Facing the past: Media framing of war crimes in post-conflict Serbia

Abstract

Although it is generally acknowledged that national elites and the mass media play an important role in the way that societies come to terms with a legacy of war crimes, there is little empirical knowledge about whether and how the mass media actually do contribute to a process of 'facing the past'. Based on the case of Serbia, this study examines press media coverage of war crimes and war crime judiciary during the country's recent post-war period. Adopting a novel approach to the conceptualization and measurement of media frames, the article compares the reporting of war crimes issues in four Serbian newspapers during the period from 2004 to 2006. Five frames were identified: an injustice frame, a denial frame, a factual frame, a benefits frame, and a rejection frame. In conclusion, the study reveals a discourse that is both 'perpetrator centered' and -particularly for the nationalistic press -ethnically biased.

Journalistic memory work and transitional justice in Chile: The case of the declassification of the Colonia Dignidad archives in Berlin

“…Second, media have a ‘role in transitional justice process itself, by negotiating issues of identity’ (Price and Stremlau, 2012: 1077). Within this role, disregarded by most transitional justice scholars, journalists and media can have positive or negative impacts, by perpetuating hatred, inflaming identity politics or working towards peace (Golčevski et al, 2013: 120; Herfroy-Mischler, 2016: 826; Price and Stremlau, 2012: 1080). Truth commissions, international trials and public apologies ‘are reported as “media events”’ where journalists ‘are considered professional witnesses’ (Herfroy-Mischler, 2016: 826), having the ‘historic opportunity to write revised drafts of a well-known history that is continually being updated’ (Herfroy-Mischler, 2016: 826).…”

“…Thus, in post-conflict societies now democratically governed, journalists and the media are, at least by some, expected to play an important role in transitional justice processes, especially in the deconstruction of dominating versions of history in order to construct new narratives more aligned with public interest (Golčevski et al, 2013: 120).…”

“…Similarly, Laplante and Phenicie (2010) used the media coverage over the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 2001 to discuss how transitional justice measures can challenge the conventional ideal of journalistic objectivity, since the media were ‘used’ to promote certain interpretations of the past and specific democratic values serviceable towards the transitional process. Nevertheless, in spite of such examples, the role of journalists and the media within transitional justice has been largely neglected (Golčevski et al, 2013: 120).…”

Conceptualizing journalistic self-censorship in post-conflict societies: A qualitative perspective on the journalistic perception of news production in Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia

“…Post-conflict news production, finally, is still influenced by the existing conflict context (see Golcevski et al, 2013). However, the routines and modes of journalism that are predominant in a non-conflict situation return gradually as the process toward non-conflict status continues.…”

“…As a result, insights that potentially damage the positive image of parts of society may not be published. Secondly, self-censorship might be connected to the often present state of democratic and economic transition that follows a violent conflict (Breuning and Ishiyama, 2007; Golcevski et al, 2013; Stremlau, 2013). Post-conflict societies emerging from a civil war often lack democratic civil societies.…”