Africa's deadliest conflict : media coverage of the humanitarian disaster in the Congo & the United Nations response, 1997-2008 / by Walter C. Soderlund ... [and others].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Soderlund, Walter C.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Humanitarian intervention--Congo (Democratic Republic).

Humanitarian intervention.

Mass media and war.

Mass media--Influence.

Mass media.

Congo (Democratic Republic)--History--1997-.

Congo (Democratic Republic).

History.

Physical Description:

xix, 237 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Waterloo, Ont. : Wilfrid Laurier University Press ; Lancaster : Gazelle [distributor], 2012.

Summary:

Africa's Deadliest Conflict deals with the complex intersection of the legacy of post-colonial history-a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions-and changing norms of international intervention associated with the idea of human security and the responsibility to protect (R2P). It attempts to explain why, despite a softening of norms related to the sanctity of state sovereignty, the international community dealt so ineffectively with a brutal conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which between 1997 and 2011 claimed an estimated 5.5 million lives. In particular, the authors focus on the role of mass media in creating a will to intervene, a role considered by many to be the key to prodding a reluctant international community to action.

Included in the book are a primer on Congolese history, a review of United Nations peacekeeping missions in the Congo, and a detailed examination of both US television news and New York Times coverage of the Congo from 1997 through 2008. Separate conclusions are offered with respect to peacekeeping in the age of R2P and on the role of mass media in both promoting and inhibiting robust international responses to large-scale humanitarian crises. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The Congo: Understanding the Conflict 1

2 The UN Response: From ONUC to MONUSCO 19

3 Mass Media, Public Awareness, and Television News Coverage of the Congo 41

4 New York Times Framing of the Second Congo War 65

5 New York Times Framing of the Third Congo War 91

6 Media Coverage of the Congo Wars: An Overall Assessment 121

7 Peacekeeping in the Age of R2P 141.

ISBN:

9781554588350

1554588359

OCLC:

806495710