Violence and War in Culture and the Media

12   Media actors in war and conflict

Insights from political psychology and the Bosnian war

Maria Touri

Introduction

In the current era of information overload, the diffusion of communications technologies and the availability of multiple sources of information have generated a certain degree of openness and publicity, reducing the ability of political leaders to have complete control over the definition and framing of events (Brown 2005). In the case for conflict and war, the life-and-death risks that conflicts involve makes them hard cases for media effects to occur (Baum and Groeling 2010: 11). However, the same risks can grant conflicts unusual visibility and public attention through the media, reducing leaders’ time for deliberation and ...