Media representations of socio-political conflict: The Romanian Revolution and the Gulf War

Abstract

Why do prestigious Western newspapers and broadcasting organizations fail in the coverage of sociopolitical conflict? Are media bungles in the last decade – such as in Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, the West Bank, Eastern Europe, the Gulf War and other cases1 – isolated instances? Do they indicate the evolution of a consistent pattern? The coverage of the Romanian revolution and the Gulf War in the Western media is used here for a comparative examination of these questions. Conclusions of a detailed analysis of the Romanian case are applied to the coverage of the Gulf War, and theoretical implications are discussed.

Asymmetric war and asymmetric peace: Real realities and media realities in the Middle East and the Western Balkans

“…This type of professional conduct was found also in the coverage of the Romanian revolution and the Gulf War (Shinar & Stoiciu, 1992), of the war in Iraq (Schechter, 2006), and of the IP conflict, including Israeli operations in the West Bank and Gaza (Dor, 2004(Dor, , 2005. 2 On the other hand, parties considered to be weaker have been using the media to compensate for their inferiority, and thus improve their standing and boost morale.…”

“…The key question in both cases seems to be under which conditions the media can serve as true integrative resources to promote empathy, peace and political stability between differing factions (Reljic, 2004). Faulty performance of integrative functions by the media in most conflicts, including in the Western Balkans and in the Middle East, has been criticized by the argument that only material that conforms to the victimdemon dichotomy is usually found out and reported; and that material that contradicts, or that serves to weaken and disconfirm this disintegrative dichotomy, is ignored, discounted, excluded, and even attacked (Herman & Peterson, 2007;Shinar, 2003;Shinar & Kempf, 2007;Shinar & Stoiciu, 1992).…”

Radio waves, memories, and the politics of everyday life in socialist Romania: The case of Radio Free Europe

“…Another such critical moment was the Romanian Revolution of 1989. References to this moment are, for the most part, omitted from the this paper because they have been the focus of previous studies: Berry (); Cesereanu (); Coman (); Gross (); Kifner (); Lamasanu (); Maierean (); Mustata (); (); Petrovzky and Tichindeleanu (); Ratesh (); Roper (); Siani‐Davies (); Shinar and Stoiciu (); Stearns (); Tileaga (). Moreover, now that Romania's first democratically elected president Ion Iliescu was officially charged on December 21, 2018 for crimes against humanity during the Romanian Revolution, new evidence will come to light from the ongoing trial.…”