Human Rights Journalism and Its Nexus to Responsibility to Protect : How and Why the International Press Failed in Sri Lanka’s Humanitarian Crisis

This book takes a holistic approach by capturing the various perspectives and viewpoints concerning the theory and practice of Human Rights Journalism. Firstly, this book helps fill the epistemological vacuum present in Human Rights Journalism by proposing ‘pragmatic objectivity’ within the critical constructivist epistemology. Secondly, it defines the Human Rights Journalism-Responsibility to Protect nexus by identifying five key elements. Thirdly, it proposes a Human Rights Journalism-Responsibility to Protect conceptual model, which illustrates how an embedded human rights focussed media strategy can be designed. Fourthly, this book proposes two novel quantitative analysis tools called the ‘Framing Matrix’ and the ‘Multimodal Discourse Analysis Matrix’ that are equipped to deal with a big sample size over a long period of time. These tools are used to examine the practice of Human Rights Journalism and the typology of news stories of distant sufferings. Finally, it provides a scientific explanation for those in search of the answer to why one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, which took place in Sri Lanka in 2009, did not create any global compassion or garner attention. Foreword References Preface Acknowledgments Contents Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables 1 Introduction: Human Rights Journalism and its Nexus to Responsibility to Protect 1.1 Why Is Human Rights Journalism Important for R2P? 1.2 Structure of the Book Bibliography 2 The Failings of Conventional War Journalism 2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 The Emergence of the War Correspondent 2.1.2 The First Modern War Correspondent 2.1.3 Organised System of War Reporting 2.1.4 New Media Technologies and the Rise of Data Journalism 2.2 Media–Military Relations 2.3 The Challenges of War Reporting 2.3.1 Debate Around Objectivity 2.3.2 Characteristics of Conventional War Reporting 2.4 The Genesis and Consequences of Conventional War Reporting 2.4.1 News Values 2.4.2 News, Journalists and Power 2.4.3 News Sources and Their Effects 2.4.4 Military Terminology 2.5 The Emergence of Alternative Form of Journalism 2.5.1 Peace Journalism (PJ) 2.5.2 PJ’s Epistemological Vacuum 2.6 Summary Bibliography 3 Human Rights Journalism: Tracing Its Epistemological Foundation 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Human Rights and Media 3.3 Media’s Agenda-Setting Role 3.3.1 First Level and Second Level Agenda Setting 3.3.2 Accessibility and Applicability 3.4 Human Rights Journalism (HRJ) 3.5 A Constructivist Epistemological Grounding of HRJ 3.6 Summary Bibliography 4 The Nexus Between Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and Human Rights Journalism (HRJ) 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Humanitarian Interventions and Responsibility to Protect (R2P) 4.2.1 Just War, Humanitarian Intervention and International Relations 4.2.2 The Idea of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) 4.3 Human Rights Journalism and Humanitarian Interventions: Some Epistemological Theoretical Frameworks 4.3.1 Global Justice 4.3.2 The ABC Conflict Triangle 4.3.3 The Iceberg Metaphor Theory 4.3.4 The Nested Paradigm Model 4.3.5 Just Peace Theory 4.3.6 Key Elements of HRJ and R2P Nexus 4.3.7 Just Cause and Global Justice Advocacy 4.3.8 Just Peace, Peace Building and Conflict Prevention 4.3.9 Empowering, Mobilising and Intervening 4.3.10 Human Rights-Based Approach 4.3.11 Monitoring and Accountability 4.4 Scrutinising Media’s Role of Responsibility to Report (R2R) 4.5 Summary Bibliography 5 Analysing Feature Detection of Media Representations Via Framing Matrix and Multimodal Discourse Analysis Matrix 5.1 Introduction 5.2 A Research Framework for Analysing the Practise of HRJ 5.3 Quantitative and Qualitative Content Analysis 5.3.1 Content Analysis Coding Manual 5.4 Frame Analysis 5.5 Multimodal Discourse Analysis 5.5.1 Multimodal Analysis Process 5.5.2 Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) 5.5.3 Representations (Space–Time) 5.5.4 Orientations (Agency) 5.5.5 Typology of News Stories 5.6 Summary Bibliography 6 Accessibility Effect: Understanding the Information Politics of the Sri Lankan Humanitarian Crisis 6.1 Introduction 6.1.1 Methodological Framework and Data Collection 6.2 Content Analysis: Attention of the Newspapers Towards the Humanitarian Crisis 6.3 Role of the News Sources 6.4 Summary Bibliography 7 The Two-Dimensional Framing Process: Understanding the Journalism Discourse of the Sri Lankan Humanitarian Crisis 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Practice of HRJ vs HWJ 7.3 Different Framing Discourses Across the International Press Coverage and Their ‘Effect’ 7.4 Summary Bibliography 8 Analytics of Mediation of the Distant Suffering of Sri Lanka in the International Press 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Multimodal Analysis 8.3 Critical Discourse Analysis 8.4 Summary Bibliography 9 Journalists Speak Up on Their Reporting of the Crisis in Sri Lanka 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Impediments to Journalists’ Constructing Reality of Distant Suffering 9.2.1 Lack of Access to the War Zone 9.2.2 Intimidation and Threats 9.2.3 Refusal of Entry Clearance 9.2.4 Terrorist Label 9.2.5 Propagandist Campaign 9.2.6 Economic Constrains 9.2.7 Editorial Policy 9.2.8 Dealing with Objectivity 9.3 The Influence of the International Press Coverage of the Humanitarian Crisis on Human Rights Activists 9.3.1 The Analysis 9.4 Summary Bibliography 10 Conclusion: Theory and Practice of Human Rights Journalism 10.1 Critical Reflections on the Findings 10.2 How and Why the International Press Failed in Covering the 2009 Humanitarian Crisis in Sri Lanka? Bibliography Index This book takes a holistic approach by capturing the various perspectives and viewpoints concerning the theory and practice of Human Rights Journalism. Firstly, this book helps fill the epistemological vacuum present in Human Rights Journalism by proposing 'pragmatic objectivity' within the critical constructivist epistemology. Secondly, it defines the Human Rights Journalism-Responsibility to Protect nexus by identifying five key elements. Thirdly, it proposes an Human Rights Journalism-Responsibility to Protect conceptual model, which illustrates how an embedded human rights focussed media strategy can be designed. Fourthly, this book proposes two novel quantitative analysis tools called the 'Framing Matrix' and the 'Multimodal Discourse Analysis Matrix' that are equipped to deal with a big sample size over a long period of time. These tools are used to examine the practice of Human Rights Journalism and the typology of news stories of distant sufferings. Finally, it provides a scientific explanation for those in search of the answer to why one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, which took place in Sri Lanka in 2009, did not create any global compassion or garner attention