When states are failing, when basic state functions are no longer carried out, and when people have no security, humanitarian crises erupt. In confronting this problem, the stronger states have followed an ad hoc policy of intervention and aid. In some cases, humanitarian disasters have resulted from inaction. Often, the media are blamed. Politicians complain about the media when they interfere (the CNN effect), and when they do not. This article looks at how the media do cover failing states. Sierra Leone and Congo are used as examples. The analysis shows that there is little independent coverage. A Danish survey of newsrooms shows that the national world-view and prevalent news criteria prevent consistent coverage. It is argued that politicians are the ones who determine national agendas: it is from political initiatives, rather than media coverage, that failing states and humanitarian crises can expect action.
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References
1.
* Hans-Henrik Holm is Jean Monnet Professor of International Relations at the Danish School of Journalism. The research forming the basis of this article is part of an international effort to study failing states under the direction of Prof. Michael Stohl, University of California, Santa Barbara. Helpful comments from the editor and reviewers of the journal are gratefully acknowledged. E-mail: hhh@djh.dk.
2.
1 Prime Minister Tony Blair as reported by Reuters, 11 February 2002. Throughout this article, `Congo' refers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
3.
2 Both terms express public indifference to suffering that does not seem to be `our' responsibility; see notes 13 and 36.
4.
3 See David S. Gibbs, `Realpolitik and Humanitarian Intervention', International Politics, vol. 37, no. 1, March 2000, pp. 41-55.
5.
`Complex emergencies' are defined as a combination of mass population movement, severe food insecurity, macro-economic collapse, and acute military and civil conflict; see International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), `State Collapse and Reconstruction: Lessons and Strategies', report of a conference held under the auspices of the ICRC and the Programme for Strategic and International Security Studies (PSIS), December 2000 (Geneva: ICRC, 2001), p. 5.
6.
5 For a complete list of internal wars that combines many of the existing datasets, see Michael W. Doyle & Nicholas Sambanis, International Peacebuilding: A Theoretical and Quantitative Analysis (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2000).
7.
6 See Lakhdar Brahimi, Report of the Panel on United Nations Peace Operations (New York: United Nations, 2000).
8.
7 See Nicholas J. Wheeler, `Pluralist or Solidarist Conceptions of International Society: Bull and Vincent on Humanitarian Intervention', Millennium, vol. 21, no. 3, Winter 1992, pp. 463-487.
9.
8 R. J. Vincent & Peter Wilson, `Beyond Non-Intervention', in Ian Forbes & Mark Hoffman, eds, Political Theory, International Relations and the Ethics of Intervention (London: Macmillan, 1993), pp. 122-130.
10.
9 Laura Neack, `UN Peace-Keeping: In the Interest of Community or Self?', Journal of Peace Research, vol. 32, no. 2, May 1995, pp. 181-196.
11.
10 Kofi Annan, Globalization and Governance (New York: United Nations, 2000), p. 2.
12.
and Arthur Jay Klinghoffer, The International Dimension of Genocide in Rwanda (New York: New York University Press, 1998).
13.
12 Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed this in the following way: `This is a just war, based not on any territorial ambitions but on values. We cannot let the evil of ethnic cleansing stand. We must not rest until it is reversed.' Speech in Chicago, IL, 22 April 1999.
14.
13 See Susan D. Moeller, Compassion Fatigue: How the Media Sell Disease, Famine, War and Death (New York: Routledge, 1999).
15.
14 See Nicholas J. Wheeler, Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
16.
15 See Robert H. Jackson, The Global Covenant: Human Conduct in a World of States (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 293.
17.
16 Blair (note 12 above).
18.
17 Ibid.
19.
18 See Warren P. Strobel, `The Media and U.S. Policies Toward Intervention: A Closer Look at the “CNN Effect”', in Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson & Pamela Aall, eds, Managing Global Chaos (Washington, DC: USIP Press, 1996), p. 364.
20.
19 Piers Robinson, `The News Media and Operation Restore Hope: The Illusion of a Media Driven Intervention', paper presented at the annual convention of the International Studies Association, Los Angeles, CA, 14-18 March 2000, p. 3.
21.
20 Steven Livingston, `Clarifying the CNN Effect: An Examination of Media Effects According to Type of Military Intervention', Research Paper R-18 (Boston, MA: Shorenstein Center, Harvard University, 1997), p. 9.
22.
21 Ibid.
23.
22 If we look at the international news agencies, they argue - and research supports their claim - that they in fact provide much more media coverage of failing states than is actually selected and presented to the public. The coverage in Reuters is therefore included. If we then look at national newspapers and electronic media, they argue - and research supports them - that they are in fact providing far more stories about failed and failing states than their readers and viewers are interested in. See Hans-Henrik Holm, Lars Kabel, Torben Kitaj, Lars Møller & Flemming Ytzen, Verden på tilbud. Om udenrigsjournalistik og mediernes udenrigsdækning [The World on Offer: On Foreign Reporting and the Foreign Coverage of the Media] (Århus: Ajour, 2000).
24.
23 Nik Gowing, `Media in Conflict: The New Reality Not Yet Understood', Forum (International Committee of the Red Cross), April 2002, pp. 61-70.
25.
24 See Lars Kabel, Nye Nyheder [New News] (Århus: Ajour, 1999).
26.
25 Johan Galtung & Mari Holmboe Ruge, `The Structure of Foreign News: The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers', Journal of Peace Research, vol. 2, no. 1, 1965, pp. 64-91.
27.
26 An occasional visit from a Tony Blair, Bill Gates or Bono, a speech, or a donation is the habitual extent of elite association.
28.
27 See Hans-Henrik Holm, `Afrika i vores hjerter' [Africa in Our Hearts], in Gorm Rye Olsen, ed., Afrika. Det ukuelige kontinent [Africa: The Invincible Continent] (Copenhagen: Danmarks Radio Forlaget, 1994), pp. 13-33.
29.
28 Shanto Iyengar, Is Anyone Responsible? How Television News Frames Political Issues (Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press, 1991).
30.
29 When Time magazine complied a list of its ten worst-selling covers since 1980, many of them were foreign stories, including `Anguish over Bosnia' (17 May 1993) and `Somalia Reporting Hope?' (21 December 1992). Only two foreign-story covers made the list of best-selling issues: the death of Princess Diana and the start of the Gulf War; see Moeller (note 13 above), p. 18.
31.
30 Tsan-Kuo Chang & Jae-Won Lee, `Factors Affecting Gatekeepers' Selection of Foreign News: A National Survey of Newspaper Editors', Journalism Quarterly, vol. 69, no. 3, Autumn 1992, pp. 554-561.
32.
31 See Hans-Henrik Holm, `The Effect of Globalization on Media Structures', in Stig Hjarvard, ed., News in a Globalized Society (Gothenburg: Nordicom, 2001), pp. 113-128. The data are based on research undertaken by a research group at the Centre for Journalism and Further Education, Århus, Denmark, where a detailed survey of foreign news coverage in the Danish media was undertaken. All foreign news (in a broad sense) over a two-week period (11-24 November 1998) in nine newspapers, two TV stations, and the national radio network was collected. In addition, a study of the organizational structure of each of the news organizations was conducted. Finally, observation of the editorial process was conducted at seven of the major media outlets, with a specific focus on the process of editorial choice. See Holm et al. (note 22 above).
33.
32 See Food and Agriculture Organization, Coverage of Third World Issues (Surrey: Echo, 2001).
34.
33 Kristina Riegert, `Nationalising' Foreign Conflict: Foreign Policy Orientation as a Factor in Television News Reporting (Stockholm: Stockholm University Press, 1998), p. 229.
35.
34 Iyengar (note 28 above).
36.
35 Project for Excellence in Journalism, Return to Normalcy? How the Media Have Covered the War on Terrorism (New York: Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2002).
37.
Michael Stohl , `Beyond a Small Circle of Friends', paper presented at the Conference on Failed States, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, April 1999.
38.
37 Herbert Kelman, `Violence Without Moral Restraint: Reflections on the Dehumanization of Victims and Victimizers', Journal of Social Issues, vol. 29, no. 4, Winter 1973, pp. 25-61.
