL/Online (LR)] 

2.) Seib, Philip, ‘The News Media and the ‘Clash of Civilizations’, Chapter 10 in Philip Seib. 

Ed., Media and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century (New York: Palgrave, 2005) [SL & 

Online (R)] 

WEEK FIVE, Feb. 25 th – 1 st Mar. 

TOPIC: Historical Origins: WWI to Vietnam 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will analyse the developing role of the media in wartime 

from WWI and WWII through the Cold War, and discuss how 

the media operated in Vietnam. Particular focus will be placed 

on how Vietnam constituted a ‘turning point’ for media-militaryaudience 

relations 


1.) Carruthers, Susan L. ‘Total War’, Chapter 2 (pp. 44-95) in The Media at War, 2 nd ed. 

(Houndmills: Palgrave, 2011) [SL & Online (R)] 

2.) Hoskins, Andrew, ‘From Vietnam to the Gulf’ Chapter 2 ** Vietnam section only: pp. 13- 

21** in Televising War: From Vietnam to Iraq (London: Continuum, 2004). [SL & 

Online (R)] 


WEEK SIX, Mar. 4-8 th 

TOPIC: From Entrenched Conflict to Media Spectacle: the Middle East, Northern Ireland and 

the First Gulf War 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will discuss, and how the media subsequently covered 

the entrenched conflicts in the Middle East and the Troubles in 

Northern Ireland, and explore how this changed with the 24/7 

reporting of the First Gulf War 


1.) Greg Philo & GMG, ‘The Israeli-Palestine Conflict: TV News and Public Understanding’ 

Chapter 9 (pp. 133-148) in Thussu, Dayan Kishan & Freedman, Des, Eds., War and the 

Media (London: Sage, 2003) [SL / Online (LR)] 

2.) Cooke, Tim, ‘Paramilitaries and the Press’ Chapter 5 (pp. 75-90) in Norris, Pippa; Kern, 

Montague; & Just, Marion, Eds., Framing Terrorism: The News Media, The Government 

and the Public (London: Routledge, 2003). [SL & Online (LR)] 

3.) Douglas Kellner, ‘The Persian Gulf TV War Revisited’ Chapter 7 (pp. 136-54) in Allen, 

Stuart & Zelizer, Barbie, Eds., Reporting War: Journalism in Wartime (London: Routledge, 

2004) [SL] also available online at 

http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/papers/gulfwarrevisited.htm 

WEEK SEVEN, Mar. 11 th – 15 th 

TOPIC: Causality and Reporting War in the Balkans 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will analyse two recent conceptual approaches to the 

media and war: the CNN Effect and Compassion Fatigue; they 

will apply both to media representations of the Balkan Conflict 


1.) Robinson, Piers, ‘The CNN Effect: Can the News Media Drive Foreign Policy’?, Review of 

International Studies, 25(2): 301-09 [EJ] 

2.) Carruthers, Susan, ‘Other People’s Wars: Interventions in Real Time’, Chapter 4 The 

Media at War, 2 nd ed. (Houndmills: Palgrave, 2011) [SL & Online (R)] 

WEEK EIGHT, Mar. 18 th – 22 nd 

TOPIC: Media Constructions of Africa & Forgotten Wars 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will examine how Western media outlets have 

constructed conflict in Africa, and analyse the different ways 

that the media forgets about both long-standing conflicts and 

‘small wars’ 


1.) Carruthers, Susan L. ‘Tribalism and Tribulation: Media Constructions of ‘African Savagery’ 

and ‘Western Humanitarianism’ in the 1990s’ Chapter 8 (pp. 155-173) in Allen, Stuart & 

Zelizer, Barbie, Eds., Reporting War: Journalism in Wartime (London: Routledge, 2004) 

[SL / Online (R)] 

2.) Berstein, Noah, ‘A Media Eclipse: Israel-Palestine and the World’s Forgotten Conflicts’, 

OpenDemocracy, 18 th March 2010, available at 

http://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/noah-bernstein/media-eclipse-israelpalestine-and-worlds-forgotten-conflicts 

and [Online link] 


PLEASE NOTE: Media Essay DEADLINE is Wednesday, 20 th March at 12 noon 

EASTER BREAK, 25 th Mar. – 12 th Apr. NO LECTURES OR TUTORIALS 

WEEK NINE, Mar. 15 th – 19 th 

TOPIC: 9/11, Iraq & Afghanistan 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will discuss the media’s representations of the events of 

9/11 through the concept of media spectacle, and debate the 

role of the media in the conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan, 

especially in regards to embedded journalism 


1.) Kellner, Douglas, ‘9/11, Spectacles of Terror and Media Manipulation’, Critical Discourse 

Studies, 1(1): 41-64 [EJ] 

2.) Carruthers, Susan L. ‘War in the Digital Age: Afghanistan and Iraq’, Chapter 6 (pp. 209- 

265) in The Media at War (Houndmills: Palgrave 2011) [SL / Online (R)] 

WEEK TEN, Apr. 22 nd – 26 th 

TOPIC: The Arab Spring & New Media Technologies 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will discuss new technologies, the internet, embedded 

journalism and social media to discuss the changing relationship 

between the media and war, with specific reference to the Arab 

Spring & recent global conflicts 


1.) Alterman, Jon B. ‘The Revolution will not be Tweeted’, The Washington Quarterly, 34(4), 

2011: 103-16 [Online (R)] 

2.) Allen, Stuart, ‘Citizen Journalism and the rise of Mass Self Communication: Reporting the 

London Bombings’Global Media Journal,1(1), 2007: 1-20 [Online (R)] 

WEEK ELEVEN, Apr. 29 th – May 3 rd 

TOPIC: The Ethics of Reporting Conflict 

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will explore the reporting of war from the journalist’s 

perspective, and analyse some of the dominant guidelines 

governing journalists in conflict situations 


1.) Tumber, Howard, ‘Prisoners of News Values? Journalists, professionalism and 

identification in times of war’ Chapter 10 (pp. 190-205) in Allen, Stuart & Zelizer, Barbie, 

Eds., Reporting War: Journalism in Wartime (London: Routledge, 2004) [SL & Online 

(R)] 

2.) BBC, ‘Section 11: War, Terror & Emergencies’, BBC Editorial Guidelines, BBC Online 2013 

(available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-warpractices-accuracy/) 

[Online link & Online (R)] 


Further Reading for the Module 

The required readings for each tutorial are intended to build upon the lectures and to 

facilitate and encourage group discussion. For the purposes of the assignment and 

examination, however, you cannot rely upon the required readings alone. You must also 

read some of the materials listed below. Of course you cannot read everything, but you need 

to read enough to have a sufficient overview of the relevant literature and to understand the 

key debates, etc. The following list is not exhaustive and you will undoubtedly come across 

further books, journal articles and newspaper articles that will aid you in writing your 

assessed essay and in preparing for the examination. What follows is a topic-by-topic general 

bibliography. 

Representation and the Media 

Branston, Gill; and Roy Stafford (eds) (2006). ‘Ideologies and Power’, in The Media Student’s 

Book (Routledge). 4th edition - chapter 6 (pp. 174- 193) / 3rd edition - chapter 5 (pp. 

117-134). 

Briggs, Adam & Paul Cobley (eds.) (1998). The Media: An Introduction (Longman). 

Burton, Graeme (1997). ‘A Basis for Media Studies’, in More Than Meets the Eye (Arnold). 2nd 

edition, chapter 3 (pp. 23-39) / 3rd edition, chapter 3 (pp. 29-54). 

Corner, John; Philip Schlesinger and Roger Silverstone (1997). International Media Research: 

A Critical Survey (Routledge). 

Curran, James; and Gurevitch, Michael (eds) (1996) Mass Media and Society (Edward 

Arnold). 

Grossberg, Lawrence; Ellen Wartella and Charles Witney (1998). Media Making: Mass Media 

in Popular Culture (Sage). 

Inglis, Fred (1990) ‘Theories of Ideology’, in Fred Inglis, Media Theory: An Introduction 

(Blackwell), chapter 4 (pp. 74-91) 

Maltby, Sarah; and Richard Keeble (2007). Communicating War: Memory, Media and Military 

(Arima Publishing). 

O‟Sullivan, Tim; and Yvonne Jewkes (eds) (1997). The Media Studies Reader (Edward 

Arnold). 

Philo, Greg (ed) (1995). Glasgow Media Group Reader, Vol.2: Industry, Economy, War and 

Politics, (Routledge). 

McNair, Brian (1995). An Introduction to Political Communication, (London: Routledge). 

Watson, James (1997). A Dictionary of Communication and Media Studies, 4th ed. (Edward 

Arnold). 

The Media, Democracy, Public Sphere: 

Burton, G. (2010). Media and Society: Critical Perspectives, 2nd edition (Open University 

Press). 

Chomsky, Noam (1991). Deterring Democracy (Verso) 

Curran, J.; and J. Seaton (2003). Power Without Responsibility: The Press and Broadcasting 

in Britain, 5th edition (Routledge). Chapter 2 (Part I). 

Dahlgren, Peter (1995). Television and the Public Sphere: Citizenship, Democracy and the 

Media (Sage). 

Dayan, Daniel; and Elihu Katz (1994). Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History 

(Harvard University Press). 

Gamson, W. et. al. (1992) ‘Media Images and the Social Construction of Reality’, Annual 

Review of Sociology, Vol. 18: 373-93. 

Grossberg, Lawrence, Ellen Wartella; and D. Charles Whitney (1998). Mediamaking: Mass 

Media in Popular Culture (Sage), chapter 13 (pp. 357-374) 


Herman, Edward S.; and Noam Chomsky (1994). Manufacturing Consent: The Political 

Economy of the Mass Media (Vintage Books). 

Keane, John (1991). The Media and Democracy (Polity Press). 

Kellner, Douglas (1990). Television and the Crisis of Democracy (Westview Press). 

Livingstone, Sonia M.; and Peter Lunt (1994). Talk on Television: Audience Participation and 

Public Debate (Routledge). 

Negrine, Ralph (1994). Politics and the Mass Media in Britain (Routledge). 

O’ Sullivan, Tim; et.al (2003). Studying the Media (Arnold). 3rd edition, chapter 7 (pp. 190- 

220/ 2nd edition, chapter 6 (pp. 223-268) 

Postman, Neil (1985). Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of 

Showbusiness (Methuen). 

Sussman, Gerald (1997). Communication, Technology and Politics in the Information Age 

(Sage). 

Taylor, Philip M. (1997). Global Communications, International Affairs and the Media Since 

1945 (Routledge) 

Wheeler, Mark (1997). Politics and the Mass Media (Blackwell), chapter 1 (pp. 1-30) 

Williams, Kevin (1998) Get me a Murder a Day! A History of Mass Communication in Britain 

(Arnold). 

Winston, Brian (1998). Media Technology and Society: A History from the Telegraph to the 

Internet (Routledge). 

Media Representations of Conflict (General, Edited Collections) 

Allen, Tim; and Jean Seaton (eds) (1999). The Media of Conflict: War Reporting and 

Representations of Ethnic Violence (Zed Books). 

Burns, Alex m(2003). War Reportage and the Military-Information Society, available at: 

www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/article/id1298/pg1 (all six pages, use links at bottom 

of screen to move through document and print each page individually). 

Carruthers, Susan (2000/2011). The Media at War: Communication and Conflict in the 

Twentieth Century (Palgrave MacMillan). 

Chouliaraki, Lilie (2006). The Spectatorship of Suffering (Sage). 

Connelly, Mark; and David Welch (2005). War and the Media: Reportage and Propaganda 

(I.B. Tauris), pp. 19-64, pp.139-161, pp.204-217. 19 

Cottle, Simon (2006). Mediatized Conflicts: Understanding Media and Conflicts in the 

Contemporary World (Open University Press). 

Eldridge, John (ed) (1995). Glasgow Media Group Reader Vol 1: News Content, Language 

and Visuals (Routledge). 

Gibola, Eytan (2002). Media and Conflict: Framing Issues, Making Policy, Shaping Opinions 

(Transnational Publishers Inc.) 16 

Hoskins, Andrew (2004). Televising War: From Vietnam to Iraq (Continuum) 

Hoskins, Andrew; and Ben O‟Loughlin (2010). War and Media: The Emergence of Diffused 

War (Polity Press). 

Kamalipour, Yahya R.; and Nancy Snow (eds) (2004). War, Media and Propaganda: A Global 

Perspective (Rowman & Littlefield). 

Keeble, Richard Lance; John Tulloch and Florian Zollmann (2010). Peace Journalism, War 

and Conflict Resolution (Peter Lang). 

Kishan Tussu, Daya; and Des Freedman (eds) (2003). War and the Media: Reporting Conflict 

(Sage). 

Knightly, Philip (2004). The First Casualty: The War Correspondent as Hero and Myth-Maker 

from the Crimea to Iraq (John Hopkins University Press). Chapters 5, 6, 10, 11 & 16. 

Lynch, Jake (2005). Peace Journalism (Hawthorn Press). 

Maltby, Sarah (2007). Communicating War: Memory, Media and Military (Arima). 

Marsden, Lee; and Heather Savigny (eds) (2009). Media, Religion and Conflict (Ashgate). 


Mbane, Adolf E. (2006). Media in Situations of Conflict: Roles, Challenges and Responsibility 

(Fountain Publishers). 

McLaughlin, Greg (2002). The War Correspondent (Pluto Press). 

Michalski, Milena (2007). War, Image and Legitimacy: Viewing Contemporary Conflict 

(Routledge). 

Moorcraft, Paul L.; and Philip M. Taylor, Shooting the Messenger: The Political Impact of War 

Reporting (Potomac Books). 

Philo, Greg (ed) (1995). Glasgow Media Group Reader Vol 2: Industry, Economy, War and 

Politics (Routledge). 

Rid, Thomas. (2007) War and Media Operations: the US Military and the Press from Vietnam 

to Iraq. London: Routledge. 

Schmid, Alex P. (1982), Violence as Communication: Insurgent Terrorism and the Western 

News Media, (London: Sage) 

Seaton, Jean (2005). Carnage and the Media: the Making and Breaking of News About 

Violence (Allen Lane). 

Seib, Philip (2004). Beyond the Front Lines: How the News Media Cover a World Shaped by 

War (Palgrave Macmillan), electronic text 

Shaw, Martin (1996). Civil Society and Media in Global crises: Representing Distant Violence 

(Pinter). 

Silverstone, Roger (2006). Media and Morality: On the Rise of the Mediapolis (Polity Press). 

Simpson, John (2008). News From No Man‟s Land: Reporting the World, 4th edition (Pan 

Books). 

Terrorism and the News Media: conference papers / contributions from Yonah – (London: 

Centre for Contemporary 1983) [Available at Main Library Issue Desk] 

Thussu, Daya Kishan; and Des Freedman (2003). War and the Media: Reporting Conflict 

24/7, electronic text. 

Media and War in a Historical Context: WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, NI & Israel- 

Palestine 

Deprez, Annelore; and Karin Raeymaeckers (2010). ‘Bias in the News? The Representation of 

Palestinians and Israelis in the Coverage of the First and Second Intifada’, 71 

International Communications Gazette: 91–109. 

Hammond, William (1998). Reporting Vietnam: Media and Military at War (University Press of 

Kansas). 

Hynes, Samuel (1992). A War Imagined: The First World War and English Culture (Pimlico). 

Institute for War and Peace Reporting www.iwpr.net 

Butler, David Ellis (1995). The Trouble with Reporting Northern Ireland: The British State, 

the Broadcast (Avebury). 

Culbert, David, ‘American Television Coverage of the Vietnam War: The Loan Execution 

Footage, the Tet Offensive (1968) and the Contextualisation of Visual Images’ 

Chapter 12 (pp. 204-13) in Mark Connelly & David Welch, War and the Media: 

Reportage and Propaganda 1900-2003, (London: I.B. Tauris, 2005) [SL & Online 

(LR)]. 

Curtis, Liz (1984). Ireland: The Propaganda War: The Media and the “Battle for Hearts and 

Minds” (Pluto Press). 

Hallin, David C. ‘The Media, The War in Vietnam, and Political Support’, pp. 1-24 in Journal 

of Politics, 46(1), 1984. 

Kingston, Shane (1995). „Terrorism, the Media and the Northern Ireland Conflict‟, 18 Studies 

in Conflict and Terrorism. 

Liebes, Tamar (1997). Reporting the Israeli-Arab conflict: How Hegemony Works 

(Routledge). 


McLaughlin, Greg; and Stephen Baker (2010). The Propaganda of Peace: The Role of Media 

and Culture in the Northern Ireland Peace Process (Intellect) 

Miller, David (1994). Don't Mention the War: Northern Ireland, Propaganda and the Media, 

(Pluto Press). 

Miller, David (2003). Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq 


Moorcraft Paul & Philip M. Taylor (2008). ‘The Cold War of Words’ Chapter 3 in Shooting the 

Messenger: The Political Impact of War Reporting 

Mulcaghy, Aogan (1995). „Claims-Making and the Construction of Legitimacy: Press 

Coverage of the 1981 Northern Irish Hunger Strike‟, 42 Social Problems. Moorcraft, 

Paul, L.; and Philip M. Taylor (2008). Shooting the Messenger: The Political Impact of 

War Reporting (Potomac Books). 

Parkinson, Alan F. (1998). Ulster Loyalism and the British Media (Four Courts Press). 

Philo, Greg; and Mike Berry (2004). Bad News From Israel (Pluto Press). 

Philo, Greg; and Mike Berry (2005). 'More Bad News from the Middle East', in C. Wright and 

C. Demaria (eds), Post-Conflict Cultures: Rituals of Representation (Zoilus Press) 

Philo, Greg (2003). ‘The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: TV News and Public Understanding’, in 

Daya Kishan Thussu and Des Freedman (eds), War and the Media: Reporting Conflict 

(Sage). 

Rampton, Sheldon; and John Stauber (2003). Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of 

Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq (Constable & Robinson). 18 

Rid, Thomas (2007). War and Media Operations: The US Military and the Press from Vietnam 

to Iraq (London) 

Rolston, Bill (ed.) (1991). The Media and Northern Ireland: Covering the Troubles 

(Macmillan). 

Rolston, Bill (ed.) (1996). War and Words: the Northern Ireland Media Reader (Beyond the 

Pale Publications). 26 

Rolston, Bill (2007). „Facing Reality: The Media, the Past and Conflict Transformation in 

Northern Ireland‟, 3 Crime, Media, Culture. 

Shaw, Tony (2005), ‘Cinematic Propaganda During the Cold War: A Comparison of British 

and American Movies’ Chapter 10 in Mark Connelly & David Welch, War and the 

Media: Reportage and Propaganda 1900-2003, (London: I.B. Tauris) 

Smith, Howard (1988). ‘The BBC Television Newsreel and the Korean War’, Historical Journal 

of Film, Radio and Television, 8:3, 227-252. 

Spencer, Graham (2004). „The Impact of Television News on the Northern Ireland Peace 

Negotiations‟, 26 Media, Culture and Society. 

Taylor, Philip M. (1997). ‘Illusions of Reality: The Media and the Reporting of Warfare’ in 

Global Communications, International Affairs and the Media since 1945 (Routledge), 

chapter 3 (pp. 99-144). 

Taylor, Philip M. (1998). War and the Media: Propaganda and Persuasion in the Gulf War 

(Manchester University Press). 

Whitfield, Stephen J. ‘Boxed in: Television and the Press’, Chapter 7 (pp. 153-78) in The 

Culture of the Cold War (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1997) [SL & 

Online (LR)] 

Wilson, Robin (2001). The Media and Intrastate Conflict in Northern Ireland (Democratic 

Dialogue Special Report). 

Contemporary Conflicts: Gulf War 1 and 1990s 

Allen, Barbara; Paula OLoughlin; Amy Jasperson and John L. Sullivan (1994). ‘The Media and 

the Gulf War: Framing, Priming and the Spiral of Silence’ Polity, 27(2): 255-84 


Allen, Tim (1999). ‘Perceiving Contemporary Wars’, in Tim Allen and Jean Seaton (eds), The 

Media of Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence (London: 

Zed Books). Chapter 1. 

Allen, Tim; and Jean Seaton (eds) (1999). The Media of Conflict: War Reporting and 

Representations of Ethnic Violence, (London: Zed Books). 

Arno, Andrew (2009). Alarming Reports: Communicating Conflict in the Daily News 

(Berghahn Books). 

Bennett, Lance; and David L. Paletz (1994). Taken by Storm: The Media, Public Opinion and 

US Foreign Policy in the Gulf War (University of Chicago Press). 

Gilboa, Eytan (2005). ‘Global Television News and Foreign Policy: Debating the CNN Effect’, 

International Studies Perspectives, 6(3): 325-41. 

Halliday, Fred (1999). ‘Manipulation and Limits: Media Coverage of the Gulf War, 1990-91’, 

in Tim Allen and Jean Seaton (eds), The Media of Conflict: War Reporting and 

Representations of Ethnic Violence, (London: Zed Books). Chapter 6. 

Hammond, Phil (2007). Framing Post-cold War Conflicts: The Media and International 

Intervention (Manchester University Press). 

Hammond, Philip, ‘Humanizing War: the Balkans and Beyond’, Chapter 9 (pp. 174-189) in 

Allen, Stuart & Zelizer, Barbie, Eds., Reporting War: Journalism in Wartime (London: 

Routledge, 2004) 

Hoijer, Birgitta (2004). ‘The Discourse of Global Compassion: The Audience and Media 

Reporting of Human Suffering‟, Media, Culture and Society 26(4): 513-31. 

Institute for War and Peace Reporting (www.iwpr.net) 

Jakobsen, Peter Viggo (2000). ‘Focus on the CNN Effect Misses the Point: The Real Media 

Impact on Conflict Management is Invisible and Indirect, Journal of Peace Research, 

37(2): 131-43. 

Jakobsen, Peter Viggo (1996). ‘National Interest, Humanitarianism or CNN: What Triggers 

UN Peace Enforcement after the Cold War’, Journal of Peace Research, 33(2): 205- 

215 

Price, Monroe E.; and Mark Thompson (eds) (2002). Forging Peace: International 

Intervention, Media and Conflict (International Communications): Intervention, 

Human Rights and the Management of Media Space (Edinburgh University Press). 

Robinson, Piers (2002). The CNN Effect: The Myth of News, Foreign Policy and Intervention 

(Routledge). 

Stech, Frank J. (1994). ‘Winning CNN Wars’, Parameters (available at: 

http://www.carlisle.army.mil/USAWC/PARAMETERS/Articles/1994/stech.htm 

Taylor, Philip M. (1998). War and the Media: Propaganda and Persuasion in the Gulf War 


Willcox, David (2005). Propaganda, the Press and Conflict: The Gulf War and Kosovo 

(Routledge). 

Zelizer, Barbie (1992). ‘CNN, the Gulf War and Journalistic Practice’, Journal of 

Communication 42(1): 66-81 (available at: 

http://ics01.ds.leeds.ac.uk/papers/pmt/exhibits/1232/zelizer.pdf 

Media and Conflict in the Balkans 

Fardon, Richard, ‘Ethnic Perversion’, Chapter 3 (pp. 64-80) in Allen, Tim; and Julie Seaton 

(1999). The Media of Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence 

(Zed Books). 

Bahoder, Bahak (2007). The CNN Effect in Action: How the News Media Pushed the West 

Towards War in Kosovo (Palgrave Macmillan). 

Banks, Marcus; and Monica Wolfe Murray (1999). ‘Ethnicity and Reports of the 1992-95 

Bosnian War’, Chapter 7 (pp. 147-61) in Tim Allen and Jean Seaton (eds), The Media 


of Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence, (London: Zed 

Books). 

Bell, Martin (1996). In Harm’s Way, revised edition (Penguin Books). 

Berinsky, Adam J.; and Donald R. Kinder (2006). ‘Making Sense of Issues Through Media 

Frames: Understanding the Kosovo Crisis’, Journal of Politics, 68(3): 640-56. 

Carpenter, R. Charli (2006). ‘A Fresh Crop of Human Misery: Representations of Bosnian 

‘War Babies’ in the Global Print Media, 1991-2006, Millennium: Journal of 

International Studies, 38(1): 25-54. 

Gow, James; Richard Paterson and Alison Preston (1996). Bosnia by Television (British Film 

Institute). 

Hammond, Phil; and Edward S. Herman (2000). Degraded Capability: The Media and the 

Kosovo Crisis (Pluto Press). 

Hoijer, Birgitta; Stig Arne Nohrstedt and Rune Ottesen (2002). ‘The Kosovo War in the 

Media: Analysis of a Global Discursive Order’, Conflict and Communication Online 

1(2): 1-18, available at http://www.cco.regeneronline.de/2002_2/pdf_2002_2/h%F6ijer.pdf 

Iordanova, Dina (2001). Cinema of Flames: Balkans Film, Culture and the Media (BFI 

Publishing). 

Jackson, Michele H.; and Darren Purcell (1997). ‘Politics and Media Richness in World Wide 

Web Representations of the former Yugoslavia’, The Geographical Review, 87(2): 

219-39, available at http://assett.colorado.edu/jackson/wpcontent/uploads/2011/01/JacksonPurcell1997.pdf 

Kent, Gregory (2005). Framing War and Genocide: British Policy and News Media Reaction to 

the War in Bosnia (Hampton Press). 

Kolsto, Pal (2009). Media Discourse and the Yugoslav Conflicts: Representations of Self and 

Other (Ashgate) 

Kurspahic, KemL (2003). Prime Time Crime: Balkan Media in War and Peace (United States 

Institute of Peace Press) 

Laureij, Milo (2010). Conflict Coverage in Kosovo: The Role of the Media as Conflict Mitigator 

or Instigator (LAP Lambert Academic Publishing) 23 

Mertus, Julie; and Mark Thompson (2002). ‘The Learning Curve: Media Development in 

Kosovo’, Chapter 9 in Monroe E. Price and Mark Thompson (eds). Forging Peace: 

International Intervention, Media and Conflict (International Communications): 

Intervention, Human Rights and the Management of Media Space (Edinburgh 

University Press). 

Nohrstedt, Stig A.; Sophia Kaitatzi-Whitlock, Rune Ottosen and Kristina Riegert (2000). ‘From 

the Persian Gulf to Kosovo: War Journalism and Propaganda’, European Journal of 

Communication, 15(3): 383-404, available at 

http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/pmt/exhibits/1867/norstedt.pdf 

Palmer, Allen W. (2002). ‘Global Transparency and Hidden Transcripts: International Media 

Portrayals of the Kosovo Crisis’, available at 

http://www.portalcomunicacion.com/bcn2002/n_eng/programme/prog_ind/papers/p/ 

pdf/P004SE06_PALME.pdf 

Robinson, Piers (2000). ‘The Policy-Media Interaction Model: Measuring Media Power During 

Humanitarian Crisis’, Journal of Peace Research, 37(5): 613-33. 

Sofos, Spyros A. (1999). ‘Culture, Media and the Politics of Disintegration and Ethnic Division 

in Former Yugoslavia’, Chapter 8 in Tim Allen and Jean Seaton (eds),The Media of 

Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence (London: Zed Books). 

Thompson, Mark (1999) Forging War: The Media in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina 

(University of Luton Press) 

Thompson, Mark; and Dan de Luce (2002). ‘Escalating to Success? The Media Intervention in 

Bosnia and Herzegovina’, Chapter 7 in Monroe E. Price and Mark Thompson (eds). 


Forging Peace: International Intervention, Media and Conflict (International 

Communications): Intervention, Human Rights and the Management of Media Space 

(Edinburgh University Press). 

Willcox, David (2005). Propaganda, the Press and Conflict: The Gulf War and Kosovo 

(Routledge). 

Media and Conflict in Africa 

Dauge-Roth, Aleksandre (2010). Writing and Filming the Genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda: 

Dismembering and Remembering Traumatic History (Lexington Books). 

Des Forges, Alison (2002). ‘Silencing the Voices of Hate in Rwanda’ Chapter 8 in Monroe E. 

Price and Mark Thompson (eds). Forging Peace: International Intervention, Media 

and Conflict (International Communications): Intervention, Human Rights and the 

Management of Media Space (Edinburgh University Press). 

Estes, Cherice Joyann (2010). ‘The Western Media and the Portrayal of the Rwandan 

Genocide’, History in the Making: A Journal of History, Vol. 3, pp.33-59 (available at: 

http://history.csbs.csusb.edu/studentsAlumni/Journal2010/Journal2010(final3).pdf#p 

age=44 

Fair, Jo Ellen; and Lisa Parks (2001). ‘Africa on Camera Television News Coverage and Aerial 

Imaging of Rwandan Refugees’, Africa Today, Vol. 48, available at: 

http://130.102.44.247/journals/africa_today/v048/48.2fair.pdf 

Frere, Marie-Soleil (2007). The Media and Conflicts in Africa (Lynne Rienner). 

Frohardt, Mark; and Jonathan Temin (2003). ‘Use and Abuse of Medias in Vulnerable 

Societies’, United States Institute of Peace Press, Special Report 110 (October 2003) 

available at: http://www.usip.org/files/resources/sr110.pdf 

Kamatali, Jean-Marie (2002). ‘Freedom of Expression and Its Limitations: The Case of the 

Rwandan Genocide’, Stanford Journal of International Law, 38(1):57-78. 

Kim, Jang Hyun; Tuo-Yu Su and Junhao Hong (2007). ‘The Influence of Geopolitics and 

Foreign Policy on the U.S. and Canadian Media: An Analysis of Newspaper Coverage 

of Sudan's Darfur Conflict’, The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 12(3): 

87-95. 

McNulty, Mel (1999). ‘Media Ethnicization and the International Response to War and 

Genocide in Rwanda’, Chapter 13 in Tim Allen and Jean Seaton (eds). The Media of 

Conflict: War Reporting and Representations of Ethnic Violence, (London: Zed 

Books). 

Metzl, Jamie Frederic (1997). ‘Rwandan Genocide and the International Law of Radio 

Jamming’, The American Journal of International Law, 91(4): 628-51. 

Mitchell, Jolyon (2007). ‘Remembering the Rwandan Genocide: Reconsidering the Role of 

Local and Global Media’, Global Media Journal, Vol. 6 (available at: 

http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/fa07/gmj-fa07-mitchell.htm) 

Njamnjoh, Francis B. (2005). Africa’s Media, Democracy and the Politics of Belonging (Zed 

Books). 

Paluck, Elizabeth Levy (2009). ‘Reducing Intergroup Prejudice and Conflict Using the Media: 

A Field Experiment in Rwanda’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 96 

(available at: http://betsylevypaluck.com/Paluck%202009%20JPSP%20Rwanda.pdf) 

Peterson, Scott (2000). Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda – A 

Journalist Reports from the Battlefields of Africa (Routledge). 

Schraeder, Peter; and Brian Endless (1998). ‘The Media and Africa: The Portrayal of Africa in 

the New York Times (1955-1995), Issue: A Journal of Opinion, Vol. 26 (available at: 

http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/pmt/exhibits/555/fwars.pdf) 

Straus, Scott (2007). ‘What Is the Relationship between Hate Radio and Violence? Rethinking 

Rwanda's "Radio Machete", Politics and Society, 35(4): 609-37 

Thompson, Allan (ed) (2006). The Media and the Rwanda Genocide (Pluto Press). 


Media and Conflict after 9/11: Iraq, Afghanistan, Terrorism 

Allan, Stuart (2006). Online News: Journalism and the Internet (Open University Press). 

Axford, Barry, ‘Talk about a Revolution: Social Media and the MENA Uprisings’ pp. 681-86 in 

Globalizations, 8(5), 2011 

Beckett, Charlie (2008). Supermedia: Saving Journalism So It Can Save The World (Wiley- 

Blackwell). 

Cottle, Simon (2006). Mediatized Conflicts: Understanding Media and Conflicts in the 

Contemporary World (Open University Press). 

Debrix, F. (2008). Tabloid Terror: War, Culture, and Geopolitics (Routledge). 

Dimaggio, Anthony R. (2008). Mass Media, Mass Propaganda: Examining American News in 

the "War on Terror" (Lexington Books). 

Dovey, J. (1996). Fractal Dreams: New Media in Social Context (Lawrence and Wishart). 

Franklin, B. (1997). Newszak and News Media (Arnold) (esp. chapters 4-5 and 8-9). 

Greenberg, Bradley S (2002). Communication and Terrorism: Public and Media Responses to 

9/11 (The Hampton Press Communication Series). 

Haarman, L. and L. Lombardo (eds) (2008). Evaluation and Stance in War News: A Linguistic 

Analysis of American, British and Italian Television News Reporting of the 2003 Iraqi 

War (Continuum). 

Hess, S.; and M. Kalb (eds) (2003). The Media and the War on Terrorism (Brookings 

Institution Press). 

Hoskins, A. (2004). Televising War: From Vietnam to Iraq (Continuum). 

Jackson, R. (2005). Writing the War on Terrorism: Language, Politics and Counter-Terrorism 


Kahn, R.; and D. Kellner (2004). New Media and Internet Activism: From the ‘Battle of 

Seattle’ to Blogging. New Media and Society, 6(1): 87-95 (available online) 

Kamalipour, Y.R. and N. Snow N. (eds) (2004). War, Media and Propaganda: A Global 

Perspective (Oxford: Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield). 27 

Kellner, D. (2003). From 9/11 to Terror War: The Dangers of the Bush Legacy (Rowman and 

Littlefield). 

Khondker, Habibul Haque, ‘The role of the New Media in the Arab Spring’ pp. 675-79 in 

Globalizations, 8(5), 2011 

Kishan Tussu, D.; and D. Freedman (eds) (2003). War and the Media: Reporting Conflict 

24/7 (Sage). 

Lewis, J., Brookes, R., Mosdell, N. & Threadgold, T. (2006) Shoot First, Ask Questions Later: 

Media Coverage of the 2003 Iraq War (New York: Peter Lang). 

Lindner, A.M., (2009) ‘Among the Troops: Seeing the Iraq War through 3 Journalistic 

Vantage Points’, Social Problems, 56(1): 21-48. 

Maltby, S.; and R. Keeble (2007). Communicating War: Memory, Media and Military (Arima 

Publishing). 

Marsden, L.; and H. Savigny (eds) (2009). Media, Religion and Conflict (Ashgate). 

Miller, D. (ed) (2004). Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq 


Moeller, S.D. (2008). Packaging Terrorism: Co-opting the News for Politics and Profit (Wiley- 

Blackwell). 

Norris, Pippa; Montague Kern and Marion Just (eds) (2003). Framing Terrorism: The News 

Media, the Government and the Public (Routledge). 

Rampton, S.; and J. Stauber (2003). Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda 

in Bush's War on Iraq (Robinson). 

Richardson, J. E. (2004). Misrepresenting Islam: The Racism and Rhetoric of British 

Broadsheet Newspapers (John Benjamins Publishing Co.). 

Ross, J.I.(2007). Deconstructing the Terrorism-News Media Relationship. Crime, Media, 

Culture, 3(2): 215-25 (available online). 


Schechter, D. (2003). Media Wars: News at a Time of Terror - Dissecting Media Coverage 

after 9/11 (Rowman & Littlefield). 

Seib, Philip, ‘Prelude to Iraq: The Changing Nature of War and War Coverage’, Chapter 2 

(pp. 19-42) in Beyond the Front Lines: How the News Media Cover a World Shaped 

by War (Houndmills: Palgrave, 2004) 

Seib, Philip (ed) (2005). Media and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century (Palgrave Macmillan). 

Shields, R. (ed) (1996). Cultures of Internet: Virtual Spaces, Real Histories, Living Bodies 

(Sage). 

Sussman, G. (1997). Communication, Technology and Politics in the Information Age (Sage). 

Tumber, H. (2004). Media at War: The Iraq Crisis (London: Sage). Chapters 6-8. 

Van de Donk, W.; et al (eds) (2004). Cyberprotest: New Media, Citizens and Social 

Movements (Routledge). 

Van der Veer, P.; and M. Shoma (eds) (2004). Media, War and Terrorism: Responses from 

the Middle East (Routledge). 

Zelizer, B.; and S. Allan, S. (2002). Journalism After September 11 (Routledge). 

Student Experience Bursary 

Students wishing to purchase books using the Student Experience Bursary can do so using 

their Student Card at the "Pop-Up" Blackwell’s bookstore at the Students’ Union during the 

first five weeks of the spring semester. Students can also purchase books with the Student 

Experience Bursary by using their Student Card at Blackwell’s online site which may be 

accessed through the student portal. 

Summary of Module Review (2011-12) 

Overall, the student feedback for Media, Politics and Conflict was extremely positive. In total, 

93.8% of respondents ‘Definitely’ or ‘Mostly’ agreed that they were satisfied with the quality 

of the module. They found the module to be interesting, stimulating, thought-provoking, 

challenging and highly relevant to their degree programmes. Many of them particularly 

enjoyed the case studies and the opportunity to focus in depth on conflicts about which they 

previously had little knowledge, such as the Bosnian war and the Rwandan genocide. 

Students really appreciated the timely lectures on the Arab Spring and the developments in 

the Middle East – and we aim to continue reflecting on current developments in the media’s 

reporting of conflicts in 2012-13. The learning outcomes of the module were largely 

achieved, as reflected particularly in the marks for the module, which were very strong. The 

moderator and the external examiner were satisfied with the marking process, and the latter 

commented upon the excellent written feedback given to students. 

Reflecting on the student evaluations, external examiner comments and the productive 

discussions with lecturers and TAs on the module, the overwhelming conclusion is that this 

module (2011-12) is drastically better than the initial incarnation (2010-11). It is more 

coherent in terms of content and case studies; it is easier to follow through the chronology 

of case studies; it has a clear theoretical and conceptual rationale; and it gives students the 

opportunity to think reflexively about their own consumption of the media. Students 

especially appreciated the timely and up-to-date examples and case studies, and the effort 

to use multimedia in the lectures. 


Study Abroad 

All students taking courses in the School of Politics, International Studies and 

Philosophy have the opportunity to study abroad as part of their degree irrespective of 

whether they are studying a language. 

If you are taking a three-year degree in International Studies (single, major, joint), 

Philosophy (single, major, joint), Politics (single, major, joint) or PPE then you can 

apply to spend a semester abroad. Understanding the language at the host institution 

is not a requirement as many of the places with which the School has exchange 

arrangements hold their courses in English. 

For more information, see: 

www.qub.ac.uk/pisp/Education/Undergraduates/StudyAbroad 

or contact Dr Cillian McBride, the School’s Study abroad coordinator 

(c.mcbride@qub.ac.uk)

Media, Politics & Conflict - Queen's University Belfast

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