Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rheinschen Frierdrich-Wilhelms-Universitat, Bonn. / Includes indexes. Title also in German. Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-202).

This study explores the power of ethnonationalist conflict-generated diasporas (CGD) as external actors in homeland conflict by exploring the nature of their political engagement on a transnational level using Internet Communication technologies (ICTs), with Rwanda as a case study. Virtual ethnography was chosen as the research methodology to explore the online activities of Rwandan CGD using social media (social networking sites) to form virtual transnational networks for political purposes. Diasporic online formations and activities were mapped in order to gain increased insights into ways that CGD use social media to engage in homeland conflict, and the effect their engagement has on the conflict cycle in the home country. Results of the study revealed that Rwandan CGDs demonstrate attitudes and motivations to act in ways that are consistent with other case studies of CGD, including exhibiting an enduring commitment and loyalty to co-ethnics, a romanticized conceptualization of homeland and a myth of return home. The results also revealed Rwandan CGDs' strong propensity to use social media to engage in homeland conflict on a political level through the development of a large and dense transnational network used for a range of political purposes, including the dissemination of genocide denial and propaganda consistent with the pre-genocide propaganda campaign. Implications for peace-building and conflict analysis are discussed.

The thesis explores the state of European foreign conflict reporting by public sector broadcasters, post-Cold War and post-9/11. It provides a comparative analysis of the news values of three television news providers from three differing public systems: BBC’s News at 10, representing a British public service broadcaster, nominally independent of government control; Russia’s Vremya on Channel 1, a state-aligned broadcaster used, to a large extent, as a mouthpiece for the government; and France 2’s 20 Heures, a public service broadcaster, from a media system with a long history of state intervention. By investigating their reports, the study identifies and analyses the differing roles of public and state-aligned broadcasters. It examines the priority they place on certain values leading to particular aspects of a news story becoming news in one part of the world but not in others. The case study under investigation is a two-year period (2006-2008) from the ongoing Middle East conflict which both pre-dates the change in East-West relations and the events of 9/11 and provides a meeting point of many of the geo-political and post-imperial global struggles facing the three selected news reporting countries. The analytical chapters examine a peace conference, Israeli-Palestinian fighting and intra-Palestinian fighting, which reflect discrete aspects of this conflict and enable the broadcasters’ overarching and specific narratives to be considered. The thesis uses these events to assess relations between state and broadcaster and the attendant associations with the war on terror which emerge in the foreign conflict coverage. It investigates possible imbalances in the reports to the detriment of one of the warring parties and contributes to understanding how the broadcasters perceive their own and other countries. The study examines the broadcasters’ news values and agenda-setting techniques. By focusing on these two areas, which influence the shaping, length and positioning of broadcasts, news reports are analysed both quantitatively (e.g. running order, airtime, number of items per programme and subject matter) and qualitatively (e.g. the portrayal of news values and agenda-setting attributes displayed). The overarching argument illustrates that the hierarchy in news values is never arbitrary but can be explained, in part, by the structure of the broadcasters and by events occurring within, or associated with, the reporting country. As a result, the thesis investigations help identify nationally differentiated perceptions of conflict throughout the world and, in a broader context, contribute to studies in the areas of media, foreign conflict and Middle East conflict reporting.

A news story is built up by certain indicators that tell the reader where and at what time the story takes place, who participates in it, and of course, what has happened. Most of them also contain a complicated action, that changes the normal condition into a new one, as well as an outlook on the possible consequences the incident might have led to. The way a story is told, what is said and what is being left out, could have an effect on our thoughts, attitudes and opinions. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a subject that is extensively covered by the media with varying content of information. It developed into yet another war in the summer of 2014, and two of Sweden’s biggest newspapers, Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet, published hundreds of articles from the ongoing events in the Middle East. A total of 40 of these articles have been analyzed in this study. By using a method of narrative analysis which reveal the indicators first mentioned in this abstract, the author has been able to see the differences and similarities between the newspapers’ articles from the war. The differences in the way the events are told could have an effect people’s opinon and attitudes towards the opposite sides of the conflict.

During the last decades, the presence of visual media has increased dramatically. However, very little empirical research has been carried out to determine the implication of the medium photograph as a visual information transmitter. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the characteristics of professional press photos that relate to war and armed conflicts and to examine the framing of victimhood. A thorough literature review as well as an iconographic interpretation of World Press Photos serves to ascertain data in order to permit answering the research questions.   The World Press Photo Foundation is the subject of research as it represents the most prestigious international competition for press photography at present and thus acts as an agenda-setter. That highlights the implication of its decisions about professional photographs since its coverage of certain issues biases the international media coverage of the same. It also affects the development of professional photojournalism. In this context the meaning of photographs in today’s visual media societies can be discussed.