Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: How has media coverage of the Sudanese conflict varied cross-nationally in the permanent member states of the U.N. Security Council? What influences when the media begins to identify the conflict as genocide? Factors that may be instrumental in provoking such dynamics in media coverage include the onset and escalations of violence; changing standpoints by influential officials like the U.N. Secretary General or U.S. Secretary of State; the divergent standpoints of permanent member states in the U.N. Security Council tied to differing national interests such as oil needs, foreign policy priorities, proximity to the region, or colonial ties; the efforts by some states to control and at times to threaten the media; and the pressures brought on by the international community. In this paper, content analysis is used to examine media coverage of the Sudanese conflict comparatively, focusing on the coverage since 2003, in the largest news wires in each of the five permanent member states of the U.N. Security Council. Elite interviews of several journalists covering Sudan are also discussed, as we consider the politics of covering the Sudanese conflict as genocide, in states that are powerful decision-makers concerning interventions.